What does your ignition keyhole look like?

Not uncommon.

I've seen this many times and in some cases much worse than yours.

I think your theories are probably correct. The finish around the ignition/steering housing the factory uses is quite soft. It doesn't take much to scratch it like that.

Unless you twist your head around the wheel or happen to be in the passenger seat you don't really notice it.

Newer cars with Keyless Entry wont have this.

Oh yea, post some pics of your Scud.

 

Intoxicated driver lol!
The up side is the shroud is covered with the crappy clear from factory easy job to remove the shroud and repaint it once u have remove all the clear crap.

 

Three years ago, I decided to tackle the sticky coating on the plastic shroud that surrounds the steering column. The goo on my car is not real sticky, but as you can see in the photo, the area around ignition switch is pretty scarred up. You see a shiny bit there ... that was my trial using alcohol before I removed the shroud.

I decided to try using denatured alcohol as the solvent as it is mild and does not attack the plastic substrate. (BTW ... I tried an inconspicuous spot using lacquer thinner ... DO NOT USE lacquer thinner. It tends to attack the plastic)

Using denatured alcohol, moisten the part. I found the alcohol softens but does not dissolve the sticky substance. A terry cloth towel is used to scrub away the sticky. I also found that if I score the surface of the sticky with my finger nail and use a 3M blue scrubber (the type that does not scratch ... do not use the green scrubber), you can gently scrub the sticky off. It took me about an hour to gently scrub away the sticky goo.

Once the goo was removed, I used Simichrome metal polish (any metal polish should do) to rub out the fine scratches. Following that treatment, I used Mothers Back to Black plastic restorer to restore the color.

In all, about 2 to 3 hours of work here to do both the top and bottom of the steering wheel shroud ... not counting the time to remove and install the plastic shroud which took me about 20 minutes.

I believe it is important that you perform the step using metal polish. In hind sight, any mild abrasive polish compound will likely work OK, e.g., rubbing compound or polishing compound. I chose to use metal polish as it contains very fine abrasive particles in a mild petroleum based compound. This allows the opportunity to gently rub out fine scratches and remove some residual goo that may have been missed in the cleaning step. I tried to skip this step and the results were not as satisfactory. If you have some deeper scratches, you can try to be a bit more aggressive with the polish step (e.g., use rubbing compound instead of polish). I used the metal polish on a terry cloth towel and gently rubbed it using circular motion with my finger tips. I took my time and tried to evenly apply the polish. I am very satisfied with the results ... the plastic is not perfectly smooth ... there are a few minor scratches and a couple of pits where the ignition key gouged the plastic, but it is so much better than the sticky goo.

Steve
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Bangin'! Enjoy the car.

 

Hello - Here are after refinishing photos of steering covers done professionally by us

Your soft touch coating is starting to fail and that's why it's getting all scratched up.

Here are a few threads you might find interesting:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/technical-q/520454-understanding-ferraris-sticky-interiors-technical-guide.html

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/360-430-sponsored-yellow-compass-group/526188-sticky-interior-refinishing-sticky-rx-refinishing-solutions.html

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/360-430-sponsored-yellow-compass-group/519239-sticky-interior-refinishing-thank-you-looking.html

If interested, please send me an email: dave.lelonek@**********.com or give me a call 716-553-6130

Thank you.
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stop drinking and driving

 

Usually dinner and some good conversation come before someone asks to see my keyhole

 

One driver before you had poor situational or spacial awareness.

 

Mine looked like yours. When I cleaned off the deteriorating soft-touch coating (using denatured alcohol as described above by bisel, most of the scratches went away completely - without any polishing, just cleaning. In my case, the scratches were, therefore, only goo-deep, not into the plastic.

 

As the sticky factory finishes are so soft, I bet just finger nails will scratch these shrouds.