top vinyl cleaner

[John Peerce]

What is the best cleaning cream etc to use on car interior vinyl ? i have used the Autoglym leather cleaner (which is although made for leather, but its says can be used on vinyl too) and found that it is of no particular benefit .. the vinyl looks just as dull after using it as before.

I am looking for something that protects the surface from sun/heats induced cracks in addition to having a nice, non greasy lustre.

 

[RichardM]

Have you tried the Autoglym Vinyl and Rubber care? If anything I've found that the result is too glossy.

 

[John Peerce]

Have you tried the Autoglym Vinyl and Rubber care? If anything I've found that the result is too glossy.

I will certainly give it a try.

I also plan to get some connolly leather cream later today for the seats, and will write a review on its effectiviness as soon as i have used it.

P.S. i have just read that connolly are no longer in business (!?). I might still be able to find some of their products...

 

[Koolvin]

Have you tried the Autoglym Vinyl and Rubber care? If anything I've found that the result is too glossy.

you can buff off the the shine with a cotton cloth, more you buff less the shie.

I dont think that is the same prinicple for gearknobs tho ha ha.

 

[John Peerce]

Well i just received that Connolly Leather Kit. Basically a small bottle of leather cleaner, and a jar of "Hide Feed" , aka cream !. Cost me £25, including postage and packing, from a uk leather supplier that bought alot of the Connolly stock when the business folded.

Its supposed to be the beez knees, according to reviews i have read. I am going to hopefully apply it this weekend, and will write a review on that.

As for the vinyl cleaner, my search so far has come up with a US product called "Armorall", which is supposed to give the best shine and protection. I havent found a uk supplier yet.. BTW, anyone here has any experience with this product ?

PS. you can see i am very particular about the products i use for the car. My best "discovery" is car exterior protection product called Dulon, sold in the US,which was developed originally for the Aersopace and Marine industries. Cost me a fortune in posting and customs fees to order from the US though ! (not sold in uk )

 

[Tan]

Amorall... i am sure is sold in halfords

 

[RichardM]

Amorall... i am sure is sold in halfords

Yep has been for years, or maybe they have stopped it now!

In my boy racer days I never found it that good, it gave a very false shine, pure grease, not the more natural shine AutoGlym gives.

 

[scirocco]

NOT Armorall!!!

Do not use armorall on vinyl. yup, it's greasy, too shiny and doesn't last. i don't now if you can get Lexol Vinylex over in the UK, but it's reputed to work very well. I've never tried it but i have used Meguiars natural Shine Vinyl & Rubber Protectant and Vinyl & Rubber Cleaner #40 on both the dash and the MBTex seats and they have worked well. Cleans pretty okay, and doesn't leave a greasy shiny look. But I found that if the vinyl really has ingrained dirt, a toothbrush and some soapy water works best.

 

[scirocco]

Connolly Hide Food Review

I hope you didn't get the same stuff as this guy did. He's a quite an authority on auto detailing btw, around here anyway.

""Connolly Bros are supposed to produce the best leather in the world, so it stands to reason that their leather care products are the best right. Wrong big time!!

I am a little reluctant to post a review on a bad product but I'm doing it anyway because this is one that you really need to stay away from at all costs. This stuff is really

Connolly's leather care product goes under the name "Hide Food" . It used to be packaged in nice glass jars but after a few months the contents used to seperate and it soon looked like rotten milk with white lumps floating in a semi clear liquid - not nice . Someone came up with the bright, and cheaper, idea of putting it in white plastic containers. Although the stomach turning contents could no longer be seen they attacked the plastic causing it to distort slightly.

OK that's the good part. IF you have a strong stomach and can keep your lunch down, or just close your eyes, you can stir the curdled mass back into a resonable looking cream which is how it left the factory. You will notice however an overpowering smell of white spirit/paintbrush cleaner. If this is how you want your car to smell this is the product to use but it would be cheaper and better to put a pair of painters overalls under your seat because there is worse to come.

Logically feeding leather with a cream seems like a good idea, after all that's what ladies do with their skin. They wouldn't if the had lines of stitching running up their face and/or it was made of lots of small pieces joined together. Hide food gets stuck everywhere. In the stitching, in the piping, between individual sections and to make matters worse the whole lot dries into a horrible sticky mess. The worst of it is this includes the areas where you actually managed to spread it out thinly. The good news is that it does seem to make a good job of keeping the hide supple.

When you decide you can't live with the smell (which does go off after a few days) or the stickiness (which doesn't) you'll need to spend many hours/days getting the stuff back off.

Believe me, do not even try it even if someone gives it to you. The main reason for this otherwise useless posting though is to inform you not to buy it at the inflated prices (and inflated claims) it is sold at.

Connolly Hide Food must have some use but whatever it is it's nothing to do with leather car interiors.""

 

[John Peerce]

Ooops ! the Hide Food is indeed the same product i ordered ! i should have asked for reviews on this before i blew £25 on the darn thing ! :

Thanks for the warning. I am not going to do a full blown application now, but maybe choose a "hidden" area of 1 sq inch, apply it, and then leave it for a week or two to see what happens..

Thanks too for the warning on Armorall !!

Although i have used the AutoGlym leather cream for the last year, i havent been too impressed with it so far. Somehow the leather doesnt look nicely buffed and shiny, but dull, no matter how much i buff after applying it. It could well be the way i apply it is wrong, or maybe i use too much of it etc.

As for the vinyl cleaner, i am going to give the Autoglym product a try.. and maybe fare better with it than the Autoglym leather cleaner.

 

[Ted]

 

[normanh]

Son of a Gun been using it for years still works just fine

 

[chris200]

I'm a lifelong fan of Mr. Sheen or any other spray furniture polish. I've never noticed any problems with it but perhaps I'm just not fussy enough! lol

Chris