Sticky to touch interior

atlanta_kid

atlanta_kid

New member
Joined
Sep 10, 2013
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
I have a 2005 Crossfire convertible, the car has 37K on it and it has lived in my garage for 95% of its life since 2005 and been under Chrysler Maxcare always. The interior is gray, and I hardly let it sit in the direct sun light. The convertible top was replaced last year.

For past year, some of the interior rubberized plastic are getting sticky to touch, for example the radio knobs(volume & station) have become sticky, the side of the middle console (the Right and Left) are sticky to touch.

I have tried interior cleaners like (Turtle Wax, Meguiars, Mothers and Armor All) and their conditioner / protector and can not get rid of the stickiness, I have looked online and saw some not so similar situations on VW interior's rubberized plastic, and tried warm soapy water mix and finally rubbing alcohol, the alcohol started taking off the so I stopped, the stickiness is still on that area as well. The parts that are getting sticky are the ones with rubberized texture, but the interior parts with hard texture like the top of the dash are fine.

Does anyone have a similar issue with their crossfire interior out there?
Is there any remedy, short of replacing the parts or taking them off, cleaning and repainting?
Is there some solution that I can apply on it these parts to seal them like clear-coat etc..?

Thank you.
 
Last edited:
Since this is your first post to our forum...


Welcome to AutogeekOnline! :welcome:


The problem you're having came up in another thread with a Ferrari (I believe), with the same problem.


Good thread, lots of feedback and suggestions. Let me see if I can dig it up.



:)
 
Mike,
Thank you for all the links, I bought some Meguiars APC and other stuff from autogeek and will give this a shot, I am going to try the hot water and dawn idea (from one of the links), but I think the rubber molecules are broken down, and they are deteriorating naturally, this might have something to do with the European manufacturing method of rubberized parts, since my car was assembled there too, It is possible that the shop used some sort of cleaning/protector solution on the interior that has started the break-down so the best way for me to deal with this is to replace the parts, since my warranty covers them too. I just hate to take the car to dealership and deal with all of these interior part replacements, they fix one thing and mess up another ;-(
 
Last edited:
I didn't go through all those threads Mike linked, but it is true that some rubbers/plastics just break down over time and this may be what is happening to yours. Just be aware that replacement may be difficult, I think 7 years is all mfrs. are required to supply replacement parts, and you are at 8 years, plus a limited production vehicle that was made overseas in a partnership that doesn't exist anymore.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I didn't go through all those threads Mike linked, but it is true that some rubbers/plastics just break down over time and this may be what is happening to yours. Just be aware that replacement may be difficult, I think 7 years is all mfrs. are required to supply replacement parts, and you are at 8 years, plus a limited production vehicle that was made overseas in a partnership that doesn't exist anymore.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the heads up. I will contact the dealer and find out.
 
atlanta_kid said:
Thank you for the heads up. I will contact the dealer and find out.
Click to expand...

I found out the hard way when I tried to get a taillight lens for a car that was 12 years old and they didn't have it...and the parts guy told me they had just stopped making them the prior year (11 years) which he thought was really good because they only had to make them for 7...I on the other hand didn't think it was really good that they had stopped making them. There must be a forum for your car, do this seem to be a common problem?
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I found out the hard way when I tried to get a taillight lens for a car that was 12 years old and they didn't have it...and the parts guy told me they had just stopped making them the prior year (11 years) which he thought was really good because they only had to make them for 7...I on the other hand didn't think it was really good that they had stopped making them. There must be a forum for your car, do this seem to be a common problem?
Click to expand...

Yes there is a forum for Crossfire, I am a member of that too, As of yesterday no-one had a similar issue there, but I posted the same question there and got a similar answer that this is an European cars' interior issue, and could be triggered by using a leather cleaner on plastic parts, or having hand lotion on your hand when touching the parts, or perhaps getting suntan lotion on there. None of that applies here but I have used dash cleaner/protector such as ICE, Armor all, Meguiars, Mother and Turtle Wax over the years, and one of them could have been the trigger. Or I just got a batch of the production that was prone to fail. My Maxcare contract that I just renewed for 5 years says, all plastic and trims are covered, I see if they will cover this, I know a cup holder was $186, I am sure this wont be cheap, since almost all Crossfire parts are Mercedes parts, even engine and electronic parts are stamped Mercedes. I will check with Chrysler dealer this week or next.

You figure this would be just simple chemistry, someone should invent a spray or liquid treatment to harden the rubber back up again. Otherwise what I have found is either remove the rubber by scrapping and scrubbing and repaint, send it to this company called "Sticky No More" or replace the parts.
 
Last edited:
I've seen this on a couple vehicles, especially mid 90's GM trucks with their headlight switch. The soft rubber starts to break down and gets sticky/gummy, then eventually self destructs to a chewing gum type material. I'm not familiar with crossfire controls, but I know GM truck parts are readily available, so no big deal.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I didn't go through all those threads Mike linked, but it is true that some rubbers/plastics just break down over time and this may be what is happening to yours. Just be aware that replacement may be difficult, I think 7 years is all mfrs. are required to supply replacement parts, and you are at 8 years, plus a limited production vehicle that was made overseas in a partnership that doesn't exist anymore.
Click to expand...

I had the interior start coming off on an e46 m3. It was terrible and you had to be very gentle. I used CG inner clean with a gentle wipe. Weird how that happens!
 
atlanta_kid said:
I have a 2005 Crossfire convertible, the car has 37K on it and it has lived in my garage for 95% of its life since 2005 and been under Chrysler Maxcare always. The interior is gray, and I hardly let it sit in the direct sun light. The convertible top was replaced last year.

For past year, some of the interior rubberized plastic are getting sticky to touch, for example the radio knobs(volume & station) have become sticky, the side of the middle console (the Right and Left) are sticky to touch.

I have tried interior cleaners like (Turtle Wax, Meguiars, Mothers and Armor All) and their conditioner / protector and can not get rid of the stickiness, I have looked online and saw some not so similar situations on VW interior's rubberized plastic, and tried warm soapy water mix and finally rubbing alcohol, the alcohol started taking off the so I stopped, the stickiness is still on that area as well. The parts that are getting sticky are the ones with rubberized texture, but the interior parts with hard texture like the top of the dash are fine.

Does anyone have a similar issue with their crossfire interior out there?
Is there any remedy, short of replacing the parts or taking them off, cleaning and repainting?
Is there some solution that I can apply on it these parts to seal them like clear-coat etc..?

Thank you.
Click to expand...

I attached a picture just for FYI
 
I looks like this is the cause of the issue scientifically.

"........
There is therefore a large range of both sequential (or chain) reactions and competing reactions and that the ones which predominate depend on factors such as the composition of the vulcanizate as well as the influences of heat, light and metal catalysis. In heat ageing we are balancing the rate of reaction of oxygen with the elastomer and the rate of diffusion of the oxygen into the bulk material. If the temperature is relatively low, it has been postulated that for an unprotected vulcanizate diffusion predominates and therefore there is slow oxidation throughout the product, but as the temperature rises, the rate of oxidation increases much more than the rate of diffusion so substantial oxidation occurs on the surface and an oxidized (hard) surface skin is formed. As oxidation continues the chain breakdown may become more significant and the hard surface then softens and turns sticky. To complicate matters further, under certain conditions this order can be reversed and an initially sticky degraded surface can harden with further oxidation. "

I found it at this link
Untitled Document
 
The above article I posted it says it is possible to reverse this condition.

Now the hunt begins, "How do you Re Oxidize Rubber or Plastic?" in DIY manner. If I figure it out, I will update this post.
 
atlanta_kid said:
The above article I posted it says it is possible to reverse this condition.

Now the hunt begins, "How do you Re Oxidize Rubber or Plastic?" in DIY manner. If I figure it out, I will update this post.
Click to expand...


Good super sleuthing!


I feel your pain and everyone else's paint that has to deal with this issue. I prefer to own classics and knock on cyber-wood I have never had this problem with the older plastics in older cars.


Keep us updated as any answers or solutions to these types of problems that you find and share here can help a lot of people into the future...


:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top