The gauge cluster in the S2000 is digital one and covered with a very delicate, soft plastic. This plastic is easily scratched and can dull over time.
It’s important to see your gauges therefore it’s important to care for your gauge cluster.
Be sure that you are very gentle with the plastic surface of the gauge cluster. Otherwise, you will introduce new scratches.
The gauge cluster should be dusted as necessary and then protected after each dusting. Polishing the plastic should also be done as necessary, but should likely not be necessary to do more than 1-2 times a year.
What you’ll need . . .
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Shade – Most car care products are not designed to be used in direct sunlight. Using plastic care products in a hot interior can often cause the product to dry prematurely resulting in a streaky or blotchy finish. Therefore, it is important to find a shady spot to work in. This can be under a car port, a canopy, or in a garage. Sometimes even just putting the top up will provide enough shade to work on the interior. It is not recommended that you detail under a tree as sap, leaves, pollen, or other debris could fall on your car during the detail. -
Plastic Polish – plastic polish will help to remove and possibly fill any scratches in your clear plastic. It will also defog older clear plastic. Some popular plastic polishes include 3M, Mothers, and Meguiar’s Plastx -
Plastic Sealant – Your choice of sealant. Once you’ve gone through the effort of restoring the plastic of your gauge cluster, you’ll want to seal it to protect the work you’ve done. There are products made specifically to protect plastic which work extremely well like Plexus and Wolfgang Plastik Sealant.
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Applicator – your choice of applicator. There are many tools which can be used for plastic polish & sealant application. Application can be done using a foam wax applicator, a microfiber applicator, or a folded microfiber towel.
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Microfiber towels – high quality microfiber towels are critical for polish & sealant residue removal. After a long day detailing you don’t want to use a cheap towel which will undo all of your hard work by instilling scratches in your plastics. To test the “softness” of a microfiber simply rub it gently on a blank CD making sure to use both the center of the towel and the edging. If the towel leaves scratches then it could possibly scratch the soft plastic of your gauge cluster. Always be sure before testing a new towel or using it on your paint that it is clean and that any tags have been removed.
How to get it done . . .
1. Before beginning to work make sure the gauge cluster is cool to the touch.
2. Gently dust off the gauge cluster with a clean microfiber towel or a dashboard duster. If you do not dust off the gauge cluster the dust will later gum up your towels and along with the plastic cleaner or polish can form into a mud like substance.
3. Apply a nickel size drop of plastic polish to your applicator.
4. Use the applicator to spread the polish onto the entire plastic surface. Then gently work the polish into the plastic using multiple directions.
First work the polish in using an up & down motion
and then work the polish in using a side-to-side motion.
5. Gently wipe off any polish residue with a clean microfiber towel.
6. Apply the plastic sealant to a clean applicator then use the applicator to apply the sealant to the plastic surface. If you are using a spray on sealant like Plexus then you can spray it directly on the surface. However, be careful not to spray the protectant onto other surfaces as this will create unnecessary additional clean up.
7. Allow the sealant to haze.
8. Gently wipe off any sealant residue with a clean microfiber towel.
