Star-Brite Vinyl Cleaner

Ok Im bored time to clean my boat. LOL My back seet was looking kind of dirty compaired to the rest of my Vinyl so I tryed Fantastic and the McGuyers and it didnt seem to get it all that much cleaner, I was at West Marine and saw this on the counter and the photo of the Before and After on the front sold me "Im a sucker". So I took a bottle home and tryed it out, Wow it worked.
For thoes of you who know me know I keep my boat Very clean. When I put this stuff on my back seet I couldnt believe how dirty my back seet realy was, And how white the vinyl realy is, I use a soft brush with it. Sorry the photos are dark but when I would used a flash the whole seet loked white you couldnt see the dirty spot. I used the Star-Brite on the 2 end peices the center portion of the seet is un touched. It dosent look like it in the photos but it realy is a dramatic differance between the clean and un cleaned vinyl.

the hull cleaner works that good too.

DAMN!!! I gotta go get some of that!

Grant, your floor looks pretty shiny, too, but you're probably holding out on the secret for that, huh?

Thanks for the tip. I tried a warm dishsoap solution this weekend with a pretty stiff-bristled plastic brush. Didn't cut the grime at all. Friggin vinyl is such a pain - time to call in the chemicals...

Jude your and your NEW boat and its SUPER WHITE vinyl the reason I was thinking I needed to clean my vinyl. My vinyl is a darker shade of white then yours, So I just thought it was darker. But now I think they are pretty close.

You should test this stuff on a small spot out of the way. I can smell some sort of bleach in it so I dont know if that will hurt your type of vinyl. And it does seem to dry it out some what. Just be sure to use a conditioner on your vinyl after using this stuff and I dont think you will have any problem's.

Grant that stuff works awesome on white, but keep it away from darker colors. It will lighten darker colors if you get it on them and let it sit. It also puts a coat of wax on the vinyl. #M makes a similar product that has the same ingredients.

Adam: What the 3M stuff called? Or what is it marketed under. The star-brite feel's like it left no coat of wax. Im wondering if I should keep the vinyl lubed up with the vinyl conditioner. My boat sits in the gararge all most all winter in it gets dusty. The dust seems to stick or get atracted to the vinyl conditioner and then Im wondering if it drys up with the conditioner and make's it harder to keep clean. Im wondering If I should only use the conditioner when Im going to have the boat out in use under the sun??

I thought it was the star brite cleaner that left the wax. Maybe it was the 3M stuff? if you spray a little water on your seat does the water bead?? I'm guessing not. The 3M stuff comes in a spray bottle. I think it just says 3M vinyl cleaner. You cna find it at wal-mart. It lso smells like lemons

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&productId=8956

its cheaper at wal-mart

I think dust is going ot settle in it no matter what, if its stored indoors. Just put the cover on it? OR go out once a month and wipe it down. the 303 protectant works very good as well, not so much as a cleaner but great protectant. makes cleaning alot easier. I spay the 303 once a month then just wipe down my seats once a week and nothing sticks to them. the stuff is faily exxpensive though. Around $20/bottle

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&productId=72461

Thsi may work better for you since you already used the starbrite.

Ok Ill check out the 3M stuff. The star brite looks like a cream and has a rubbing compound quality to it. It dry's kind of chauky, So I doubt it has any kind of wax in it.

i use greased lightening. purchase at lowes for 4 bucks or so. this stuff cleans everything. i keep a bottle on the boat and a bottle in the house. i dont rant alot about products but this stuff works well.

Try this, It's called "Mr. Clean, Magic Eraser" It's very inexspensive and very easy to work with. You can buy them anywhere in household cleaner aisle. You will be amazed at what it will clean.

funny that this tread came back to life. I took Alans advice and bought some Greased lightning.
LOL. There is no way in hell I would use that on my vinyl. Yes no doubt it would clean the vinyl, But Im sure it will destroy it as well. I tryed some on a small spot and it drys it up the vinyl big time, You can smell the chemicals in it, It is strong stuff. I think even on the bottel it says not to use on leather. Alan mabey you can post some photos of what you Vinyl looks like

Coming from someone who does custom boat and auto upholstery, the only products I use and recommend are Malco Leather and Plastic Cleaner and 303 for protectant. You can find the Malco at any good upholstery supply house or at www.malcopro.com just follow the insructions, the stuff is awesome!

I will second the magic eraser. I tried the Starbright and 3M stuff on my seats and thought they were clean (With a lot of elbow grease). Then on a whim I tried a magic eraser on the seats I just cleaned with Starbright and 3m. WOW. Now the seats were clean and it was just about effortless.

Now all I use is the magic eraser when the seats start to look a little dirty.

Kevin

Grant and you other CC loyalists, I hope you'll find this info as amazing as I did. Since I live about 1.5 miles from the CC factory here in sunny Orlando, I thought I'd wander in a week ago and ask the guys that build the interiors for these $50K+ boats what I should use on my vinyl to get rid of mold/mildew. What they told me literally floored me! All four guys I spoke with said they'd poor straight bleach on the vinyl if it was fairly bad and let it set for ten or so minutes, after which they'd wash the vinyl down with soap and water. Holy smokes! Needless to say, I listened to what they said, but have no intention of doing this to my vinyl.

Thats funny.(I would never use bleach) I know there are a tone of chemicals that will clean you vinyl with little to no elbo grease at all. Rule of thumb. "the stronger the chemical the easyer it is to remove the spot or dirt". The trick is using a chemical that will not dry out the vinyl or open the pours and make it easyer to get dirty in the first place. Have you noticed that when you first got your boat that it was easy to keep the vinyl clean. Thats because it has a clear protactant coat on it from the factory. Then the more you cleand it the more you remove the protectieve clear coating that used to keep your vinyl sealed. I have always use the vinyl are rubber cleaner that McGuyers sells its like 303. Its more of a protectant than a cleaner but it does remove some dirt and will never damage or harm your vinyl. Some other cleaners like bleach and Greased Lightning will, Im sure Sparky can atest. There is no magical chemical/product that cleans fast and easy with out dammaging the vinyl/leather. And Im sure not all viynl is the same. What might work for you and your older boat/ vinyl might not work for me.

What is your thoughts on Babe's Vinyl cleaner, I also sell a product called Buffalo Milk, we have a vinyl cleaner and conditioner that is an excelent product. Send me a address and I will get you a sample to try.

(Message edited by sanger215guy on November 22, 2004)

Funny that you should ask. I used the Babes vinyl cleaner on a friends boat we tryed it against the McGuires and it worked slightly better on removing the dirt on the same stain. we cleand half the spot with McGuires and the other half with Babes. I cant remember if the Babes left the Vynl shiny like the McGuires,???
My Address is 5 South Linden Ave #6 South San Francisco Ca 94080. II would be happy to try some of your vinyl cleaner and conditioner "G

mr. clean magic eraser for me too. it's a sponge that you get wet and wipe away. i was susprised to see mildew wipe right off. they didn't remove 100% of the mildew but so much of it that a nice sunny day will bleach the rest of it.

if you try these, try using a towel to clean up the mess that the eraser lifts up. that way, the eraser doesn't get as dirty quite as fast and lasts a little longer. plus, you get to see how much crap you just wiped off your seats.

I had to use bleach when I first bought my boat. The previous owner must have just left the boat out in the elements year round with no cover. The vinyl was in such bad shape that I had exhuasted all alternatives and had nothing left to try but bleach.

I used dilluted bleach in a spray bottle along with Soft Scrub. I would first spray down the vinyl with bleach and then apply moderate amounts of Soft Scrub with an electric buffer. It took me almost 8 hours to do the entire boat, but I took the vinyl from a gray/black color back to it's original white.

Afterwards I used large amounts of protectant to keep the threads and vinyl from drying out. The boat's interior looks fantastic for a 9 year old boat. It was a last resort, but it woked incredibly well.

After you get the mildew off of the vinyl by whatever brutal means neccessary, I would still use the Star-Brite. It brightens, but more importantly it softens the vinyl.

I've heard good things about the 303 protectant that Sparky recommended as well.