Preserving my mint dash.

[RUFFLZ]

I always see you promoting this and I can't help but think how bad it is. Olive oil heats up easily...it's used for COOKING ffs. I may be completely wrong, but I feel like it's much worse than anything else you could put on your dash. What's your reasoning/rationale for doing it?

I personally recommend 303 Aerospace Protectant. 35 SPF for your stuff. Almost every detailer on sites like autopia swears by it. It's one of the most widely-accepted protectants out there...people buy it by the gallon.

my reasoning is that it works frawressree.
good enough me for i'd say:p

[LJ851]

I also am the proud owner of a minty dash, what is the concept/benifit behind olive oil treatment?

[Leo_328i]

I also am the proud owner of a minty dash, what is the concept/benifit behind olive oil treatment?

Yes, whats the go with olive oil?

[butters]

I've heard good things about 303 and will prob do that before the summer. But I'm big on the sunshade (to keep the interior cool too) and I don't "clean" dashboards... I wash & dry the car, then dust the interior with a quick wipedown of the damp towel. Same deal with leather seats, never any problems. I'm finicky though and rarely get legitimate dirt on the dash or seats.

[nrubenstein]

My two cents are that putting ANY chemicals on these dashes is a bad idea. They are just too old.

My formerly perfect dash cracked within two days of 303 application.

Stick to water and try not to disturb the equilibrium.

[smooth]

Having suffered a similar experience, I'm inclined to believe that advice, too.

[lbreevesii]

Use a quality cockpit cleaner/protectant. 303, chem guys, etc. I can vouch that 303 will keep the vinyl supple. I tested my old dash by repeatedly treating(overtreating really) with 303 on one side of a large crack. After a couple of weeks, you could push fairly lightly on the untreated side and it would crack, but the treated side took a large amount of force before it finally gave a hairline crack.

[BrooklynMW]

Might be late to this thread. But I swear by olive oil. It's beautiful. Keeps the dash soft and supple, shiny but not chemical shiny. All natural and smells good.
Just be sure to rub off the excess so it doesn't get sticky. Dust will collect easily on it.
But yes my car's interior is slathered in that shit.

[AndrewBird]

The reason a dash cracks is due to differnet expansion and contraction rates of the materials the dash is made from. The foam core expands more then the outer vinyl skin. This means the vinyl needs to stretch a bit to compensate. As it gets older though, it starts to lose its elasticity, and instead of stretching, it just tears (cracks). Using a protectant helps keep the vinyl from hardening and allows it to still stretch as required.

Olive would seem like a good protectant as it would soften the vinyl, but as to how well it does this is speculation. I personally would trust a product engineered to protect the dash more then something used for other purposes (cooking). Not to say it won't work, but it might not work as well.

[jrobie79]

I use vinylex...I like how it looks and no cracks yet...I do crack my windows, have a sunshade and flip the sunroof open

[lbreevesii]

You're essentially correct, but you're not getting down to the root cause. the plasticizers in the vinyl get broken down over the years by exposure to UV. Something like 303 is mainly a protectant against uv, but also has conditioners to help soften it back up.

I wish I had taken video of my old dash that I over-treated with 303. The difference in the suppleness of the dry cracked vinyl was amazing(it was an OK and TX car mainly so its seen some sun).

The reason a dash cracks is due to differnet expansion and contraction rates of the materials the dash is made from. The foam core expands more then the outer vinyl skin. This means the vinyl needs to stretch a bit to compensate. As it gets older though, it starts to lose its elasticity, and instead of stretching, it just tears (cracks). Using a protectant helps keep the vinyl from hardening and allows it to still stretch as required.

Olive would seem like a good protectant as it would soften the vinyl, but as to how well it does this is speculation. I personally would trust a product engineered to protect the dash more then something used for other purposes (cooking). Not to say it won't work, but it might not work as well.