Skip to content 
5. What happened after the first 3 evenings
By day 3, the mixture had done something, but not much. The raised crust on 4 of the 9 stains softened enough that I could feel less texture under the cloth. The roughest bits came off in tiny flakes, especially on the post caps where rain and dew had probably already started loosening them.
Visually, though, the improvement was modest. If I’m being generous, the treated stains looked 10% to 15% lighter than before. The untreated comparison post looked basically the same, so the paste did have some effect. But it was nowhere near a dramatic “gone overnight” result.
6. The smell, residue, and the mess factor
This was one of the worst parts. The Icy Hot smell outdoors was surprisingly strong for the first 15 minutes: minty, medicinal, and a little sweet in a way that did not belong on a fence. Mixed with the fruity-chalk smell of the crushed vitamins, it created a scent I can only describe as “pharmacy candy in a garden center parking lot.”
The cream also left a faint oily film if I didn’t wipe thoroughly. Because vinyl fence posts have edges and seams around the caps, that film wanted to settle in corners. On 2 evenings I had to go back with a separate cloth and plain warm water just to remove the slick residue. So even before judging cleaning performance, this was a high-hassle method.
7. What changed by day 7
At the halfway point, the best-treated stains had clearly improved. The crusty material was mostly gone on 5 of the 9 stains, and 2 of the cap-top stains had dropped from about a 7/10 visibility to maybe a 4/10. From the patio, I noticed them less.
But the remaining discoloration was still there. The beige outline and grayish shadow stayed put, especially on the vertical faces of the posts. In other words, the mixture was better at loosening the built-up surface residue than actually removing the embedded or sun-set staining. That’s useful to know, but not impressive enough to justify 7 consecutive evenings of effort.
8. What happened by day 14
After 14 evenings, I’d call the final result mixed at best. Of the 9 stains, 3 looked substantially better, 4 looked somewhat better, and 2 looked barely changed. None disappeared completely. The best improvement was on a cap edge stain that ended up about 60% lighter than when I started. The worst was a long drip mark on the side of a post that maybe improved 15% to 20%.
The untreated comparison post also changed slightly over those 2 weeks, likely from dew, a brief rain, and ordinary weathering. That’s important because it means not every bit of improvement came from my evening applications. Compared with the untreated post, I think the Icy Hot-and-vitamin treatment accelerated removal of surface crust, but it did not solve deep staining.
9. Did it damage the vinyl?
Thankfully, I didn’t see obvious permanent damage. There was no melting, pitting, or yellowing that I could confidently attribute to the treatment. The vinyl stayed smooth, and the gloss level looked the same after I wiped the residue away.
That said, on one post cap I noticed a temporary dull smear after a heavier application, probably from the cream base not being fully removed. It went away with a second cleaning using warm water and a few drops of dish soap. I would still be cautious: just because my fence didn’t visibly react over 14 days doesn’t mean every vinyl formula or finish would tolerate repeated contact with topical analgesic cream.
10. Why this mixture only sort of worked