• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Product review - vinyl cleaner and tonites question

Share this page

JPSmit

JPSmit

Moderator
Staff member
Silver
Country flag
Offline
I may have shared the my New Year's resolution is to work on the car every single day, even if only half an hour. I have a bowl of kids stickers from the movie Cars and each day I work on the Vauxhall I get to put a sticker on the Calendar. Silly maybe but it works. Unfortunately, with the temp consistantly hovering about -10C it is tough to get motivated so I have been cleaning - a lot! BTW every time I turn arounf I find another unmarked bag of screws bolts or clips from the PO. Lots of cleaning there! Anyways, this weekend also involved some upholstery cleaning. The Vauxhall has typical '70's black vinyl and it has been sitting, in some cases for decades. I bought a product called Mother's VLR (vinyl, leather rubber) it apparantly doesn't have the same stuff that armor all has (and which isn't supposed to be good for vinyl). I have done a rear seat base and two sets of arm rests. First I use scrubbing bubbles and a brush a coupls of times, then the VLR also with a brush, wipe it off, and, I am very pleased with the result. Not only is it cleaner, but, it feels more supple and it has a really nice sheen - not flat but close, maybe an eggshell. I really like it so far! If I every remember, I will take some before and after pics.

now the question. SWMBO is heading out of town next week, i have some hard plastic airvents from the dash. Will they go through the dishwasher? Or will the water temp warp them? Thoughts?
 
Good to know about the VLR, tho' I still haven't read anything that really convinces me there's a problem with Armor-All, etc.

Most domestic hot water nowadays is limited to 120F, so it's doubtful temperature would cause the plastic to deform. Cars often get to 120 when sitting in the sun. Just don't use the DW dry cycle, or the "heated water" feature!

By the way, don't use DW detergent. It can ruin the finish of many plastics.

However, if it's tough to find parts for that car, you'd probably be safer just hand washing the parts in the sink, bathtub, or five gallon bucket, with liquid dish detergent or Simple Green.
 
NutmegCT said:
... By the way, don't use DW detergent. It can ruin the finish of many plastics. ...
Click to expand...

Most in-car dirt only needs handwarm soapy water to clean, let it soak a while
 
JP, Even though there are various quality products, this is what I use. The leather cleaner and conditioner works on vinyl also. PJ



 
Back
Top