Tips for Cleaning Black Plastic on Rivian Rocker Panel

Vincent · 2025-01-10T19:33:15+00:00

A friend needed to support his son who would be running a 'very cold' marathon on Sunday while rucking a 30 pound pack. The outside temps will be around 15F-20F the whole time. The location of the race is nowhere close to any L2 chargers, but he's not worried about driving distance to or from the race - it is 50 miles away from his house. He says he will be sitting in his ruck with his laptop and watching his live track+Garmin inReach data for the duration of the race (about 4 hours). He thought about taking his Honda EB2800i gasoline powered generator, if he can use the level 1 EVSE attached to the generator and keep the truck running with full heat + power - without really consuming much of the truck's main battery? He feels it's super dorky to have a gas generator running while attached to a Rivian in the woods, just so he can stay warm, but don't know if it would work ok this way and 'preserve' the main battery so he doesn't need to worry about driving range when we wants to head home. He talked to me about it and I told him the simple answer is NO. I tested this theory the other night when I was plugged into a 5.9kW charger. To maintain the interior amenities (interior and exterior lights, radio, heater, seat heaters), it took almost all of the charge. I charged for 15 minutes, it delivered 1.6kW, and the truck consumed 1.4kW, delivering only 0.2kW to the truck battery. Told him he would be using a laptop at another 200ish watts. The little trickle charger charges at 1.4kW on a good day, 1.2kW is normal for me. You can slow the bleed, but you cant stop it. My advise to him was for him to charge it up to 100% at home, and roll the dice is what I would do.

Rivian Mom

Active Wheeler

Dec 31, 2024

A friend noticed on the black trim pieces along the rocker panel of his truck, that there seems to be bloches, stains, or could even be dried on paint. At this point my regular car wash didnt work, tried dawn and nope, even some murphys oil soap.

Before

So I gave him a few tips I saw online and this one, I got these from a recommendation on Rivian FB page I believe. They are wonderful as I've seen a lot of people talk about how effective it was for a similar black trim with similar staining issues.

CERAKOTE® Ceramic Trim Coat Kit -... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SHJVK4G?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Cerakote Trim Coat ($16 from Amazon) is a ceramic coating for plastics. You just have to follow instructions and wash with dish soap using a soft sponge or microfiber towel to strip off all grease/grime, or wax. If that isn't enough, rubbing alcohol should do it. Once dried the plastic trim may look dull or faded. That's where Trim Coat comes in, to restore that deep rich like-new appearance. And it will stay that way through more than a few summers; unlike products like 303 or Armor-All (which would only last a few weeks).

After

There are other helpful options I saw, like magic eraser. Not as gritty as a Brillo pad but an abrasive pad nontheless. The plastic trim is textured with peaks and valleys. Wiping with an abrasive pad is just like sanding drywall with a fine grit sandpaper. You're sanding down the peaks (as well as the outer layer, which can make UV damage more severe).