Best product for treating old vinyl

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crewchief

A & P Mechanic
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I have a vinyl interior and vinyl roof on my 47 year old Duster. I religiously used a product called Rally Vinyl Top Dressing by DuPont back in the 70's. Sadly you can't find it anymore. That stuff was the BEST, that's why my top and dash pad have lasted this long. I'm just worried that the sun will take its toll on both unless I can treat it properly. I want to preserve the surfaces with the right product to keep them soft.

Does anyone know of any current products that perform as good as the DuPont's product? I don't want to apply the current products that might destroy what DuPont Rally Vinyl Top Dressing was able to save for such a long period of time. Any thoughts or insight?

Thanks, Jack
 
I cannot answer for the vinyl top but I use Lemon Pledge furniture polish on my interior. My father swore by it and used it on our Ford LTD wagon from 1972-1985 that survived two kids, hot summers and harsh winters, vacations etc and never got a tear in a seat or crack on the dashboard. Plus it smells good and leaves a natural finish and no weird gloss or oils.
 
Get sick of lemons yet, or do they bring you back to riding in Pop's LTD? Someone had a black bench seat for sale and it was gleaming, I commented on how good it looked and he said he (his detailer Son?) bought the stuff by the gallon. Someone help me out here....

In our constant quest for working less on our barracks floor during inspections, we tried Pledge on a waxed floor for that 'extra' shine. It made it so slippery that our Sgt. slipped on it when he came into our room. It was funny until he told us to strip it and wax it again before we could go on liberty. Doh!
 
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Back in the sixties I can remember the boys doing that exact thing. I did smell nice and slippery too. Never knew if it was a good practice or not. The Pledge today probably isn't the same formula used back in the day I'll bet.
 
I use baby oil. I cannot STAND the smell of original baby oil so I found some coconut scent. After several applications, my vinyl seats are soft again. It takes a few times though, because they will suck it right up.

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Is it soft as a baby's butt? I got a similar Mopar split bench seat in blue bolted in my Mazda, guy with an old 2dr Dart gave it to me and it was way better than that old Mazda's sunken seat.
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After 47 years the best treatment is getting new vinyl LOL.. I tried restoring an older sheet that was in perfect condition I'm treating it and it took about six months till it started buckling under the pressure LOL.. had old bucket seats reupholstered for $250 and someone else can worry about it in 47 years...
 
After 47 years the best treatment is getting new vinyl LOL.. I tried restoring an older sheet that was in perfect condition I'm treating it and it took about six months till it started buckling under the pressure LOL.. had old bucket seats reupholstered for $250 and someone else can worry about it in 47 years...

I got an estimate to recover my seats. 700 dollars. Each. I'll keep on with the baby oil.
 
I got an estimate to recover my seats. 700 dollars. Each. I'll keep on with the baby oil.
My best friend's co-worker does upholstery work kind of as a hobby and a side money maker. So I got the Buddy Buddy deal... 250 for the front buckets including material new Springs and foam totally custom.. but turned out so nice I had him do the back seats too... I had to save for a little bit but that was okay...
Alligator skin...
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My best friend's co-worker does upholstery work kind of as a hobby and a side money maker. So I got the Buddy Buddy deal... 250 for the front buckets including material new Springs and foam totally custom.. but turned out so nice I had him do the back seats too... I had to save for a little bit but that was okay...
Alligator skin...
View attachment 1715566507

Very cool! Mine are in pretty good shape. They were recovered over the original covers, so they are double covered. They did a good job, too.....it's just kinda dated. I would guess the covers are probably at least 25 years old...maybe older. They are gonna "have to do". lol
 
Very cool! Mine are in pretty good shape. They were recovered over the original covers, so they are double covered. They did a good job, too.....it's just kinda dated. I would guess the covers are probably at least 25 years old...maybe older. They are gonna "have to do". lol
When I bought the car the green bench seat was completely roached and I couldn't make do with it. I went to the Pick-n-Pull and pulled a couple of low back buckets out of a van and madw do it those for a year. Then I had Big Daddy Don garlits dreams and put a roll bar in and bought some $20 plastic race seats off of Craigslist and then bought to $30 each then seat covers for them and that was very uncomfortable for about 3 years. Then I cut the roll bar out got rid of those seats and put what I thought was a perfect condition gold bench seat in it again even though it was flawless it quickly broke down because I couldn't do anything to condition the vinyl. Made do with that one for a year.. found some buckets a couple years ago at a swap meet and they were pretty much toast as well but they were white Spirit of 76 buckets so I rock them for a year LOL and this last winter finally got them recovered... So I made do with a good six or seven years before I finally ponied up the money... But again someone will else will have to worry about it in 47 years lol...
 
A friend of mine used to use Gojo on the dash pad of his 70 Roadrunner. It sat outside all the time, and the dash pad never busted. He would rub it down with Gojo, and let it sit on it for a few hours, and then wipe it off and use Armor All. I don't know if that would work the same way on a vinyl top, but you could maybe try it on 1 A pillar and see if it softens it up. Bruce always said it was the amount of lanolin in the Gojo that kept the dash pad soft.
 
I’ve used Meguiar’s Mirror Glaze Rubber and Vinyl Cleaner and Conditioner on my Dart original interior material and dash pad for 25 years. There are no cracks on my dash pad and my rear seat black material by the rear window still looks like new. Most Darts I see around have that rear seat material really faded and cracked

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I’ve used Meguiar’s Mirror Glaze Rubber and Vinyl Cleaner and Conditioner on my Dart original interior material and dash pad for 25 years. There are no cracks on my dash pad and my rear seat black material by the rear window still looks like new. Most Darts I see around have that rear seat material really faded and cracked

View attachment 1715566634
Good to know, thanks
 
Get sick of lemons yet, or do they bring you back to riding in Pop's LTD? Someone had a black bench seat for sale and it was gleaming, I commented on how good it looked and he said he (his detailer Son?) bought the stuff by the gallon. Someone help me out here....

In our constant quest for working less on our barracks floor during inspections, we tried Pledge on a waxed floor for that 'extra' shine. It made it so slippery that our Sgt. slipped on it when he came into our room. It was funny until he told us to strip it and wax it again before we could go on liberty. Doh!
Your barracks story brought back some memories for me. I was stationed at Seymour Johnson AFB back in 72. Our barracks floors were all VCT, night before the weekly inspection we all got out our large cans of Johnson & Johnson paste wax. We would light them with our zippo's, once it turned to liquid we would pour all over the floor. To this day, I don't know how we didn't burn the place down. We power buffed the hell out of it, final buff was using someone's tee shirt under the buffer pad. Shined like glass. Your Pledge vs Barracks Chief was funny too!

It was funny to watch when the newbies first tried to use the buffer. The damn think took off on them as soon as the pulled the trigger and ran into everything including their buddies trying to assist. All you heard was yelling "LOOK OUT" as he lost control! Good times!
 
Another 303 fan here. Been used on the replacement top for about 8 years now. Car is not garaged.
 
Your barracks story brought back some memories for me. I was stationed at Seymour Johnson AFB back in 72. Our barracks floors were all VCT, night before the weekly inspection we all got out our large cans of Johnson & Johnson paste wax. We would light them with our zippo's, once it turned to liquid we would pour all over the floor. To this day, I don't know how we didn't burn the place down. We power buffed the hell out of it, final buff was using someone's tee shirt under the buffer pad. Shined like glass. Your Pledge vs Barracks Chief was funny too!

It was funny to watch when the newbies first tried to use the buffer. The damn think took off on them as soon as the pulled the trigger and ran into everything including their buddies trying to assist. All you heard was yelling "LOOK OUT" as he lost control! Good times!

We ultimately ended up using that flaming paste wax ourselves. Funny how when something works, it's constantly being rediscovered. We did our final buff with a 2X2 piece of green wool blanket under the buffer wheel, would burnish that floor wax to said mirror finish. Why we had wool blankets in an equatorial tropical environment is beyond me, I never had to get under it. Swamp coolers only cool to about 20 under ambient temp, so....80?
 
I remember that blanket making you itch like hell, good for only one thing...dust cover. No other purpose for sure in the tropics.
Someone thought it was a good choice of fabric because who would steal it!
 
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