atomarchio

I have the 2009 ES350 Pebble Beach in Silver/Black. I bought this color combo because I was told by my dealer it was the easiest to keep clean.

After owning the car for less than a year, I am noticing wear on the lower part of the driver's side door probably from my feet getting in and out of the car. Also the plastic molding on the lower left of the driver's seat when getting into the vehicle looks quite worn also. Is there any way to fix this with a cleaner, wax, or something? I am open to any/all suggestions you may have.

Perhaps it's just me but these plastic parts are wearing fast. Please let me know.

Thank you.

Dave Mac

I'm afraid that this is a common problem with the current generation ES and it is not it's best feature. The plastic trim parts show wear quite easily and if you try to clean them you are likely to make the situation worse. I had some marks like those you are describing on my rear door trim and because I had read some earlier post on this forum I didn't make much of an effort to remove the marks but instead went to my dealer. The service advisor said "no problem - I can take care of that" and grabbed some kind of solvent in a spray bottle and promptly wiped the finish right off the trim. He then talked to the service manager and they gave me a loaner and said their touch-up man would be there is an hour to fix it. By the end of that day it was repaired very nicely and with great care I now have very few new marks as I approach 36 mos. on my lease.

So be very careful trying to remove the marks. I have successfully removed trim scuff marks for many many years but not on this car.

Dave Mac

atomarchio

I had a Silver/Black Acura RL before switching to this model and I don't remember wear.

Love the ES, but this wear would be a major concern for me to consider another one in the future. Is this wear problem the case with other Lexus models also? (GS, RX, etc)

CDN_Drew

You can remove most light to moderate dirty marks on the door sills and on the seat edge with Vinylex (Pep Boys) and a fairly stiff bristle brush. They should come right out without too much elbow grease, just don't get a brush that's too stiff (like a wire brush) so it doesn't scratch up the plastic.

atomarchio

Do you use this Vinylex on all of the interior parts? (except the seats, of course) There is an area on the doors by the window on/off buttons that might be leather but I'm not sure.

I would like to give this a try but don't want to damage anything inside my car. Please let me know.

Thanks.

tromly

+1, did you get a chance to ask the touch-up man what product he uses/recommends?

LexBob2

I've had my car for 3 1/2 years and don't have the wear mentioned here. It probably varies by owner and how they happen to get in and out of the car.

Dave Mac

No, I did not get a chance to even see the touch up man do his work. I usually hang around for repairs like this and talk to the repair man even though they try to keep his identity somewhat of a secret but this time I did not have time and they had it done before I got a chance to check up on it.

When I asked who did it the service rep "wasn't sure" who did the work.

Dave Mac

atomarchio

Your car 3 1/2 years ago probably had a better grade of materials than what is in my 2009 ES now.

sirCharles

I get the same wear on the interior platics along the bottom left of my driver side on the 06 IS 350. I have Vinylex and use it monthly to "lotion-up" the areas so to speak but my eye still catches them. It is minor, but in reality it is here to stay. I think it would just be chalked up to be wear and tear.

CDN_Drew

Vinylex won't do anything if it comes in contact with the leather part of the door. Obviously don't use it to clean the leather, but you won't discolor it or anything like that. Vinylex is actually a great product to use to clean all the plastic/vinyl parts of your car, just be careful with your dash - use it sparingly, or you will gloss up your dash to a rather annoying level, and DO NOT use it on your steering wheel - it will slick it up too much.