Quite often, customers at our detailing studio ask us to remove a sticky film from the buttons on the steering wheel that they are unable to clean themselves.
However, the problem isn’t the dirt at all. The buttons on the steering wheel are covered with a special Soft Touch coating, a special tactile varnish, which can deteriorate, causing the buttons to start peeling. The buttons become sticky and unpleasant to the touch.
In most cases, damage to the button coating is caused by incorrect cleaning, such as using alcohol-based wipes.
There are several ways to resolve this issue:
1) Button restoration
2) Replacement
On this particular car, the owner attempted to clean the Soft Touch coating on the advice of a car wash employee. The result: the coating, paint and icons on the buttons were completely destroyed. In consultation with the customer, we replaced the buttons with new ones. Now this steering wheel feels just as pleasant to hold as it did on the first day after buying the car.
It is important to remember that this procedure must be carried out by professionals, as in both cases the buttons need to be removed, which requires dismantling the airbag.
There is a risk of the airbag deploying if the airbag is dismantled or refitted by an unqualified person!
