[Breensy]

the dash on my 05 escape has lots of small scratches on it from moving stuff around, and around the radio area when i had my deck replaced the first time they scratched it up bad.

anyone found any ways of getting the scratches out?

 

[cfo20]

A clean terry cloth towel and some KIT scratch remover (in yellow bottle) from Autozone. It was cheap and it really did the job, especially in the area on the dash where the two lower clips scratched when replacing the radio. This stuff also removes oxidation from side markers/mirror turn signals. Small scratches in the finish disappear too. Even used it on the gel coat of my boat! It is cheap and doesn't smell bad either.

 

[Breensy]

awsome thank you very much for the sugestion i am going to try to pick some up today. these scratches are really irritating.

 

[fourthmeal]

You can also try back-to-black, which works on plastic besides black.

 

[Breensy]

bah, having no auto zone in canada, i went to part source. they looked at me with a blank face lol. he said no "KIT scratch remover" only scratch removers they have were scratch doctor and scratchX or something. and the mothers scratch stuff but they are all for exterior paint. the employee told me to goto an auto body shop and said they might know what to do. gonna give the back to black a shot before anything. but he said since its hard plastic thats scratched i might be screwed

 

[jas88]

I tried the KIT scratch remover on my dash scratches, it did not clean it up as well as I was hoping, but it is better. Still looking for a more viable solution.

 

[ajc6882]

Okay you have to be really careful when you do this but it has worked for me.. If you have a 2001-2007 Escape everyone knows how soft the plastic is on the interior panels and dashboard. Well I had a couple of small minor surface scratches in the non painted plastic of my charcoal door panel. When put some heat from the lighter flame next to the scratch it melts off the small raised plastic fibers that show as a scratch. Hope this helps. I usual do this very carefully then follow up with f21 by turtle wax (plastic dressing like Armorall). Good luck. I have some before and after pics if your interested.

 

[jas88]

I think this is what I need to do to mine. The KIT scratch remover did make some of the lines less noticeable but did not take off the tiny pieces of plastic that were dug out of the scratch. I am going to try your method, thanks for the tip.

 

[kkreit01]

For the raised plastic edges (around the scratch), why not use a razor blade to cut them down? :shrug: I've done this with success. The "lighter method" sounds interesting -- and somewhat scary. Good idea though.

 

[Breensy]

awsome idea's im gonna give them all a shot, thank you!

 

[Breensy]

so i took a few minutes today and tried out the lighter idea, suprisingly it worked!! so im going to take some time and do a good job with it. just a tip its best to cover the area above the scracth with something to prevent the lighter from making burn marks.

 

[ajc6882]

Im happy you like my trick. :bic:

The reason the scratches show so much is because when dark plastic is bent or scratched the plastic lightens in color(the heat burns off the little hairs of the now lighter in color plastic). If you heat it the plastic it melts slightly and darkens again. I was thinking about trying one of those little torch lighters on a new scratch. They concentrate the heat into a smaller easier to control area. Ill let you know how it works.

 

[Breensy]

not a bad idea at all on the torch, i was also thinkiing of giving a good heat gun a shot.

 

[stone]

I have a dashboard mat, positioned with velcro tabs.

 

[kkreit01]

I tried the "lighter trick" on a scratch on my door panel. It worked pretty good, but I goofed! I made the mistake of trying to smooth it with my finger -- after melting it. This did make it smooth -- with is bad on textured plastic. It doesn't look worse than it did.