Scratched Plastic Around Ignition

[Dibidoolandas]

Hey all. I just bought a new EX exactly one week ago, and got it back last night from being rust-proofed/paint protected at the dealer. Almost immediately I noticed a few fresh scratches in the surrounding ignition plastic. Apparently whoever drove my car likes to blindly stab with the key to find the hole. Anyways, I'm wondering if any of you have had a similar problem/found a way to hide the scratches. I rubbed some Armor All protectant wipes on it and that seemed to reduce the appearance a smidge. I know this is picky as Hell but the car is literally one week old. Any advice would be appreciated.

[JimJohnD]

I managed to do the same thing once without thinking You can burnish off the scratch using your thumbnail. It is hard enough to remove the little peel of the scratch, but not hard enough to cause a scratch. If one didn't know the scratch was there you'd look right over it.

[Dibidoolandas]

Originally Posted by JimJohnD

I managed to do the same thing once without thinking You can burnish off the scratch using your thumbnail. It is hard enough to remove the little peel of the scratch, but not hard enough to cause a scratch. If one didn't know the scratch was there you'd look right over it.

Thanks for the advice. I was able to reduce them a bit but they're still pretty visible to me.



I talked to the dealer about it, and they rubbed some more protectant stuff on it but obv. it didn't do too much. I'm honestly just thinking of buying a new part to replace the scratched one. I found it online for $30. The question is how much would the installation cost. I doubt I could do it myself, but maybe I'll take a look at how that plastic connects to the rest of the column and see how tough it looks. Anyone do any work taking apart the wheel?

I know it seems kind of crazy to do this over a few scratches but man... the thing is brand new.

[JimJohnD]

From the look of things in the service manual to doesn't seem too difficult. BUT, I'd be afraid of making more scratches than I'm trying to replace. After lowering and pulling the column all the way out, the top half of the column cover is held to the lower section by some rather tricky looking clips (long flat-blade screwdriver involved). The lower half is secured to the column by three screws from the bottom.

If I were going to have it replaced I'd have someone who does that kind of thing swap it out. But I've also added a few things to my I2. Creating a few more nicks myself, nothing glaring, but I know they are there. So far I'm about a week and a half away from a completely trouble free year

[unclehooi]

I'm thinking to add an illuminated ring light to mine. Still waiting for the plastic to get enough scratches to justify my purchase. Hope it's not expensive though.

[infinitium]

Originally Posted by unclehooi

I'm thinking to add an illuminated ring light to mine. Still waiting for the plastic to get enough scratches to justify my purchase. Hope it's not expensive though.

hmmm... where would you buy one? i've been looking around for one as well, but haven't seemed to find an easily-installable one.

[unclehooi]

Originally Posted by infinitium

hmmm... where would you buy one? i've been looking around for one as well, but haven't seemed to find an easily-installable one.

I haven't really gone looking for one.

[dieselnine]

I managed to scratch the black plastic on the dash, right in front of the passengers seat. That bothered me too, so what I did was get a black Sharpie and colored it in. Also got a deep scratch in the black protector on the rear bumper, so used the Sharpie there. Still can see both of them, but not as much as before.