What do you think? Is this a dumb idea?

I love the BLACK interior of my CL-S, but the dash is always getting dusty.
I usually use those “canned air” things to blow out the dust from the cracks & crevices of the dash.
The problem is those things are fairly expensive and they don’t last very long.
They also don’t have a lot of “oomph” if you know what I mean.

I was thinking about using the hand sprayer and air from my Craftsman Air Compressor.
There’s lots of low cost OIL FREE air to be had for no cost.
Of course I would adjust the regulator to like 10-20 PSI so I don’t blast off anything important or crack the plastic over the gauges.

What do you think? Good idea or crackpot lunacy ?

Shawn S

 

That ought to work great. Ever thought about sticking your vacuum hose in the vacuum exhaust and using that as a blower?

You could do the entire RSX world a favor by posting your ideas there. The RSX dashboard has thousands of tiny depressions in it, and it was a genuine nightmare to clean!

 

I've been using our standard home vac with brush attachment on the hose. Why redistribute crevice dust all over?

 

I do it all the time. Works great to blow the crap out of the shifter area etc. Just don't force it directly into the tap/cd opening of your stereo.

 

use the cali dash duster, its fooken AWESOME!!!

 

this will do the trick



and micro cleaning kit for the crevices is a must.

 

I dunno why you'd want to blow the dust around. Some type of small california duster sounds like a better idea to me.

 

I use a vaccum with the fuzzy tipped extension!

 

it is a good idea, Shawn.

you can even blow the crap out from between the seats and the center console.

i like to blow, wipe then vacuum.

secret detailer trick (probably wouldn't do this w/ the cl, but...) buy a can of scrubbing bubbles, that aerosol bathroom cleaner stuff, spray into the dusty vent, let sit for 10-15 seconds, then blow w/ compressed air. removes all dust and leaves the vent looking shiny new.

 

Good idea. My friend has a craftsman oilless compressor, but that thing is loud when it's running! (the compressor).

 

Mine too, but that’s why they make hoses that are 50FT long.

Shawn S

 

If you want to clean your entire dash and NAVI at the same time within SECONDS, you should consider this:

CALIFORNIA DASH DUSTER. It is so freakin' great cause it picks up ALL THE DAMN DUST on the dash and it cleans the NAVI! I can pick up all the dush on my shift leather boot too! it's very cheap and it's hassle free.
When you slide it against the navi screen, it gets rid of all smears!



California Dash Duster

 

Shawn,

Fry's has had some great sales on the hand held compressed air bottles. I picked up around 10 bottles for about $1.50 each and they lasted a long time (I use them for more than just "car" stuff). The same bottles (same size) were almost 3x-4x more at a couple of local vendors and online "car care" shops. (I got the bottles a while ago, so if things changed -- sorry...)

The Metro vac has some "micro" crevice tools that can be adapted for getting into the vents and other places -- they work very well to get RID of the dust (not just blow it around). The microfiber dust mitt over at griots (or the Elites from Microfiber Tech) are great for dust removal on most of the non fabric surfaces.

If you call Griot's, you can get the micro attachments for around $10 (they are not listed in any catalogs -- you need to ask about the accesories for their 200 buck relabled Metro vac.). You might need a hose adaptor that can be had from Metro. Metro also sells their own micro attachments for scarfing up dust from vents, etc, etc.

A lot of ways to go. BTW, the Vac 'N Blo is pretty strong with the intake filter out and does a pretty good job of blowing water out of the cracks of the outside of the car...

 

when i used to detail cars we used compressed air to blow all the dust out of cars.

 

I know a few pretty good detailers and I know some that do and other that don't.

As with anything, if your careful, it can be quite helpful. It's also pretty easy to put small pits in the plastic gauges and glass if there are any "hard" bits laying around in the dash -- it depends...

IMO, if you get rid of the "bulk" of the stuff handing around with a vacuum and MF towel or mitt, there is much less chance of picking up a small bit of abrasive material and whacking it into a gauge or bezel.

YMMV

 

EricL already mentioned MF mitts... So, guys, please don't laugh... I've been using these Pledge Grab-It mitts for a couple of months now to keep the dash and instrument panel free of dust between car washes. They're fast, cheap and disposable.

 

bah i just use a damp Z towel to wipe up the dust then Z-Leather-in-a-Bottle

 

That’s what I use on the TOP of the dash, but what about the clear plastic on the gauge cluster?
I try not to even TOUCH that because it scratches so easily.
That’s why I usually just blow it clean.

The Wife gave me one of those static cling “magic duster” things, but it doesn’t get into the cracks & crevices.

Shawn S

 

damp Z-towel...since the paint is seemingly easier to scratch than the guage cluster, Z-towel works just fine

 

On the gauge plastic:
I use Plexus with a very soft detailing cloth I bought from Griot's. It works great and Plexus actually has some filling ability to help if there are any swirls.