Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[vatco]

We offten get asked how to remove stubborn stains from Formica in caravans. There are various different methods that many will be familiar with but folks often get stuck if the staining is really bad.

Today we had to tackle such a problem so I thought I would post the solution here.


This is a picture of a worktop in a van we are restoring. The Formica is a hard to find pattern and the job doesn't warrant having a sheet specially printed.

The Stains are some form of rust probably caused by something metal being left to rust on the surface.
Normal cleaning methods had no effect.

For moderate to light staining we have found that a decent surface limescale remover with an ordinary kitchen scouring pad normally works but no such luck on this. So for really tough stuff we use 180 grit wet and dry paper with plenty of water and rub it down like you would to prep a car for paint. Do the whole surface not just the area of the stain.

This will get rid of the stain and with care and plenty of water will not damage the finish. It will, however, leave a mat finish. This can be bought back by working through the grades of paper up to about 1200 or finer if you can get it and then polishing with a good automotive cutting polish like G3 or similar. Result can be seen below

A great improvement I think. And a saving of about £500 to have a sheet printed (if you can get someone to print a small quantity) plus the other sundry expenses of completing a the job of replacing the top



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Home is where you park it

[gillberry]

we have just had to get over the same sort of thing, we removed a tap from the top of the work top of out 68 Nyala so we had a hole to fill, spent ages going to places to try and get a bit of edging to match, no luck then it was all these ideas of how to cover it. eventually came up with the idea of tiles, my father had some which were a near match so big brother has cut them to size just waiting to get them stuck so now we have a pot stand, will post a picture when done.