WE NEEDED VINYL CARE
Most of our cars in the sheds use different types of plastics throughout the interiors. Whether it be in the dash, door trims, arm rests, rubber seals, consol or vinyl covered seats. We thought it was important to seriously look into making a decent car care product for these areas.
When researching the different products available in the market place, we came across a few potentially damaging ones if used long term. One happened to be the biggest seller in this range, it was a combination of two ingredients that should not be used on interior surfaces. Namely a silicone (water or oil based) and a solvent (makes it dry quickly) that really don’t do anything to help your car’s interior. These type of products are usually in the cheaper end of the aisle at most auto parts stores.
After using them you find they leave everything slippery, quite shiny and they attract dust back to the surface that you of course must repetitively clean! However, the biggest drama with these ingredients is not seen till a few years down the track, silicones actually put a barrier over the porous plastic surface, sealing in the solvents and beginning the breakdown of the item it was used upon. I have lost count of the amount of brittle and cracked dashes, seats and door trims I have seen helped along by these products doing this.
Casey will be showing us how quick and easy the Vinyl Care is to use on our 1932 Ford Hotrod.
As well these products wishing to harm inside of your precious car, the interior also cops a hiding from a variety of other environmental elements. The sun brings in damaging heat and UV rays to fade and dry out the plastics over time. In the cold and wet times of year, mildew and mould form, to stain and create damage if left to their own devices. Then there are the beautiful families of bacteria’s that like to move in and build up, mainly as the interior is never cleaned like we do the exterior of the car. All manner of living things become at home in your car when introduced thanks to the kids, pets, sweat, sneezes, coughing or even just opening the windows thus entering the car’s interior. It can quickly become a very unhygienic area you don’t want to be sitting in on a daily basis.
So we gave our research chemists this list of things we needed to combat and after many different trial batches we finally had something we could use in the arsenal. We call it Vinyl Care.
For the most effective clean, spray into the applicator pad, not direct onto the vinyl or plastic surface.
THE GOOD STUFF
Basically Vinyl Care is made for Vinyl, Plastic and Rubber items inside your car. It is a effective, yet gentle cleaner with a built in protectant.
- It has no silicone, so you will not get that slippery or greasy finish, making it safe to use on steering wheels, rubber mats and pedals. Nor will it attract and hold dust on the applied surface, eliminating a never ending cleaning process.
- Lack of solvents in the formula means it will not dry or damage your interior prematurely either. Any colour dyes or stitching will stay their original colour as well.
- It gives a nice and even satin lustre to the surface, nothing like the cheap and shiny finish that makes your dash become a distraction, as it reflects itself onto the windscreen.
Rub the Vinyl Care into the vinyl for a deep cleaning action, circualr action works well.
- Anti-microbials are built in to kill off any bacteria’s who may think your car could become their nice, new home. These same ingredients also help combat mould and mildew, to keep them from growing anywhere as long as it is applied regularly.
- Our unique water based formula also means it is safe, being non toxic and biodegradable, giving peace of mind to the user and occupants in the car.
- It is also very minimal hazing so you won’t be cleaning it off the windscreen and windows for the next week as you do with other products.
- We also saw it was important to have a protectant against the sun added in, as we live in a pretty high UV environment, this works to help slow down the suns aging and fading effects over time.
- Finally, it leaves a new and clean fragrance that helps remove of any musky odours in the car, while not being overpowering enough to upset any of the more sensitive occupants.
Note how the Vinyl Care lathers up, helps make it a great cleaner.
SIMPLE TO USE
Vinyl Care is very simple and easy to use. Firstly make sure the surface out of the sun and cool to touch. Spray it into our special Interior Applicator (from our microfibre Interior Pack) and rub gently into the surface, with a circular motion, being sure to get it in every little nook and cranny. After rubbing it in, leave it sit for a minute and then wipe off any remaining residue with our Interior Cloth. If the interior surface is pretty dirty, it might take another pass to clean it properly.
You will be amazed how well it cleans tho; at one of the car club demonstration’s, I had an old 1950’s Humpy Holden that still had its original and very un-kept interior (read; filthy!). With a few passes, the old imbedded dirt and gunk came the seats and trims off to reveal the lovely light and now clean coloured trim, much to the delight of the owner and his fellow club members.Likewise we got very good results when cleaning Davids 1932 Hot Rod, It's original naugahyde (US name for a type of vinyl in the 60's!) interior was well overdue for a bit of care.
Wipe the area down, for a beautiful clean surface that is not greasy and slippery!
Check from the dirty where Caseys finger is, to the newly Vinyl "Cared" section on the right, brilliant!
GOOD ON RUBBERS TOO
Another item that needs regular cleaning are your door rubbers, these are the barrier against water, dust and other elements entering the cockpit (If only one could be made for annoying back seat drivers.) They are of course forgotten about till they fail. A little bit of preventative maintenance will go a long way here. Using an Interior Applicator pad with Vinyl Care in it, just wipe them all down, this simple cleaning will help helping slow down any degradation over time, so they can work their best for yerars to come. Check out how well it works on cleaning rubber floor mats in our 356 porsche, in this pictorial link on our facebook page here.
All the interior pads and cloths will need to be cleaned after each use, nothing too complex, but you can learn how clean them the right way here.
For those of you noticing, the label features the seats of our beautiful 1951 J2 Allard.
Vinyl Care is our answer for looking after the interiors variety of plastics. We think it is a level above anything else out there at this point in time. Please try it out, we welcome your feedback, but judging by what others have said about it already, we know you’re going to be quite happy with it as a part of your car cleaning kit.
You can get our Vinyl Care and the Interior pack of cloths from many of our great stockists here or in the premium car care section of this website
Love your car,
Dan Bowden
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