Dash longivity

[15Michaeljoseph]

on topic: i had a nightmare last night which involved an escape in my e30, and in this nighmare my perfectly crack-free dash had cracks all over it. :( was super relieved this morning to see that everything was as it should be.

file this under 'only e30 things'


--Mike

[Navarone]

On topic: I had a nightmare last night that some tweakers in the wendy's parking lot were hanging out in my car and when I got back to it the whole front was torn off back to the rear seat and the parts were lying around but were made of mobile home parts like corrugated sheet metal aluminum and 2x3 wood studs and fiberglass insulation. It looked like a tornado hit!

A friend of mine has an 85 318i just like mine but gold and her dash is WRECKED, but mine only has two small cracks. She lives in the valley though, and I'm near the coast.

[15Michaeljoseph]

woah hahah that's RCR material right there :)


--Mike

[Brian7]

My theory is anything with chemicals in it will dry out the plastic even faster and lead to some epic cracking. I got my car about a year ago with a pristine dash and always use a sun shade. I also put olive oil on the dash when it starts to look dry and I haven't noticed any cracks at all. Olive oil is pure in itself so when the sun heats the plastic up, the olive oil seeps into the tiny pores and keeps the plastic soft. I doubt the sun gets hot enough to evaporate the olive oil away. When the dash cracks, its because the plastic has gotten too brittle. Just my $.02 :p

[15Michaeljoseph]

ok... does olive oil smell up/ get gross after a while?


--Mike

[Navarone]

Wow, olive oil sounds strange. It goes rancid after a while.

[Brian7]

ok... does olive oil smell up/ get gross after a while?


--Mike

Nope. It really only smells like olive oil right after putting it on and maybe a day after. My dash is still shiny and its been a few weeks since I put some on.

[Brian7]

It does collect dust and dog hair but a simple wipe down takes care of that and its still shiny afterwards.

[mrcheezle19]

Olive oil is the way to go. Use a light amount on my door cards and seats as well. Awesome results.

[DesertBMW]

Olive oil is the way to go. Use a light amount on my door cards and seats as well. Awesome results.

Correct, or any pure petroleum non detergent distillate. Dash cracks when oils evaporate from material and material shrinks as a result.

[15Michaeljoseph]

Correct, or any pure petroleum non detergent distillate. Dash cracks when oils evaporate from material and material shrinks as a result.

how does Vinylex compare? does this mean that I've been living a lie?


--Mike

[Brian7]

Correct, or any pure petroleum non detergent distillate. Dash cracks when oils evaporate from material and material shrinks as a result.

I actually noticed a small crack in my dash today and it just so happens thats one spot I forgot to put some olive oil :neutral:

[jdt10768]

Been using the 303 aerospace wipes, and it seems to work well. Prob just jinxed myself. Also use a sunshade

[mr2peak]

The smell of olive oil reminds me of food and sex. I guess I can add E30 to that as well.

[///M42 sport]

I like vinylex...use it on all the rubber/plastic on the cars. I'm paranoid that the seals on the rear windows and rear windhshield are gonna rot away. So far so good though.

Also its kept my hardtop vinyl in mint condition too. I use it in the michigan winters and no signs of drying out or cracking.