atomarchio

I have a 2011 RX350. My issues are with the driver's side door & entrance to car due to shoe/scuff marks.

I've purchased car cleaning products but nothing seems to work. Any suggestions on how I can remove the shoe/scuff marks?

Please let me know. Thanks.

RXSF

in short, you cant. That is the problem with Lexus (and a lot of cars out there). They use these hard plastics on the bottom of the doors. Ive experienced this in every toyota/lexus product I have owned and when I got my 3rd Gen RX, I made sure to let all my passengers know to fully open the car door before getting out.

Even my C class with has a base price of 35K has fabric wrapped lower portions on the door to prevent this from happening.

atomarchio

Could I just buy a replacement parts and remove/install them myself? Would the dealer let me do that?

kitlz

You can buy replacement sills from Sewell and switch them out yourself. They have a video on their website on how to do it. I change mine when I bring in the RXh in for service. I'm not sure about the door. It might mean getting a new interior door panel. That's also something you can do yourself. It's all held in by clips. But the price might be steep. Check with Sewell. With the CL discount, they'll be cheaper than the dealer.

atomarchio

OK. What is the black plastic strip called (in the photo) that's on the bottom as you enter the car?

Is there a name I should use when searching on the sewell site?

kitlz

That's your door sill. Sewell sells the illuminated ones on their website. You can get the non-illuminated ones from them if you have the part number. There are websites to figure that out but you can contact your dealer's parts department and ask them for it.

zapa

you can make them look a lot better if you put a good leather cleaner on it and rub at it with a MF.

Jetfire

iTrader: (3)

Use an all purpose cleaner like Meg's APC and then use 303 aerospace. It won't remove it but it'll make it less obvious.

BertL

OP, I agree with previous posters. You can perhaps remove dirt that has collected in some of the scratches on the plastic bits with various cleaners, or even make the sills a little better with some polish of some sort, but you won't get any true scratches themselves to go away completely. It's the way the design is using metal and plastic in the entry area. If Lexus had elected to put cloth-like material down there, well, you could try cleaning it, but we'd all have the other problem of potentially ripping it, and then our complaining and dealing with something that wasn't as robust. It's a problematic area and most of our RX's I suspect develop some amount of problems over time around there.

If you want a permanent solution by replacing the parts, Anita's suggestion of using Sewell is a good one. The sills are one part of where you're having problem, but for the other surrounding plastic parts you'll have to locate additional part numbers. I also suggest going to a dealer and letting them help you look the part numbers up is the quickest and least expensive way, but if you want to figure it out yourself, the info is probably on TIS... TIS is the information system that Toyota/Lexus service folks use for service bulletins, manuals, tracking service history of vehicles, etc. Toyota allows individuals to buy access to the same information they use. It will cost you to sign-up -- I bought a 3-day pass early last year to research a bunch of items on the 2013 RX before the first ones were delivered. The system was fairly easy to find my way around in, but I don't know if that would be the case for everyone. Go here if you want to investigate TIS further, but I honestly recommend you head to your parts department and go from there. You can always shop price of the parts you need from Sewell after you know what you need.

Good luck.

alexmeller

I found experimentally, that you don't really need any special cleaners. Gasoline removes dirt and rubber from your scuff marks very well.

atomarchio

Without damage? That's interesting. Never heard of that...

jfelbab

I had a neighbor who liked to use gasoline for cleaning things too. He burned his garage down and melted much of the siding on his home. Gasoline is not a good choice.

One of the most effective vinyl cleaner I've found over the years is Meguiar's Heavy Duty Vinyl Cleaner (M39). After cleaning I usually apply their Vinyl&Rubber Cleaner/Conditioner (M40). Neither product will correct physical damage but will remove or lessen the appearance of most scuffs. The conditioner has a nice patina but is just slightly more shiny than original. I don't use it on the dash as it may yield glare.

tmf2004

iTrader: (15)

you could always buy some clear or Carbon 3M wrap and wrap the area thats more prone to get scratched.. It will save the plastic and look pretty good also..

Bluesman50

Try a MR CLEAN MAJIC ERASER.......works great!

VTsuckah

iTrader: (1)

Why do people always recommend the magic eraser? It only induces further scratches and scuffs b/c it IS very abrasive. Do NOT use.