I just got a screamin deal on a perfect dash to replace the one I foolishly had in my rafters of the garage The heat and ten years didnt do it any favors. I am wondering how to clean and preserve my new treasure. Any tips? I remember armor all used to evaporate all over my windshield and I hated that.

 

I used McGuire’s leather and vinyl restorer, turned out great!

 

Here is the all-original dash of my 78 Ford with 152k miles - no joke!
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3543/...aa6b9e3d0a.jpg
There are no cracks or fading.
This is living proof of what the spray protectants (armor all and the better STP son-of-a-gun) and folding sunshades can do. UV rays are very destructive. We used the shades just to help keep the inside cooler due to no A/C. This has been a texas car all its life (my mom bought it brand new.)
It only saw 1/4 of its life in a garage and has not been babied - just reasonably cared for.
The STP protectant does not seem to fog the windows as bad. Apply at least once a year to your daily driver and wipe off the excess. Applying too much too often can cause more fogging.

In the newer cars with more plastic, the plastics themselves released hydrocarbons and residues that fogged the windows. The protectants did not do that much.

 

Thank you guys for the replies. I will be cleaning and protecting the dash this saturday and hopefully I can install it. I wanna drag it outside and take some decent pics also. I only have cameraphone pics of it now. I need to finish buffing it as well but that may wait till I get it more assembled.

 

X2 on the Mcguire's. Answers to my post on " 303 protectant"were all positive as well. Derek