how to clean gauge faces?

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R3dplanet

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I have my dash bezel and gauges torn apart for cleaning and maybe some replacement. The gauge face numbers have yellowed and faded with time. Does anyone have any clever ideas how to clean them? Obviously alcohol or ammonia would wipe the white stencils right off the faces. I'd like to hear from someone who's successfully done this.

Thanks,
Marcus
 
Small amount of windex on a Q-tip is about all you can do. Be gentle and be quick. The stick in the Q-tip can mark the black. To use a dremel buffer requires removing the screen. Why? If any such tool should grab the needle it will be carnage.
 
RedFish said:
Small amount of windex on a Q-tip is about all you can do. Be gentle and be quick. The stick in the Q-tip can mark the black. To use a dremel buffer requires removing the screen. Why? If any such tool should grab the needle it will be carnage.
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This x2
 
I used Westley's Whitewall Cleaner and a Qtip on mine followed by plain water to neutralize the bleach. Really brightened up the numbers.

Try it on a small area first though.

I used orange nail polish on the needles...
 
Maybe take Redfish advice with the windex and dilute it with water?? Dunno I have nver tried. I have a new set of white gauge decals if yer interested, never opened.
 
Cheap paper decals are what they are.
Premium Dash Decals are what they are.
If cleaning doesn't satisfy and clostly professional re-screening is not an option
the decals are very nice for a cosmetic renew.
Some of us a thankful for this option.
 
I ordered a set of white guage decals. But, Unfortuately it had a 120 mph speedometer and I have a 66 cuda formula s with a 150 mph speedo. So I never used them. It would be cool to have the vacuum performance indicator instead of the tach.I repainted my guage needles with flourecent orange paint.It came out pretty good. I had to get the speedo repaired it cost me $180.00. When he rebuilt it he re did the numbers on it. It looks like brand new. I had to repaint the housing also because it looked terrible so I painted it black hammered color from rustoleum. it looks pretty good now. This car had sat for 20+ years and it's like an onion. Everytime you peel back a segment there's another segment.
 
Sreyno said:
I ordered a set of white guage decals. But, Unfortuately it had a 120 mph speedometer and I have a 66 cuda formula s with a 150 mph speedo. So I never used them. It would be cool to have the vacuum performance indicator instead of the tach.I repainted my guage needles with flourecent orange paint.It came out pretty good. I had to get the speedo repaired it cost me $180.00. When he rebuilt it he re did the numbers on it. It looks like brand new. I had to repaint the housing also because it looked terrible so I painted it black hammered color from rustoleum. it looks pretty good now. This car had sat for 20+ years and it's like an onion. Everytime you peel back a segment there's another segment.
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Spray paint = grrrr You brought it up so I'm going to respond for all the others reading here. Just dont ! As in dont shoot several coats of clear on the gauges. It will go onto the needle movement abd screw it up. Dont shoot the housing illuminated cavity with chrome in a can.
Spray bombs can do more harm than good. The 6 bucks can be much better spent.
I will assume the hammered texture rustoleum was sprayed on the outside of the inst' housing. I haven't ran into that yet so i dont know if it would cause problems other than interfearing with chassis ground paths.
. It is a waste of paint in my opinion regardless.
 
I've used the Wesley's product mentioned above, simple green, and 409 all with Q-tips. I agree with others who cautioned about not rubbing the stick of the Q-tip on the gauge face. Lately I've been using turtle wax. If the gauges paint is in good shape they seem to clean up well with any of these products. Sadly these methods only work about 50% of the time. The other half the paint just flakes of onto the Q-tip. At least that's been my experience.
 
Another note to all on the subject of cleaning...
Chemicals that may not harm the paint on metal screens will take the color right off the plastic digit wheels of the odometer. I have found nothing that is safe to use in cleaning those.
If you are going to use a strong chemical on the speedo screen, first cover the odometer. A small piece of aluminum foil work well.
 
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