I have been a little annoyed with a few light scratches that are on my dashboard/glovebox, this plastic seems to scratch really easily.
During this period of ownership I have been thinking of ways to cover up these annoying little scratches, such as flocking, painting and other methods.
The easiest thing to do first of all was replace the glovebox door, so I thought if I am to replace this, I might as well try and suss out a way of repairing it first as I have nothing to lose on this part as it can easily be replaced.
So I got out my trusty gas soldering iron and turned it in to a mini blow torch by removing the tip, (Weller WP3EU around £30, amazing little iron, I use it daily and heats up really quickly. Also has 3 tips including a hotknife for plastics). This iron is designed to work as a mini blow torch, not all will do this.
I lit the iron and set the flame to the lowest setting, I started off holding the iron about 4 inches back and swept it lightly over the scratched areas, some disappeared straight away!, those that didn't go straight away I gave them a light sweep over and tried going a little closer, don't hold it too long as you will melt/burn the plastic!!!, then I rubbed my finger over lightly and they disappeared T:.
I did my whole dash and it's made a massive difference, especially the recess on the top of the dash above the glovebox, the plastic had gone a little marked/faded in some areas.
During this period of ownership I have been thinking of ways to cover up these annoying little scratches, such as flocking, painting and other methods.
The easiest thing to do first of all was replace the glovebox door, so I thought if I am to replace this, I might as well try and suss out a way of repairing it first as I have nothing to lose on this part as it can easily be replaced.
So I got out my trusty gas soldering iron and turned it in to a mini blow torch by removing the tip, (Weller WP3EU around £30, amazing little iron, I use it daily and heats up really quickly. Also has 3 tips including a hotknife for plastics). This iron is designed to work as a mini blow torch, not all will do this.
I lit the iron and set the flame to the lowest setting, I started off holding the iron about 4 inches back and swept it lightly over the scratched areas, some disappeared straight away!, those that didn't go straight away I gave them a light sweep over and tried going a little closer, don't hold it too long as you will melt/burn the plastic!!!, then I rubbed my finger over lightly and they disappeared T:.
I did my whole dash and it's made a massive difference, especially the recess on the top of the dash above the glovebox, the plastic had gone a little marked/faded in some areas.