Last night I put the camaro out on the driveway because it's my only car that I had a) have a car cover for, and B) knew I wasn't going to take it anywhere the next couple of days. If I had to take the kids to school this morning, I didn't want to have to be clearing half an inch of ice from the car I use to take them

SO last night I start to get really nervous about the car. I JUST put in a new dash pad, and I dind't know what the temps in the teens would do to it. The plan was to wait for the rain to stop, before the temps drop so much, and then switch the cars.

One problem with that plan. the temps fell faster than weather.com said they would, so this morning at 6AM I was out on the driveway trying to get that ice covered cover off of the car so I could bring it into the garage. That car cover was frozen into a solid, inflexable sheet of solid ice. it was HARD to get off because it fits like a tight glove

Finally I swaped the cars, and just to be save I put a small space heater in the car on low. It's one of those safety heaters, not the kind that gets hot to the touch.

Ah the things you do to protect a dash pad

 

Stuart! Get that armerall off asap! It should be called Arm-dash cracker-all.. I've had dash pads in all my 4 IROCs and I've always used leather cleaner protector.. I know our dash pads are not made of leather, but the stuff has always works. Also, I've always left my windows cracked to reduce the inside temp (unless I knew it was gonna rain) and I've always parked in some sort of shade.. But your biggest culprit is your right knee. Getting in and out of the car, at least once a month I've bashed my knee on the corner of the dash pad and the pain that came from a crack on my dash pad was more than the pain in my knee.. Take care.. Stone

 

Yeah i agree, armourall ruins the dash, its either you use it, and do it very often, or do use it if you want a mint dash. Like jkyu55 said, leather stuff is your friend on this one

 

What brand of leather protectant should be used? I never heard of people hitting their knees on the dash pad before. But I see how it can happen especially if you are one of the taller people.

 

i use this product called "mink oil" it works like a charm armour all......not so much

 

My 91's original dash pad cracked this winter, it had been perfect, but my 86's pad is still looking great, but is quite hard, I have heard of people using vegitable oil to soften the dash pad, i have not given that a try though, anyone think it would be worth a shot? I really want to soften the pad up and keep it looking decent. My 86 is garaged year round and is in the process of being restored, so I have time to work on the pad before it sees any sun.