Can You Safely Use a Magic Eraser on Your Car?

Reading Time: 4 minutes

We all look for convenient hacks to keep our cars looking spic and span. So you might have heard about people using Magic Eraser to remove dirt and grime from their vehicles. After all, if Mr. Clean’s vaunted sponge can scrub surfaces clean, surely it can do the same for your car’s exterior, right?

However, it’s generally not safe to apply household cleaning products on your vehicle. Many cleaners aren’t formulated for automotive use, and the Magic Eraser is one of those products. Here’s why you shouldn’t use a Magic Eraser on your car unless you know what you’re doing.

Can You Use a Magic Eraser On Your Car?

In general, you shouldn’t use a Magic Eraser on car paint. It will ruin the paint job and possibly cause minor damage to the exterior. Your car will run fine but might require an automotive detailing job to restore its appearance.

Using a Magic Eraser in the car interior is a little less damaging. However, it requires a light touch and considerable care. Otherwise, the Magic Eraser can leave scratches over interior surfaces, such as the upholstery.

In general, you shouldn’t use a Magic Eraser on car paint, while using it in the car interior requires a light touch and considerable care.

What Is a Magic Eraser?

A Magic Eraser is an abrasive cleaner sponge sold under the Mr. Clean brand name. It consists of melamine foam, a substance produced by a chemical reaction between melamine and formaldehyde.

Melamine foam is the active component of melamine foam pads such as the Magic Eraser. It is very porous, filled with numerous holes that let air and water pass through. Furthermore, the melamine polymers in the foam are hard.

Aside from its use in Magic Eraser, melamine foam has many other applications. If you’ve set foot in a recording studio or sound stage, you must have noticed the insulating sheets covering the walls and ceilings. The sheets are melamine foam, which absorbs sound waves and vibration. Melamine foam sheets reduce noise levels and regulate vibrations in utility and mechanical spaces like line equipment enclosures.

Another application for melamine foam is insulation material for ductwork and pipes. It possesses the strength to withstand the intense heat and vibrational stresses in industrial jobs. Melamine foam protects oil and gas pipelines.

Keep in mind Magic Eraser’s industrial-grade strength. That property will explain things later.

Reasons Not to Use Magic Eraser on Your Car

The Magic Eraser’s ability to remove stubborn dirt is legendary. It can remove crayon markings, grease, and marker pen ink on painted surfaces and wood finish. If the paint that can stick to plastic adheres to the surface of a treated wooden table, you can remove it with a good scrub using the melamine foam sponge. You can even use Magic Eraser to clean hubcaps, which accumulate grim over time and with use.

However, moistened melamine foam works like sandpaper. It abrades external markings on the surface. Depending on how much force you apply to it, a Magic Eraser may have a grit rating between 3000 and 5000, equal to fine sandpaper.

This is why scrubbing a Magic Eraser on car paint isn’t recommended. It can remove the gunk on your vehicle’s body panel or window glass. However, it can also scratch your paint job.

In some cases, the Magic Eraser might even scratch the body panel. And if you use it to clean the windshield or window panes, you might damage the glass.

Remember how melamine foam works? It abrades substances clinging to a surface. In effect, it’s like fine sandpaper. You wouldn’t scrub your car’s exterior with sandpaper, so why would you use a Magic Eraser?

Like sandpaper, Magic Eraser requires the surface to have sufficient strength or else risk getting damaged. While the steel on older vehicles might be thick and tough enough, modern cars use flimsier alloys in their body panels to save weight and improve safety during collisions. And no matter how durable your car’s body panels or window glass panes are, the paint is much flimsier.

If you really need to use a Magic Eraser in your car interior, apply plenty of water to the Magic Eraser, and practice cleaning a small part of the affected surface.

How About Using a Magic Eraser In My Car Interior?

In some ways, your car’s interior is more likely to get damaged by the Magic Eraser. Interior parts like the dashboard and upholstery are generally more flimsy and fragile than the body panels.

If you forcefully scrub the dashboard or kick plates with a Magic Eraser, you can inadvertently scrape off the dye that gives color to the plastic part. Similarly, using the eraser to clean leather can strip the material’s protective coating. Unprotected leather will degrade faster and become more vulnerable to damage.

Do you really have to use a Magic Eraser to get rid of dirt and damage inside your car? You can reduce the risk of damage in several ways.

First, apply plenty of water to the Magic Eraser. Moist sponges are softer than dry ones.

Practice cleaning a small part of the affected surface. Try to get a feel for the correct pressure that can remove scuffing without scratching the part.

Once you get the hang of it, start cleaning. Scrub slowly and apply minimal force to avoid damaging anything.

Clean a small area before moving to the next spot. You can more easily control the Magic Eraser this way.

Can You Repair A Magic Eraser Car Scratch?

Not every scratch inflicted by the Magic Eraser is irreversible. You can determine the severity with a simple test.

Draw your fingernail across the scratch. If your nail catches on the damaged area, it’s deep enough to require serious repair. Bring your car to a professional automotive detailer who can deal with this.

However, if your fingernail makes it over the scratch without snagging, you can repair it. Apply some polishing compound on a polishing pad and rub it into the scratch. If the repaired area stands out, hide it with touch-up paint.

The post Can You Safely Use a Magic Eraser on Your Car? appeared first on In The Garage with CarParts.com.

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