stripes

Argh .... waterless cleaner fills this Obsessive Compulsive detailer with fear!!

Anyhoo...... have you pictures of the stripes? How bad are they? Personally I wouldn't use an abrasives on them, since they're only vinyl. Haven't actually come up with an alternative though......

Ah I thought you'd gone for aftermarket stripes, not MINI ones (my memory is terrible!). I do have a bird lime stain on one of my stripes but it's only really visible at certain angles. I remember the first time I closed the bonnet, I got palm marks on them too, that took ages to fade, so grease/oil stains too. They're a pain in the hoop.

So what else has gone wrong with the car?

Personally though, I'd avoid that spray on cleaner stuff. Paint these days is so easily marked compared to cars from years ago - due to what they're NOT allowed to put in it! You will find it swirls your paint. VO is a lot more forgiving than darker/metallic shades though. At least if your car remained dusty you wouldn't see the marks on the stripes.............