Interior maintainence

[Patdow1]

What is everyone using to condition their dash? I currently only use a damp microfiber cloth to remove dust and wipe fingerprints from the interior. I'm curious on what others are doing and reccomend for the textured 2nd Gen dash excluding the Luxury Edition?

[toasteroven]

Dry microfiber for dust, followed by a wipe with a damp microfiber, and another wipe with another dry one. That's about once a month. Every few days I dust with a microfiber I keep in the center console. I do not have the full leather dash / interior.

If I did, I'd use the same leather conditioning spray I use on the seats once-a-month. Spray lightly, wipe clean with one microfiber, work excess into leather and dry with another.

[cinca]

I would love to hear feedback from an expert but one important (and upsetting) tip/experience I have is this.

DO NOT use any sort of silicon-based product on any sort of "soft touch" plastic. I went to a car wash that TOTALLY coated the "soft touch" – of my VW with some sort of armor all type product and it ruined it for life. It went from having a nice, semi-firm matte finish to looking like some old plasticky vinyl dash from a 1970s Japanese import car. And – to be clear – this was not until it "wore off" – this was for the rest of the life of my car.... a permanent mistake.

A friend of mine actually recently bought a 300 C and I warned him of this and he went online and found a product but the standard tip I believe is to just use a damn (lightly damp) microfiber cloth to wipe clean and another microfiber to dry/dust off with.

I would be VERY cautious of taking it into a car wash place and just ending over the keys and trusting they know what to put on that material to clean.


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[toasteroven]

Some people don't know any better though. I've watched people lather Armor All on their interiors to a high shine, use the foaming brush at the car wash on their paint, and other hilariously bad things.

[cinca]

I did a little research and came up with what seems to be a consensus on a lot of the car forums for cleaning a matte dash AND keeping it a matte dash. LOL.

http://www.1z-usa.com/einszett_cockpit_premium.html

If you do a quick few Google searches you will find a lot of people across many car forums raving that this is, by far, the best thing to clean and Matt – ever invented. There are a few people that disagree – but most of those are people that prefer a "slick and wet" looking vinyl dash. (I personally prefer the matte look and was SUPER bummed when random car wash guys permanently eliminated it from my last car by using some random vinyl cleaning product. I would HIGHLY recommend you avoid making that same mistake.)


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[SUPERJAM68]

The Owner's Manual actually tells you not to use ArmorAll or similar products. I picked up some MOPAR Total Clean (also recommended for the 300's leather) to use on the interior when a plain microfiber won't cut it. It's a little pricey, but if it makes parts last longer who cares!

[cinca]

That is actually pretty cool that the owners manual calls out not using anything like armor all on the interior – yet another reason to read the manual! LOL. Too bad nobody reads owners manuals. LOL.

They should have a big static cling sticker or something that you need to pull off on the dash like on new televisions that warns you. LOL.


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[Steeler]

Originally Posted by cinca

I would love to hear feedback from an expert but one important (and upsetting) tip/experience I have is this.

DO NOT use any sort of silicon-based product on any sort of "soft touch" plastic. I went to a car wash that TOTALLY coated the "soft touch" – of my VW with some sort of armor all type product and it ruined it for life. It went from having a nice, semi-firm matte finish to looking like some old plasticky vinyl dash from a 1970s Japanese import car. And – to be clear – this was not until it "wore off" – this was for the rest of the life of my car.... a permanent mistake.

A friend of mine actually recently bought a 300 C and I warned him of this and he went online and found a product but the standard tip I believe is to just use a damn (lightly damp) microfiber cloth to wipe clean and another microfiber to dry/dust off with.

I would be VERY cautious of taking it into a car wash place and just ending over the keys and trusting they know what to put on that material to clean.


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I agree. I consider spreading a armor all type product on a dash and then parking in the sun. The same as basting a Turkey with butter and sticking it in the oven.

The most I ever need to clean any of my dashes is a spray bottle full of water with a drop of ivory. Squirt on a microfiber towel, flip, and dry.

[MrFluff]

My current product list is as follows:

Pinnacle Leather and Vinyl Cleaner -pH Balanced with soft detergents for cleaning away grease
Pinnacle Leather Conditioner -pH Balanced with UV inhibiters to prevent sun damage, also has oils to keep leather soft and like new.
303 Protectant -Used on the dash every 2 weeks to prevent sun damage.

Pinnacle is formulated and bottled in FL.

[vettdvr]

I use Bounce dryer sheet to pick up dust and only microfiber and water for anything else.