J Berk

My once perfect dash now is showing signs of begining to crack.

So I will begin to use a windshield mask when the car is parked....

I seem to recall there being something recommended to rub on the vinyl...anyone know the name??

Anything else I can do to slow the process?? The car is parked outdoors most of the time unfortunately.

roman944

your car isn't that old and it's not like east coast is in such a bad heat, but cracking dash already? wow

John_AZ

I installed silver reflector style, spring foldout mask on inside of my 1998 Cherokee and left it at Phoenix outside airport parking. The windsheild cracked on pax side. Outside temp was 100F and they say inside temp can go to 140/150 or higher. Less heat in East may be different.
I would not use on my 924S. IMO

John_AZ
1988 924S + 1987 924S

PorscheDude1

I would put one of those dash carpet covers over it when you park it.

useth4z

Sorry to hear about the dash. The best way to prevent it worsening is preventing the sun from hitting it when it's parked using a reflective shield and dash cover. I don't like the look of the dash cover, so I'm pretty religious of parking in the shade and using the reflective shield whenever it's parked outside.

The stuff to protect the vinyl is 303 Aerospace Protectant. Apparently it has UV protection with an SPF of 40.

Tom R.

the dash on my 89 NA was cracked in 04 or 05 when the car had 40k on it. the east coast heat is just as bad when it comes to our fragile dashes.

white924s

I've heard that Griot's garage has some decent stuff to protect viny dashes...don't have a link or anything like that though unfortunately, but I think that its listed on their website as a plastic/vinyl treatment or something like that

Darwantae951

I don't see how a sunshade cracked your windshield. I've left my car sitting for 7 months without ever removing the sunshade and it was fine, and this was in 90-100 deg weather outside.

UDPride

heat inside the car will expand and contract the dash between day and night. repetitively left outside, you can experience cracking from this alone and not direct sunlight. With a dash cover and sunshade (of which I use both), it can still get to be 120-140 degrees inside on a hot day. At night its probably 60 degrees.

Best medicine is parking the car inside whenever you arent driving it. i never ever take my dash cover off. Hell, when it slides off when Im driving and falls into the passenger seat, I put it back on while Im driving. Its a lost art, but Ive somewhat mastered it. It happened today in fact and even with the dash carpet cover on, the dash itself was still warm.

I use vinylex and lexol on the cars innards. use it liberally and often to keep things moist and supple and able to fight drying.

John_AZ

The Jeep windsheild replaced is about $180-$200. The new Porsche windsheild $450 +-.
Unlucky maybe. My 924S windsheilds do not have cracks or rock "stars", but they do have small stone pits. I would be worried if the sun shade could cause a "pit" or more likely a rock "star" to crack.
The expansion/contraction explanation by Chris and my use of the sun screen may have contributed equally.

John_AZ
1988 924S + 1987 924S

xsboost90

when i bought my car it had one small dash crack that has slowly grown- the other day i tried dousing the dash w/ armor all to try to protect it and now seriously i have about ten small new cracks and the one is larger. About time for the leather dash treatment.

BlackOp

Dude, Armour All will kill your dash in a hurry. It ruined a perfect dash in my vintage BMW. Never, ever use that. It actually dries out the material. Use Aerospace 303. I have had 3 tiny (1/16") cracks for 8 months...they havent grown.

Cheers,

BO

M758

I have used those things for years in Arizona. Never any sort of cracked glass. They do reduce interior temps alot and keep the sun off the dash which helps.

Your glass probabaly already had a crack in it. The heat just caused it to grow. Happens a times. BTW.. I had 98 Cherokee to and always used shade. Never odd stuff happend.

SamGrant951

I noticed the tiniest crack on my dash prob 5 years ago and it hasnt grown a bit since - I use only Vinylex and 303 Protectant.