Dash pad preservation

[WIDESIDE72]

Originally Posted by Shane

I agree with BarryB ... NO armorall ... it works great as long as you keep it on there. When it evaporates and dries the vinyl out it actually leaves the material harder than what it was before the armorall was applied.

The one key thing is to keep the sun off of it. UV rays cause vinyl to decay faster than anything else.

I have a 12 oz bottle of protectant made by 3M called REFRESH that says it has UV inhibitors in it. I have been using it on all the dashes (only) on all my vehicles for several years. (It goes a long way.) It is sort of a cream consistency. I have a foam applicator pad that I use to keep the protectant off the windshield. It has worked great and one bottle has lasted nearly five years! (Almost empty now, though. Believe it or not, as far as dashes go, us 67-72 truck guys have it lucky. If the dash cracks, it is less than $100 to replace. I have a 79 Malibu and when I bought it the dash was all cracked up. I do not think there are any repro dashes for it. (There weren't any a few years ago). There is a company called "JUST DASHES" that will rebuild a foam core dash for around $800 (!) I lucked out and found a good dash for $50, even the right color when I went to to buy some related parts from a guy that had stripped his car to make a dirt track car. I keep the dash covered in the #M stuff and a sun shield on the windshield. Unfortunately I only have a carport for now.