Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Orsom Weels wrote:PS, i accept no responsibility if you burn your knob to a crisp

Ouch!

I suspect you'll need to do some sanding, but no harm in trying dna (meths), mineral spirits, acetone, or naptha. Also no harm in fully wetting or even soaking(except maybe to the badge or any glue holding the threaded insert), as both will evaporate and flash off rather quickly. Woodworkers will sometimes give recently cut wood a DNA bath to displace moisture in the wood, knowing the alcohol will evaporate allowing the wood to dry much more rapidly.

Which works best likely depends on the finish (denatured alcohol is used to thin/clean shellacs, for example, mineral spirits for varnishes).

Great info, as my knob needs refurbishing too. It's basically greyish-brown with dark stains from skin-oil, not very attractive. After a very light sanding I tried to remove the oil stains with some good rubs with a rag soaked with mineral spirits (as suggested by some online reading) and that didn't help much. Somewhere else on teh interwebz I read a method that says make a paste of Fuller's Earth and dry-cleaning fluid, apply a thick coat of this and let it dry and sit for a few days, then remove. The H2O2/baking soda method seems MUCH easier, especially for getting the ingredients.

Bringing the colour back with an oil sounds better to me than using a stain. Reading up on that now.

Of course you folks realize you are destroying "patina" and it will likely devalue your car!

Kurt