Lamborghini and Ferrari switches and some parts suffer from a condition known as “stickiness”. The issue is caused by a thin layer of rubber applied by the factory for aesthetic reasons — unfortunately, over time the rubber brakes down and becomes very sticky and turns into black goop. This gets all over your hands, and then transfers to the door handles, leather, carbon-fiber, etc. Once there it is really really hard to remove.
I recently replaced the stereo in my Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster, which required removing most if the interior (basically everything other than the dash itself). While I had it all in pieces I decided to clean / detail all the bits, and remove the stickiness. Here is the process:
First off I removed all the interior bits. The original plan was just to remove the carbon-fiber A/C panel and slide the stereo out — unfortunately the bottom lip of the radio sits below the carbon center tunnel cover, so I had to remove that, which in turn required removing the center armrest, which required removing the rear leather panels, which required removing the seatbelts, which required…
Anyway, I wasn’t expecting to have to remove all this, if I’d known just how much was coming out I’d have started by removing the seats, instead of leaving them till the very end. Once all the bits were out I took them into the house and spent the next day or two cleaning all the leather with Leatherique Prestine Clean and Rejuvinator Oil, and cleaning the carbon fiber with einzett Plastic Deep Cleaner and then a layer of 303 Aerospace Protector. The einzett stuff gives a deep, rich gloss to carbon fiber, and the 303 helps protect it from UV damage.
Once that was done I pulled all the switches from the body pieces. Most of the switch-gear simply screws into the bodywork with allen bolts. There are a number of fiddly washers that act as spacers – the wonders of hand-built Italian cars 😛
I tried a number of tricks to remove the sticky rubber layer. There are a huge number of suggestions on the forums, ranging from soaking overnight in Easy-Off Oven cleaner (!) to Simple Green and lots of elbow grease. I tried various option, but by far the best (for me at least) was LA’s Totally Awesome Cleaner, which I picked up a while back at a dollar store!
Here is a treated and an untreated window switch
After a few hours of removing all the stickiness I decided that I’d like some slight rubber texture on the switch-gear, so I carefully taped it all off and gave it 5 or 6 very light coats of clear Plasti Dip Spray.
Unfortunately, once it dried properly it looked a little too textured (and slightly frosted), so I pulled it all off again.
After that was done I gave the seats a few coats of Leatherique to keep them supple and reassembled everything.
A view of the lift system
