You can solder right through that coating on the printed circuit side, no need to remove it...and while I'm here, I added links to my original post to another board/thread on how to adapt the stock column stalk to an aftermarket cruise kit, made by Rostra (and which looks like a VDO Tempostat). This might be good stuff for anyone who has to spend more than $200.00 on their existing setup to get it operational.

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1986 560SL
2002 Toyota Camry
1993 Lexus