MBA 2017 trackpad not smooth anymore since cleaning with 35% alcohol

[AmyApple]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post on macrumors, as of this year I am a mac user for the first time. When I first bought my Macbook Air 2017 the trackpad was silky smooth. My finger glided easily over the trackpad. Since cleaning it with a tissue wet with 35% brandy the trackpad is no longer smooth but very rubbery and there is lots of friction. My finger bumps up and down from the friction. After using it for a few weeks as is it is a little better but still it can’t compare to what it was like when I first bought it. It’s uncomfortable to use. I am real worried if I have permanently damaged my trackpad?

 

[DeltaMac]

Brandy? --- 35% alc. is about half of what you should use for disinfecting surfaces.
Your trackpad is glass, coated for appearance.
Your incident with the brandy seemed to soften that coating.
There's not much you can do, but you probably could try >90% isopropyl alcohol (if you can find any these days).
If there is some kind of residue from the brandy, that will remove that. Just dampen a cloth, and wipe it down. You don't want so much moisture that liquid runs inside, just a damp cloth will do what you need.
If there is no improvement, and you want to return to a normal trackpad, you will have to replace it.
iFixit appears to have replacements available -
If you have AppleCare+ , you MIGHT be able to use an incident to get Apple to fix it for you.

 

[AmyApple]

Brandy? --- 35% alc. is about half of what you should use for disinfecting surfaces.
Your trackpad is glass, coated for appearance.
Your incident with the brandy seemed to soften that coating.
There's not much you can do, but you probably could try >90% isopropyl alcohol (if you can find any these days).
If there is some kind of residue from the brandy, that will remove that. Just dampen a cloth, and wipe it down. You don't want so much moisture that liquid runs inside, just a damp cloth will do what you need.
If there is no improvement, and you want to return to a normal trackpad, you will have to replace it.
iFixit appears to have replacements available -
If you have AppleCare+ , you MIGHT be able to use an incident to get Apple to fix it for you.

Thanks for the reply. I used a microfibre cloth wet with water to clean the residue from the brandy. After doing that the trackpad became less smooth than before. I will book an appointment at the Genius Bar to see how much it would cost to get it fixed.

On the Apple website link: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204172 it says "Using a 70 percent isopropyl alcohol wipe or Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, you may gently wipe the hard, non-porous surfaces of your Apple product, such as the display, keyboard or other exterior surfaces." Then under the Notebook computers section it says "When cleaning the outside of your MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air... use a damp, soft, lint-free cloth to clean the computer's exterior. Avoid getting moisture in any openings. Do not spray liquid directly on the computer. Don't use aerosol sprays, solvents, abrasives or cleaners containing hydrogen peroxide that might damage the finish." Is 70 percent isopropyl alcohol allowed to be used to clean the trackpad on a Macbook Air if it's an external surface? What's the difference between regular alcohol and isopropyl? At the that time I also used the brandy on the surrounding areas around the trackpad where you put your wrists. Do you think the coating might be ruined there as well?

 

[DeltaMac]

The materials are very different.
The trackpad is glass.
The wrist rest is anodized aluminum. That will have very different response to cleaning attempts, and I doubt that brandy would impact that material (other than simply being the wrong product to use for cleaning.)
But then I would not be surprised to hear that the "brandy" in your brandy bottle was actually some other liquid.
Did you double-check the contents of that container? If it affected the finish on the trackpad, then I would be a bit reluctant to actually put that in my body.

 

[russell_314]

I wonder if there's some sort of synthetic coating that makes it smooth. Brandy might have had something in it besides alcohol that damaged that. On the bright side the 2020 MacBook Air is a nice upgrade.

 

[chrfr]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post on macrumors, as of this year I am a mac user for the first time. When I first bought my Macbook Air 2017 the trackpad was silky smooth. My finger glided easily over the trackpad. Since cleaning it with a tissue wet with 35% brandy the trackpad is no longer smooth but very rubbery and there is lots of friction. My finger bumps up and down from the friction. After using it for a few weeks as is it is a little better but still it can’t compare to what it was like when I first bought it. It’s uncomfortable to use. I am real worried if I have permanently damaged my trackpad?

Brandy will leave residue- it's got sugars and other things in it that you don't actually want left on your computer. Clean it again using either just isopropyl alcohol or one of the wipes that Apple recommends. The chances you've actually damaged the glass are slim.

 

[deeddawg]

On the Apple website link: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204172 it says "Using a 70 percent isopropyl alcohol wipe or Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, you may gently wipe the hard, non-porous surfaces of your Apple product, such as the display, keyboard or other exterior surfaces." Then under the Notebook computers section it says "When cleaning the outside of your MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air... use a damp, soft, lint-free cloth to clean the computer's exterior. Avoid getting moisture in any openings. Do not spray liquid directly on the computer. Don't use aerosol sprays, solvents, abrasives or cleaners containing hydrogen peroxide that might damage the finish." Is 70 percent isopropyl alcohol allowed to be used to clean the trackpad on a Macbook Air if it's an external surface? What's the difference between regular alcohol and isopropyl? At the that time I also used the brandy on the surrounding areas around the trackpad where you put your wrists. Do you think the coating might be ruined there as well?

Yes, trackpad should be fine with isopropyl.

The trouble with brandy is that it's distilled fruit juice. So while it may be 35% alcohol, it also has a bunch of other stuff in there. If you wiped your track pad with grape juice it'd probably end up sticky too.

Alcohols are a class of chemicals - ethanol (what is in brandy) is one of several different alcohols. Isopropyl is typically mixed with only water - and thus wouldn't leave any residue like what brandy left, so it's why it's often recommended as a cleaning solvent.

 

[AmyApple]

Update: the brandy is actually homemade brandy. A google search reveals that it could contain methanol acetone, lead among other nasty chemicals. It turns out that my other laptop that I used this brandy to clean with in my opinion also damaged the finish and trackpad, part of the original pattern design in the laptop has dissolved it’s flatter now before it was much more raised. This “brandy” seems to be pure poison. From now on I’ll use some kind of wipes on my computers. I’ll see if I can change the trackpad myself by opening my macbook not that the warranty is worth anything now because the damage was caused accidentally. The finish might be damaged on the metal around the trackpad as well but it will at least be somewhat useable.

 

[chrfr]

Update: the brandy is actually homemade brandy. A google search reveals that it could contain methanol acetone, lead among other nasty chemicals. It turns out that my other laptop that I used this brandy to clean with in my opinion also damaged the finish and trackpad, part of the original pattern design in the laptop has dissolved it’s flatter now before it was much more raised. This “brandy” seems to be pure poison. From now on I’ll use some kind of wipes on my computers. I’ll see if I can change the trackpad myself by opening my macbook not that the warranty is worth anything now because the damage was caused accidentally. The finish might be damaged on the metal around the trackpad as well but it will at least be somewhat useable.

It's probably just the sugars which you can probably clean with just some plain alcohol or perhaps a cloth which you've lightly dampened with a household cleaner (do not spray anything on the computer!) Never use anything like brandy to clean electronics.