The interior in my Z is finally starting to show its age. The dash has a brand new crack I just saw today which makes for a total of 2. Sucks since I started our with a flawless one. Time for a dash mat. Any recommendations on distributors/manufacturers? I will get black for sure, but I want something that wont fade.

 

I've got a total of 5 dash mats... all from junk yards @ $5 a piece. You can order one from Autozone, Napa, Checker, or even MSA.... dunno which would be higher quality tho.

 

I learned from a local Z club that peanut oil, instead of Armour-All, is good for dashes and interior stuff. Basically what it said is that Armour-All draws out the natural oils from vinyl and other materials where as peanut oil locks them in. I haven't tried this yet, but it's all from pretty reliable sources...

AutoZone dashmat = $20 or so...

 

You are correct. Armour-All is water based and every time you use it, it will dry out and make your 'plastic' dash a little more brittle each time. Enough uses and exposure to the sun/UV and it'll crack.

The key is to use oil based cleaners rather than water based ones.

I would get an injection molded polymer half dash cover from MSA or VB.

 

Where does one get peanut oil?

I'd been using some sort of Meguiar's vinyl interior spray stuff. I don't know if it's water or oil based though.

 

^ Your local grocery store.

 

anyone have actual pics of the dash mat in
my dash has it's share of cracks and im leaning having it resurfaces and dyed black

-josh

 

Well I got an Autozone dashmat and im not to happy with the way it looks. I guess its just because Im used to seeing the nice clean look of the solid dash. It hides the cracks but doesnt look very nice in my opinion.

 

Yeah, dashmats are hard to get used to, but once you're used to a car that has a mat, and you drive the same car without, its like WTF? Where's the carpet?

 

why dont you get a DASH CAP then...

 

Post some pics of it! Is it the one that has complete circles for the dash gauges, or just the half moons?

 

My full dash cap looks great. Even some Z guys can't tell its a cap untill I mention it.

 

Well, the mat was an economical choice. Especially with december right around the corner. I guess i'll just have to invest in a cap later.
And it does have the full circles around the gauges. i'll take some pics later

 

Yeah I tried the whole dash mat thing and I didn't really care for it either. Then when the carpet started to fade it went from ugly to *** ugly so I just tossed it.

 

I like my dash mat. It hasn't faded or bunched up. It fits great and looks good. I took it off for a while and it felt weird driving my car without it. I may invest in a dash cap at some point though as a better alternative for covering the imperfections in the original dash. I don't know where my mat came from actually, but there are cheap ones, and good ones... Obviously I was lucky enough to get a good one.

Rod.

 

I still have the mat that came with my Z. Simple mat that DOESN'T go full around the guages, but has kept the dash from getting any worse in the Arizona heat...