RE: back to black

[Jeremy R King <kingjer@eng.auburn.edu>]

My personal opinion on Armor All is that it doesn't protect at all unless 
you re-apply it every two weeks.  Every dash I've ever seen that was once 
Alled and then not consistently Alled thereafer was dry and severely 
cracked.  I've never used the product on my dash, and after 10 years it's 
in great shape (albeit a little dirty).  Anyone else back me up on this 
one, or am I just plumb wrong again?  BTW, if you don't want to become a 
slave to Armor All but you want a clean dash, Westley's makes a product 
calle "Clear Magic" that is basically a cleanser designed for dashes.

In regards to the spoiler/bumper/trim discussion, I found a good product 
at Wal-Mart called "Bumper Black".  It's basically a flexible, matte 
finish spray paint.  The end result is as close to original as I have 
seen.  The main drawback is that it is a spray paint and thus requires 
surface prep and proper masking.  Surface prep is very important - my 
first attempt (using a sample piece) resulted in the rubbery paint 
peeling off.  The surface has to be very clean and sanded.  If you're 
willing to spend the time and effort, this is the best way to remedy the 
trim problem.  And it's pretty cheap too - about $2.50 a can.

Jeremy R. King
1986 VW Quantum GL5
Audi at Heart

On 27 Nov 1995, Sheffield Corey wrote:

> with a 5KCSQ so many of us must be experiencing this problem; OR a lot of us
> aren't trying to protect our dashboards. Has anyone found a solution to
> protecting the dash and still being able to see out the windshield?

and 

> Also, I bought my '87 5KCSQ with a black FOHA spoiler(from Austria); I've never
> seen another in this country, except for Ned Ritchie, who appears to have
> painted his white. I've tryed "Black Again", Westley's "Black Magic" and
> ArmorAll "Low Gloss", all look good for about two weeks then get dull and leave
> grey drip marks when it rains, they do this with the sideview mirrors also. A
> few year ago there was some stuff called "BlackWax" for black bumpers, etc.,
> but I haven't seen it for some time. Has anyone found anything that works in
> these exterior situations?