Be careful when using any cardboard hanging air fresheners in your car (like Yankee Candle). Mine was hanging from an air vent on my dash - it left a crust-like residue on the polished metal surface which I have not been able to remove. I think the heat of the sun caused some kinda meltdown of the fragrance chemicals in the cardboard. Anyway, if anybody has helpful hints on removing the residue, let me know. GooGone didn't work, or any of my regular interior-cleaning products. Should I try a household cleanser?

 

sounds like you need another air freshiner to put over the crappy spot j/k

sounds like it may have messed up the finish of the piece? like corroded it mabe?

a good cleaner i like to use for heavy duty cleaning is Armor All Multi purpose cleaner. be sure to DILUTE it properly before using it on ANY interior surface to avoid leaving perminant streaks on the interior panels. and always spray it onto the rag you are using, not directly on the panel. i know it ate through the mildew on my '65 buick's door panels nicely, they went from solid black to light blue

 

Well let me refresh my Chemistry knowledge here but yes I agree the chemicals that they put on the cardboard to keep it "strong" and so it can hold the scent can definitely react and cause it to "irritate" the surface it was on. Heat doesn't help either. You'll need something to eat the crap off that it left. So I agree the Armor All should take care of it.

Damn, my High School Chem teacher was right... I actually did use that stuff ! It only took me 17 years to actually find a use for it though !

 

If it's a polished metal piece, have you tried using a metal polish?
Chances are the air freshener caused some oxidation in that spot, and a high quality metal polish (get one appropriate to the metal...most likely some sort of chrome polish) would shine that right back up if that is the case. A bit of toothpaste followed up with some standard cleaner and polish would probably work too, but I'd stick with a polish made for that type of metal.

Best of luck,
-Riggs.

 

i HATE armor all, try some simply green and a magic eraser

 

If you have a "Stain" on anything Metal, ... be careful what you use to try and lift it.
Some products will just make the situation worse.

I usually try using a product that you wouldn't think to use as a cleaner.
Ronson Lighter Fluid.
Lighter Fluid is mostly Naptha. The same stuff they use for Dry Cleaning.
I also'd try using Rubbing Alcohol.
Mothers.
Or, Never-Dull.

http://www.nevrdull.com/

 

THANKS everybody for the tips on cleaning the trim. I tried rubbing alcohol, metal polish, fingernails, Windex, Meguiar's cleaners, Armor All cleaners, and spit. Nothing worked - I was able to scrape the excess off with a fingernail but a stain remains on the trim. So I took your advice and covered it up - it looks pretty damn good if I do say so myself. Here's what I did: I took pieces of pinstriping that came in a ****** wire pattern (it didn't look so good when I put it on the hood), cut a 3" length and positioned it over the worst of the stain on the left side of the air vent. Then I cut a matching piece and put it on the opposite side. Then I looked at all that blank polished aluminum trim on the dashboard...........hmmmm. I wonder if there are more decals out there???

By the way, I realize I'll have to take all this decoration OFF before the heat of summer arrives and things on the dash start melting and creating more stains to be dealt with. Thanks for your help!

 

I would probably been able to do something about it if I was looking at it. I would have tried some Meguiars All Purpose Cleaner and let it sit for about 1 min and use a small brush followed by a towel and see if it removed it.

Also it may even sound like it actually may have took the color out of it... of which you would never be able to fix unless you got it re-colored.

 

what is that picture of? lol

 

That's my car's rear deck with the sun shining on the freshly polished and waxed surface!