Following
@mowlas 's write up and donning my biggest brave pants I set to on my HVAC buttons in situ, no need to remove them. I used Goo Gone and a fine microfibre cloth.
HVAC before I started. The buttons were all pretty icky and nasty to touch.
View attachment 104341
After rubbing with the fine microfibre cloth liberally wetted with Goo Gone and also using a cocktail stick to scrape / loosen small bits of gunk around the raised bits and excavate between the buttons.
View attachment 104342
View attachment 104343
As you can see most of the gunk has gone, and what's left that you can see in the photos, is imperceptable in the flesh. The buttons are a joy to touch, albeit just plastic, but that's much better than the stickyness.
It was a cinch. All in, probably 30 minutes, although I could now probably do another one faster.
I was concerned about rubbing out the graphics, but as you can see they suffered no ill effects at all, despite relatively strong rubbing. I was also concerned that I had rubbed off some of the grey on the edge of a couple of buttons, but as you can see from the before pics, the paint had already been chipped.
The stickyness was caused by a transparent film which was removed purely using the fine microfibe cloth. In truth I don't know if the Goo Gone enabled the removal or not, or just provided some lubrication. It may have disolved or softened the gunk but I couldn't be sure.
I am beyond delighted since I had been quoted a big wedge for this to be sorted professionally. I have no doubt that the buttons would have been pristine and better than new, but this is absolutely fine for me!
Now I have a sticky air vents to look at and the NIT surround. I'll need some more encouragement....
Eb