do you use the leather wipes?

 

i dont. i use Lexol conditioner every few months, and once a year i use the Lexol cleaner. its a use-sparingly product and does wonders for leather. to avoid damaging the leather i dont experiment too much with leather products, but Lexol has been good so i havent gone away from it.

 

Dashing crack because they literally dry out (plasticizers evaporate) from the sun and the UV rays. Vaseline is one of the only things that has actually been found to add back some of these lost plasticizers. I recently ran a chemical analysis on a piece I cut off from my dash ill post the scan in a few days. Mostly polyurethane.

 

wow this is back from the dead. Hey guys heres something that worries me. In socal it has been very hot and I have been parking my car in the garage and taking my 92 prelude (which I put vaseline on the dash and it's still really nice). Well my co worker has a TL and when the car is hot and he blasts the AC, if we go over speed bumps or sharp turns I can hear small popping noise near the passenger air bag. Now if it's hot and we just roll with the windows down I can't really here anything popping.

I'm wondering how the HVAC is routed around the airbag and if the extreme heat to sudden cold AC is causing the cracks. Because of I hate cars I started listening to the pops. I'm thinking the vaseline would make the dash more supple and less prone to cracks but others are saying it dries things out. I'm thinking of applying it soon. I think it's been done for some time though without adverse affects.

 

I do... The only cracks I have are the two front leather seats.

 

I thought the original post was funny until I saw this reply. Great stuff.

 

The key is to clean the dash very well with a Woolite/water mix prior to whatever you're using. I want to try the 303, but I can find it only online and I'm not sure it's going to be worth the extra money, especially with shipping.[/quote]

I found a boatload of 303 in the dollar bin at my local auto parts store. Apparently the locals don't know about the good stuff and only buy Armorall.

 

Where?!??!?!?!!??! I'm in PA too...

 

RS Strauss in Philly

 

glad you found it locally but you couldn't find it online?? seriously?

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=...b4f7af4a13aa89

 

fuuny ish

 

I never put anything on my dash the first 6 or so years I owned the car. I decided to put some Aerospace 303 on it a few months ago to get rid of the whitish stuff on it that others have probably seen due to aging. It worked great.

 

I use Vaseline for the interior and exterior as a car wax,makes it shine,won't use anything else.

 

This is a joke right?

 

first post is a 8 year resurrection regarding vaseline?

 

Well since this thread is now resurrected, I'll share...

The best way I've found to prevent dashboard cracking is.... don't cool down or heat up your TL too quickly. If the interior of your car (and dashboard) is 100 degrees F when you get in, try not to crank up the AC right away. Use moderate AC and point it at your feet until the car has cooled to 80 or so. The reverse logic applies in the cold winter with your heat blasting. That top-right area of the dashboard is simply more prone to fatigue than in most other cars. Protecting against the sun and constant expansion/ contraction due to temperature changes can be done.

My TL's dashboard looks brand new after using 303 on it a couple times a year and being careful about temperature changes.

 

OK, my dash on my 06 TL still looks brand new. I use Sonus Cockpit Detailer. But a lot of people like the 303. I also have a MINI and people also like 303 there.

 

When I saw the title of this thread, I just assumed that either Crabman or Majofo had posted another self-gratification fantasy thread while in an Ambien induced sleepwalk.

 

LOL, and then Double LOL at the indomitable Mr. Spinks.

 

All these produts reflect the sun so much back onto the windshield that it degrades visibility drastically.

 

Good point. A trick when its too hot is to open the windows from a distance with the remote key before you get to the car to let the heat dissipate.

 

Yup. I agree. Unfortunately...I learned that too late after moving to Florida. My dashboard went from no cracks to 2 cracks in one summer....now MANY cracks. As an example of how much these dashes expand/contract , see the following pictures taken on the same day. When the interior was hot (I'm guessing like 150 deg F on the surfaces (it was 90 deg F out and in the sun)), there are barely any visible cracks. When the AC has been going for 20 minutes, the cracks appear.