This has been going on for a while but I never thought twice about it. Near the very top of the door card near the window it seems like the material has been decomposing or losing it's finish. I don't know what triggers it but it looks like the plastic is being warn away and it becomes very sticky. It may have been started by excessive sunlight, but that doesn't cause it anymore. I just noticed it being sticky again this morning and it's cloudy and 45 degrees. Could it perhaps be from interior wipes? I never used anything other than what was designed for interior cleaning and no where else in the car is suffering from this. It seems to be isolated to the front 2 door cards but is much worse on the drivers side. Any ideas? Would something like this be covered by warranty?
Your car is most definatly not under warranty. This would be a bumper to bumper warranty, not powertrain. As in 3 year 36K. An 04 would not be covered.
Do you have any pics? Are you talking about the vinyl piece or the plastic trim that contacts the window? What products are you using? Not all interior cleaning supplies are created equal. I wouldn't be surprised if your cleaning/protection products are either eating away at the material or leaving a nasty residue. Could also be oils/residue from your skin as mentioned as well.
I don't have pics, I'm not sure they would show anything anyways. I guess I could try and see what shows up. The cleaner I have used was armor all interior wipes, I think. I only used them maybe three times and not in over a year. The extended warranty contract that I purchased.
I thought about the arm up there wearing it down, but that doesn't make complete sense as I very rarely have a passenger and even more rarely does that passenger have the window down and arm up. Maybe I'll call suby and see what they think.
Armor All cleaners tend to do more damage by drying the plastics out in the door card. That may be part of the issue. See if you can get your hands on some Meguirs vinyl treatment and see if that can help at all.
