[dieselwiezil]

What are yall using to keep your seats soft? Mine are sun dried and Id like to get them soft again.

[Z 202]

I use Meguiar's No. 57 cleaner/conditioner.

Last year I first went over the interior with Mr. Clean magic erasers, and could not believe how all my vinyl brightened up.

[mikeyt]

Yep...i'll second what Z202 said.

[dieselwiezil]

somone also advised me to use spray silicon? HAve ya'll ever heard of that?

[mikeyt]

There is a couple of other products i've used that seem to do a good job.

Spray Nine's Marine "Once Over" is a vinyl cleaner/ protectant.

Starbrite's "Waterproofing with PTEF" also does an excellent job of moisturizing and protecting. This stuff also works very well on Sunbrella and it's about $20 for a 22oz bottle. If i remember correctly (age allows me to forget a few things so i could be wrong here) Silicone products and Sunbrella didn't work well together.

[Scotty]

Do Not use heavily based Silicone products on your upholstery!!!
Over time products that are heavy in silcone will rob any type of vinyl or Leather upholstery of it's suppleness(leave upholstery dry and weathered) and eventually it will start to crack.
Mequiars and 3M make some good products for your application.

Good Luck

[dieselwiezil]

thanks scotty

[DrMatthewDunn]

My 'new' 96 Shabah dash was really, really sun-blasted. I was thinking uh-oh, vinyl paint or something drastic. Spent a couple of hours doing all the vinyl with 3M's stuff - wow! I'll get an "after" pic to go with this "before" pic - it did a great job on the dash.
My wise dad swears by The Tannery for boat vinyl FWIW.

[bpfirrman]

Dr. Dunn, what exactly did you use on your dash? Mine is blue and has some sun spottting. A few coats of Armor All brought it back to life but I have heard that you should not use AA on the dash. Anyone else been told that?

[DrMatthewDunn]

I used 3M Marine Vinyl Cleaner & Restorer. Had to soak the sun-blasted spots pretty well, but it looked great when done. I suspect a 2nd treatment will work.

I've been told that Armor-All contains petroleum distillates and (per the comments on silicon) sucks vinyl dry over time. Don't know that for a fact.

Once I'm satisfied with the restoration, I'm going to treat the seats & dash with 303 Aerospace. My experience is that nothing else comes for long-term sun protection.