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I own a mint 85 GTV6. The last time I waxed the car (I think it was the only time) I ended up with wax paste on the plastic body panels. Years later, there continues to be unwanted dry wax residue. I am reluctant to wax the car again because of this problem. How do other owners wax their cars and avoid having the wax come into contact with the plastic. Do you guys have a favorite wax that does not cause this problem. What are your favorite treatments to keep the plastic panels looking like new? By the way, I came acros a novel idea to remove the old dry wax- use a pencil eraser. Thanks a million, giacomo

Hey Giacomo great another GTV6 owner in Montreal.I haven't met many.I have found that if you take a cloth and spray it with some WD-40 it does a great job of removing wax from plastic particularly the rough plastic trim on the GTV6.

My long term waxing solution (if you could call it that) is to paint the plastics by integrating with the body colour or a matching one of your chosing. This is more of a long term strategy to preserve the plastics from ultra violet ray breakdown. After all, if the idea of waxing is preservation, then placing a mechanical barrier (shield) like paint over the plastics will achieve this purpose.

The added benefit is that once painted, the parts can be polished with the same waxes you apply to panel work so there is no hassles.

If you are a purist, well this is not a solution for you. If you live in the part of the world where there is a lot of strong sunshine like (Australia, Mexico, California, etc) where it gets so hot it bends the speedo pointers into bananas, its a must.

It's a preservation technique if you have a mindset to keep your car for a long time. Even if you are purist, bent twisted and degraded plastic panels are not a good look. In this case, it's probably a good idea to apply paint of the same colour as the orignal plastic component to finish with the same look.

The ones I particularly dislike are the bumper black inserts that are all out of shape and give an inference that the bumper has been hit when in fact it is only a distortion of the insert and a real pain to fix.

How many of you have noticed the plastics actually delaminating? All due to U.V. damage folks. Waxing isn't going to solve that problem. Some topical treatments do claim to have UV filtering properties but for consistant protection my money is on the paint or a full body condom, which ever takes your fancy.

Jim, I know you are a keen waxer but does it get a bit rough around that bikini line?

MD i totally agree.. its needs to be painted, and its down to UV damage. Thing is for most of us, they needed to be painted many years ago, now we are the ones left with cracked and faded plastic.

For window rubber seals and black plastic, i use a quailty liquid shoe polish... I'm using kiwi brand with the sponge applicator at the moment. Works GREAT for the rubber trim, just gotta be careful u dont paint the car as well.

I usually mask the trim with masking tape, works great and doesn't take a lot of time to do.

MD, I just eyeballed your waxing post...I don't usually use wax, we looks nicer with a 5 o'clock shadow, a g-string and army boots, don't you agree? Eat your hearts out in oz, you're going into winter and we're moving into summer...beaver time and car time!!
Jim K.

You can get a product for removing the wax from Griots Garage, expensive but nice detailing products. They also sell a dye for the plastics, in a shoe way applicator bottle. Works great and a bottle lasts quite a while. Don't know if it is better than just the shoe wax, which is probably cheaper.

When you get wax on any plastic trim it is a good idea to wipe it off. But this wax will build up and on GTV-6 plastic get inside that texture. A good product to get this wax out is Mothers Back to Black. I write for Powerboat Magazine and have found nothing better that will preserve plastic as well as remove any oxidation or junk that is on the plastic. This also works on rubber. I have found that it needs to be done pretty often to keep plastic looking good but eventually it will seal off the plastic and keep it shiny longer. Any harsh cleaners could eventually lead to more degradation of the plastic and further the problem, making your prized Alfa look more like a 1980's Firebird. If you have any questions email me at dini@cleaniedini.com or visit www.cleaniedini.com
Constantine Macris