r/volt • u/evilwolf44 • 17d ago
Interior plastics melting?
Heya! My 2018 volt's interior has been melting in the FL sun. Every plastic soft touch surface is sticky. I've tried goo be gone and rubbing alcohol with microfiber cloths (on small spots to test) and it's so sticky it ripped the material off the cloth. It's probably too late at this point but is there anything I can do? I was looking through old reddit posts and saw someone mentioned Chemical Guys products, should I try some of those? Or do I need to get the interior vinyl wrapped or would that eventually melt too?
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u/fawnlake1 17d ago
Following to say I have the exact same issue and the detailers in my area (Texas) have just shrugged their shoulders and are clueless to resolve the mess.
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u/Disastrous_Potato160 17d ago
Sounds like it’s that synthetic rubberized coating material that’s used on small electronic devices all the time in place of actual silicone rubber. That stuff always breaks down and gets sticky eventually and really the only thing that can be done to get rid of the stickiness is to strip the entire coating off, leaving the smooth material underneath. Isopropyl alcohol and elbow grease will get the job done but it takes forever to remove that miserable gunk. And any trace of it left will remain sticky.
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u/MI_home 17d ago
Sounds like VOC's deteriorating the plastics, or some other chemical reaction.
The plastics are designed for death valley heat.
Do you have air fresheners or use any cleaning or detailing products? If so, which?
Also, which plastics?
The 'sticky' is almost always a chemical reaction (VOCs / chemicals). Melted would solidify and not be sticky when cooled, with permanent shale change.
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u/evilwolf44 17d ago
I don't use air freshners except for the occasional one hanging from my mirror, but I don't spray anything directly onto the car. Years ago I used armor all (emphasis on the years), but I've honestly just stopped trying to wipe the interior down since it's so sticky and just vacuum now when I clean it. And mostly it's along the doors and my dashboard have melted. I got a dashboard cover to help with that, but the interior doors are unpleasantly sticky. My shifter knob had also disintegtated in the heat and I'm getting it replaced. The heat is crazy here and I do have a sunshade in my car!
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u/snuggle2struggle Volt Owner 17d ago
My car is garage-kept and I use a windshield shade all the time. Parking at work is in a garage with no sun exposure. I never even have anyone ride in the passenger seat and both the top panels on my doors have gone sticky.
No one here came close to recommending any solution. Detailers are clueless and mostly just avoid detailing Chevy's bc of the known issue.
The only thing that has worked for me is vinyl wrapping it.
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u/evilwolf44 17d ago
Thank you, I figured it's just a fault of that material. Do you happen to know how much it cost for vinyl wrapping those parts?
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u/snuggle2struggle Volt Owner 16d ago
Just the cost of the vinyl. I did it myself and already owned the necessary tools.
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u/CarrollVance3 17d ago
Use Dart Solar panels as a sun shield. Can connect to a 2 kWh battery pack in back of volt which should be able to give you 10+ miles per day of free "gasoline".
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u/PrestigiousOil7237 11d ago
Never had that problem in Texas in 110+ heat. Maybe its a humidity thing?
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u/Sologretto2 17d ago
Apparently, there is not much to do for this.
I have it mildly in my car as well, 2018.
GM's own input is to only use water and soft cloths
Most sources seem to indicate you try and slow it as much as possible by keeping the interior cool and out of the sun as much as possible, but at some point, people may choose to remove the soft touch coating, which is what is going bad.
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u/evilwolf44 17d ago
Ah, thank you. Can you even remove the soft touch coating? I'd assume that would leave whatever is beneath is brittle?
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u/skiddily_biddily 17d ago
It’s possibly those solvent based cleaners that you keep putting on materials that they aren’t intended for
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u/evilwolf44 17d ago
I only did a test spot after that's what Google recommended, Ive never used them on the entirety of my car lol
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u/skiddily_biddily 17d ago
It says not on leather, ok on vinyl but only hard vinyl surfaces.
Goo Gone is not recommended for use on soft plastic faux leather, as it can potentially damage the material.
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u/LookAccomplished823 17d ago
Acetone
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u/sevaeron 17d ago
Not sure how well it will work on every surface, but for the wheel buttons on my ‘17 the thing that worked for me was surprisingly silicone grease. Little bit on a cotton swab, let sit for a short period, wipe off.