Suggestions for cleaning gauge face?
 

Looking for suggestions for cleaning the metal face of some gauges. The face doesn't have any rust, just some grime that needs to be cleaned up. I don't want to harm the paint, color and detail is still good.

Thoughts?

70 Blackbird

The actual face of the gauge with letters & needle? If so be very careful, the white letters can smear if too much force or the wrong product is used and the face is deteriorated at all from age/sun. I would start with a light mix of dish detergent and micro fiber cloth, test an unseen area then go from there if no signs of damage.

Yes, I am wanting to clean the face with the lettering. There isn't any surface rust or bubbling in the paint.. but does have some grime from it's years of service..

guages
 

send guages to get restored

I am a bit more of a low budget guy.. Gauges all work, just need to clean up the faces.. Hoping that someone has crossed this bridge before and is willing to share. If not I will give it a go and share my results..

From my experience, any more pressure on the gauge face than you might get from a light brushing with a used makeup brush, is likely to smear the printing on the gauge face.

I also learned the hard way that a tach needle can break off surprisingly easy.

I would guess that some sort of steam cleaning might work, but the main problem is that the ink used on the gauge face tends to act like pastel (think: soft chalk) - so I cannot stress enough to be careful.

Maybe a Q-tip to get the specific dirty areas, but I wouldn't touch any of the white or red on an old gauge.

Took a while to attempt this.. I was somewhat successful using dish soap warm water (140 degrees) and a makeup brush. Thus far without damage.. These are all somewhat recent purchases, the clock had obviously been stored in the open, real dusty. While it did clean up pretty well, there are some slight surface imperfections which I don't think additional cleaning will help with.

The tach appears as if a prior owner attempting some cleaning, leaving some marks and grime. I have gone over it several times, wash, rinse (warm water as well) and dry with a can of air. I need to work on it some more but it is looking a lot better.

I am not seeing a downside to the attempt..

Looks MUCH better!

John