Don't use Goof Off on your laptop

So I have a BRAND ****ING NEW x61s, and I decided to take those intel/vista sticks off. The vista sticker came off cleanly, but the intel sticker left a sticky mess. Somebody on this forum mentioned using Goo Gone, so I went into my garage and grabbed Goof Off without realizing that it's a different product.

Well, I think I discovered the one thing in the world that will destroy the thinkpad's ballistic plastic case. Now there's a huge shiny spot rimmed with white that scratches when you brush your fingernail against it.

I don't know what to do. I'm extremely neurotic about these kinds of things as it is, but even a more hard-headed person would freak out over this.

Why didn't I read the ***ing label. I read the god**** label of shampoo bottles for christ sakes.

 

Man. That's gotta be frustrating and I'm certainly sorry to hear of your plight. I know this isn't going to make any difference to you now, but I have found that plain ole Baby Oil removes most sticky residue with ease and leaves no nasty after effects.

 

sorry to hear that man. i can totally understand how are you feeling rite now

 

Sorry to hear that, I guess you could use a touch up marker or some spray paint to cover it.

 

That must really blow. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that happened to me. Hope you find a good resolution for it. Maybe sand it and then get leather paper skin. You'll add a touch of class to your Lenovo while you're at it!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=288437

 

did you buy accidental damage warranty?

 

Cant you just buy another palmrest ?

 

I also want to add that anything with organic solvents in them are bad. Anything containing the following should be avoided:
1) Acetone
2) Methanol
3) Toluene
4) Tetrahydrofuran
5) Heptane
6) Cyclohexane
7) Isopropyl alcohol
8) Dichloromethane
9) Anisole
Just some off the top of my head..

 

next time, keep the stickers on. theyre not that bad.

 

You can probably get a replacement palmrest if you look hard enough, should not be too expensive.

 

Sorry to hear that. :/

Keep your eyes on eBay, right now there isn't any X61 palm rest listed, but I've seen them before. Another solution is get some custom cut palm rest protectors like this one.

 

I used isopropyl alcohol with no problems on my T61. Though it was lenses cleaners, which is not 100% iso-alco.

 

The amount of isopropyl alcohol in lens cleaners is like about 10% w/v or less, which is still ok. The regular isopropyl alcohol you buy at the pharmacy is like 60% and over, which can slowly eat the paint on the palm rest. Let's just say I learned the hard way, but glad that I was able to get it replaced for free.

 

Really? My bottle says 90% iso-alcohol..

I suppose if I keep rubbing it into the palmrest it'll eventually screw it up, but I didn't think anyone would actually do that..

 

I think (not 100% sure) the ThinkPad case color is dyed like my old Toshiba Portege instead of painted on, I've been using 60%+ isopropyl alcohol on it for years without any problems. But I also noticed on some ThinkPads, the surface seems to be shinier, so maybe it has another coat of paint. What you can do to be safe is dilute the isopropyl alcohol with distilled water. For the non-ThinkPad Lenovo models, most of them are not dyed. In those user manuals, you can see it's written to use isopropyl alcohol to clean the screen, but for the case it just says use water with a mild soap. I read that part only after I noticed something went wrong.

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Thanks for the link roxtc. I just bought a roll of that faux leather contact paper. Hopefully it won't end up looking tacky, but I think I might be able to make it actually look good if I'm careful with it.