Dashboard spots.I think I ruined my interior

[DanielzZz]

Hello,guys and girls.My first post here (quite noobish).
Some days ago I accidentally wiped my dash with the cloth I use to condition my leather seats(‘98 GS300).
Dash had some white ‘spots’,so I grabbed a magic sponge and some ma*fra cleaning agent and cleaned them.Cleaned the door cards too.Now I did this a couple of times on my E36 and I had no problems.But some dark black dots appeared on this car all over the interior.I doubt I’ve stripped the paint,because the dash doesn’t look silverish.Also when I try to do the procedure again on those spots they don’t get worse.Now maybe I dried out the leather/vinyl or whatever it is.I ordered some 303 aerospace protectant,but I wonder if I should try and condition it first with a leather/vinyl conditioner (not sure about the material as I said).
Here are some photos I took.The dots are only visible in bright light.Damp cloth instantly removes them,but half an out later they reappear (albeit area drying in a minute).
6290062901

[DBAILEY]

Looks like you removed the outer most layer of the vinyl with the magic eraser sponge.

[DanielzZz]

So,will conditioning the vinyl help ? Does the 303 aerospace protector condition vinyl ? I'm not sure if I should spray it before it's conditioned.I don't want to ruin it even more.

EDIT : Couldn't wait and applied some leather cleaner/conditioner on a small part of the dash.Seems to work for now,I'll check again in 12 hrs.Maybe I just dried the vinyl (cleaning agent is really strong).

[DanielzZz]

Conditioner didn't help.Tried applying it again,maybe the dash dried out so much it needs a 2nd time.I'll see tomorrow.Really don't want to sell my car and search for another over this.Things are rare in Europe,let alone a good-spec one.

[Desertnate]

If the problem is like DBailey mentioned, a conditioner isn't going to solve the problem. The material isn't leather, and you may have accidentally removed some of the top layer of the vinyl when you were scrubbing at it. The dark spots are actually areas where the material is still in tact. 303 might provide some short term relief and hide things for a while, but it won't replace the material which was scrubbed off.

[Eldorado2k]

I think your best shot is to continue re applying the leather conditioner. This looks similar to what happens to the dashboards on lower end vehicles such as Hondas and Toyotas when they’re steam cleaned. I’ve had them turn dry and gray on several occasions after using the steamer to clean them and every time I’ve been able to bring them back to normal with Megs D180 Leather Cleaner & Conditioner.

What kind of vehicle is it? Which leather conditioner are you using?
There’s also a very small chance that it simply needs a proper cleaning with something like diluted APC in order to reset it back to normL. For all we know those dark spots could be product that needs to be cleaned off/removed. Slim chance, but you never know from just looking at a couple of pictures.

[Eldorado2k]

I see now it’s a Lexus.

[Eldorado2k]

Worst case scenario, if after everything you try doesn’t fix it... You could try a leather & vinyl coating. I’d research and choose the 1 that leaves more of a sheen instead of 1 that’s completely matte, because in this case you want your sheen back. Matte won’t do you much good.

[Desertnate]

I see now it’s a Lexus.

It might be a Mercedes E36 AMG. He mentioned using the same cloth which was used to treat the leather in his Lexus, but then goes on to mention an "E36" and the vehicle being rare in Europe. To me that means a Merc as an E36 BMW 3-series are certainly not rare in Europe.

That leads us to a 20+ year old car which was built in very limited numbers. With that in mind, I'm out of my depth for sure...

[Eldorado2k]

It might be a Mercedes E36 AMG. He mentioned using the same cloth which was used to treat the leather in his Lexus, but then goes on to mention an "E36" and the vehicle being rare in Europe. To me that means a Merc as an E36 BMW 3-series are certainly not rare in Europe.

That leads us to a 20+ year old car which was built in very limited numbers. With that in mind, I'm out of my depth for sure...

Yea I missed that..

[JCDetails]

It might be a Mercedes E36 AMG. He mentioned using the same cloth which was used to treat the leather in his Lexus, but then goes on to mention an "E36" and the vehicle being rare in Europe. To me that means a Merc as an E36 BMW 3-series are certainly not rare in Europe.

That leads us to a 20+ year old car which was built in very limited numbers. With that in mind, I'm out of my depth for sure...


Yea I missed that..



I think you guys are missing it. I think the GS300 is the rare one in Europe here. They were sold outside the US as Toyota Aristos. A lexus outside the US is rare.


OP, I used to have a 2001 GS300. You most certainly 'flattened' the coating on the vinyl with the magic eraser. This is why I don't understand the widespread use of the magic erasers on car interiors. It just doesn't make sense with all the other options we have there.

the bad news is there really isn't a great way of repairing the damage you've done by abrading the surface.

[Goonie75]

I'm gonna have to agree with Joe. I too read somewhere that Magic Erasers shouldn't be used on interior things. Maybe glass but not much else due to the 'abrassive nature' of those kinds of 'erasers'. I recently used one on the 'exterior' of a Malibu to remove some transfer/contact paint, but I knew I was going to 2-step it anyway. Worked out perfectly but that was not on a dashboard. I don't know about the kind of vehicle the OP is talking about really, but it does make sense that some of the 'top' of the dashboard has been 'removed' and thus no product can actually put that back.

peace

[DanielzZz]

Sorry for the misinformation,it’s a 1998 Lexus GS300.They sold them in Europe,but they’re still somewhat rare.
By E36 I meant my other car - 1998 BMW 3 series,which had no problem after a magic eraser treatment.
Also,what’s your guys’ opinion on using “Tornador” for cleaning instead of magic erasers ?

For the problem - I think I’m still going to apply conditioner(It's a Bulgarian brand,but it's quite good) until I sell the car.Or just paint the vinyl stuff (Anyone got a tutorial on this ? I want to do it the proper way,with no differences in look or touch to OEM)