Crack-Free Dash / Leather Seats

[Isostar13]

Hey r3v,

I'm lucky in that I found a car with a crack free dash, and seats that are in pretty decent condition. However, I wanted to ask everyone what your preference is for maintaining that good condition on both the interior plastic and leather.

I currently use three main products on mine, applying them maybe once a month:

For plastic surfaces, including the dash:

• Armorall Original Protectant
• Meguiar's Interior Detailer Cleaner

These two are essentially the same thing, but I'm not sure which one works better.

For the leather surfaces:

• Meguiar's Gold Class Rich Leather Spray

Supposedly all of these items both clean and protect. They seem to work quite well, but I'm not a detailer so I wouldn't know what to compare them to.

What do you all use? How well does it work?

[Philo]

I usually don't advise using armorall. Too much shine and slick feeling. Those are usually the signs of a product which contains too much silicon or petroleum base and will lead to cracking, drying out, or discoloration in the long run.

My general rule of thumb is to use products with a milk appearance that don't linger on surfaces long after application and do not provide a 'super shine'. That said, I use Meguiar's products as it fits my demands and is relatively easy to find.

****My highest recommended product is 303 aerospace products. I stand by their stuff to the fullest.

[Nsquared97]

Don't use Armoral, read this:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=217804&highlight=peanut+butter

[smooth]

I have been using olive oil on my dash.

[Asbradley21]

I have window tint and always use a windshield sun-shade when parked to prevent dash cracking, even in the winter and cold.