Steamers? Dash repairs

[guydewdney]

Do steamers work on getting the 'leather' (aka plastic...) cracks / creases clean? y'know - the texture bit of the dash etc? Any difference for the average joe from the 30 quid silverline things to the 100 quid karcher? any tips on what to look for?

PO (aka f*ckwit) also used a pair of flat screwdrivers to remove the instruments (and subsequently remove the airbag light bulb.... :fail ) and has left two significant dents in the dash. Is there any way of smoothing it? Its like the plastic leather cover is stretched a touch and looks like a just burst blister

 

[Amo]

I always use karcher steamer to clean my interior, it cleans all the dirt as well as leave a nice fresh feel on all parts (dash/doorcards etc).

 

[Auto-mobile]

Gliptone gt12 worked wonders on my c43 two tone leather.

 

[guydewdney]

This is a picture of the damage. Any ideas?

 

[4NDYFERG]

Would a hot air blower and some gentle coaxing with a cloth and your finger smooth it out?

 

[guydewdney]

Dunno, hence the question. ... bit reluctant to try ideas unless itd been tried before.

That said, I have a scrapper I could try it on first. ...

 

[4NDYFERG]

Give it a go, methinks the secret will be getting just the right amount of heat into it, making it pliable but not on the point of melting......good luck!

Failing that, you could always take the hot air blower to the gentlemens region of the plonker that messed it up in the first place lol..

 

[RST1979]

I wouldn't put a steam cleaner towards much of the interior in a car. They can bring up hard plastic a treat, but never, ever anywhere near fabrics or leather. They can saturate stitching and if you're not careful the stitches an rot out. You need to de-humidify the interior afterwards anyway. Best used outside, not in. I wouldn't recommend it after trying a few times in the past.

 

[andy27168]

Hi,
I have a couple of very small dents in the plastic around the glove box of my AMG, and was told to play a heat gun/hair dryer over the area and the dent would disappear. I haven't done it as its not that noticeable, worth a try though.

 

[Fun4Four]

Has anyone used a steam cleaner to re-shrink leather seats?