What did I do to my bathtub? Please help.

6 years ago

I have a beautiful cast iron clawfoot tub and I think I might have ruined the finish by using one of those spray bathroom cleaners on it. Apparently I sprayed it on and then forgot it was there so it was not wiped off and rinsed off immediately. Now there are streaks on the interior of the tub where it looks as if the finish is no longer shiny. What can I do? Any advice? I called the company where I bought the tub and they suggested I use "Flitz" which is a metal cleaner to bring back the shine. It did not work. Any advice??

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Comments (7)

Etta T
6 years ago
can you post pictures?
ckag
Original Author
6 years ago
I tried to get it to show up in pix, but it doesn't work - just doesn't come through. This is a stand alone, cast iron clawfoot tub, bought new a few years ago. It has streaks of matte white rather than the shiny white of the enamel. I know it has to be from that spray-on foam cleaner that I sprayed on once then forgot about it for several days. When I went back to use the tub, I noticed the streaks and did a head-slap as I remembered. Used the hand-held sprayer to rinse it out first and noticed the slight foaming from the cleaner. Cleaned the tub with microfiber cloth and after it dried, the matte streaks were just a permanent part of the shiny finish. It just makes it look like it has not been cleaned and has streaks. There HAS to be a way to bring back the finish to all shiny as it originally was. Polish it somehow??

Thanks for any help!
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PRO
Filipe Custom Woodwork
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Contact the manufacturer and see if they have any treatments they can recommend to help with the streaks or any products you can use to help keep the polish. Since it is vinyl, explore the idea of buffing it out as well.....

Saw this on a vendor we carry called Acryline who sells acrylic tubs..

The procedure to remove a light surface scratch or burnish mark is quite simple. Apply paste wax or automobile rubbing

compound to the scratch and then mildly buff the area. This will return the original luster and shine to the marred

acrylic surface

Please test on an area that is barely seen before applying on entire tub...make sure you wash the area completely after treatment to remove left over chemicals.
mmmm12COzone5
6 years ago
Try some type of clear car polish. When our tiler dropped a tile on our tub and chipped it off to the bare metal he way over sanded the patch, leaving a matt scratched up area around the patched enamel (porcafix was used). We put a clear car polish on it to make it shiny again (per the enamel patch people) and you don't even notice it any more because it is shiny. I'm sure we will have to periodically reapply it but so far so good. Look for something with good durability reviews.
ckag
Original Author
6 years ago
mmmm12 thank you so much because that does sound like a brilliant idea and I will try that!! I kept thinking I was going to have to have my cast iron tub re-enameled, but this sounds like it will work. Thank you!

Fillipe Custom - thank you as well, but my bathtub is not acrylic - it's cast iron, but it appears that some kind of polish is definitely the way to go. thanks for responding!
mmmm12COzone5
6 years ago
ckag,

Do it on a day when you can air it out good. When it goes on fresh it has a chemical smell. But once it cured after a few hours there was no smell.
ckag
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks for the tip! Luckily the tub sits in front of two large windows so as soon as the weather gets a bit nicer I'm going to give this a go. I really feel this might be the thing that finally works as it appears that only the shiny part of the finish was damaged by my leaving a too-harsh cleaner on it for too long. Thank you so much!

What did I do to my bathtub? Please help.

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Etta T

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What did I do to my bathtub? Please help.

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Etta T

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