So when I bought my LX the dealership said that they had been using Armor All to take care of the outsdie plastic panels. I've read that it's not good for the outside panles. Can anyone tell me why? I don't want to do any further damage to my E, but as of right now, I can't see any visible signs of damage from the Armor All :confused:

There are several threads on this subject. You will find that, the armor all is more work to maintain than other products, if you live in an area that has rain.

There are several other things that work well. Just drop down on this page to the similar threads box. You will find some others, Including myself, that use something other than Armor All !!

Dom

Armoral contains silicone, and is not a good thing to put on plastic that is exposed to sunlight...over a long time, it reacts, and gets pitted....

hopefully they didn't put much on, and the advantage of armoral is that it wears/washes off fairly quickly...

If it's put on often, and maintained, then it does a fairly decent job, and *can* 'protect' the plastic for a while - but silicone is not good for the 'newer' plastics of today - different chemical makeup of the older plastics, that armoral was designed to protect - and there are much better products on the market today...

Use the search, or check at the bottom of the page, for similar posts....

just give the E a good washing, and get something else to protect your panels, or just leave them, and they'll do a fairly good job all on their own....

I'll use Armor All to dress the tires (or whatever is on sale). Tires get replaced in about 3-5 years...but here's what consistent use of AA did to the plastic trim on the bumper of my truck. Over time it changed from dark grey to challky white. I was able to resurrect it with steel wool and Mother's Back To Black.

49894 49895

A lot of us use 303 Areospace Protectant.

http://www.autogeek.net/303.html

I used it for 4 years on my MINI Cooper, and now on my E. Works great.

I found out the hard way what armoral does to trim. I used it on the mouldings on my 89 Civic and they faded to a light grey by the end of the first summer i had it.

I'll use Armor All to dress the tires (or whatever is on sale). Tires get replaced in about 3-5 years...but here's what consistent use of AA did to the plastic trim on the bumper of my truck. Over time it changed from dark grey to challky white. I was able to resurrect it with steel wool and Mother's Back To Black.

49894 49895

Yeah, the same effect happened to my 04 xTerra, the grill front must have been treated with AA because it actually turned a greeny-white shade that looked awful!

I have resolved to never use AA on my L'il E...she deserves better than that :D

A lot of us use 303 Areospace Protectant.

http://www.autogeek.net/303.html

I used it for 4 years on my MINI Cooper, and now on my E. Works great.

+1. 303 works wonders

Thanks to all for the good advice. It looks like I'll be able to save the panels after I gave them a good scrubbing over the weekend. I found that Turtle Wax Ice seemed to give them new life. I have to go and yell at mt dealer for telling me to use Armor All.

Bear with me if this has been asked but, does Mother's actually "dry"? I never used it and want to try it on the exterior black trim but I'm worried it will run. And yes, it rains 3 days a week here in the NE. How about 303? Does it dry or stay on longer than Mother's?

Oh and I'm assuming that neither contains silicone, right?

Thanks

My experience is that Mother's "dries", but not the way wax does. There's no haze that you can see like you can with wax, but you can feel a slight drag on the cloth when you buff it out. Aerospace 303, doesn't dry and is harder to buff out. I think it's also harder to tell when you have the 303 applied properly, so it's more likely to streak in the rain. I still have the original bottle of 303 that I bought 4+ years ago, but have burned through several bottles of B2B.

The dealer used Armor All on mine as well. What is the recommended course of action once it is used? Can you just use the 303 Areospace Protectant over the AA after a good wash?

The dealer used Armor All on mine as well. What is the recommended course of action once it is used? Can you just use the 303 Areospace Protectant over the AA after a good wash?
Yeah...it's not so much the incidental application of AA that does the damage, but the accumulated damage over time.

Maxima brand silicone spray is a good detailer to the plastic. You can find
it at motorcycle shops. I have been using it for many years. Armor all
actually made my tires crack quicker.
my 2 cents worth
08 lx awd

Personally, I stay away from Armor All on the panels. It looks ok for a while, but it seems to be a dirt/dust magnet! I live out in the desert so that's a big issue with me.
I have been using 303 with great results.

So when I bought my LX the dealership said that they had been using Armor All to take care of the outsdie plastic panels. I've read that it's not good for the outside panles. Can anyone tell me why? I don't want to do any further damage to my E, but as of right now, I can't see any visible signs of damage from the Armor All :confused:

Armor All is not good to use. The 303 is excellent and if not readily available, the Mothers Back to Black is also a good product to use.

Recent restoration of my black plastic exterior areas was achieved with the paste version of Turtle Wax Ice. I am really pleased with the smoothness of the plastic surfaces, how clean they stay, and the way bug splats wash right off with this application.

Try it, you'll like it.

I'd stay away from ArmorAll - it's cr@p. Most of the ArmorAll products look nice and shiny out of the bottle, in prolonged use they seem to cause the plastic dry out and to deteriorate, likely due to the n-propoxypropanol (basically a cleaning solvent) used in it . Unless your trying for the dull white-ish gray look for your panels :rolleyes:

i have been using armor all on the outside panels on my E since day one i bought it (nov 2003) and all the panels are still shine like new.. :) i am pleased with the product and results.
and i also use mothers back to black also.i like it too
my panels are not black.they are gray

my panels are not black.they are gray
Black (charcoal, really) panels were introduced in the 2005 MY, IIRC.

I'd stay away from ArmorAll - it's cr@p. Most of the ArmorAll products look nice and shiny out of the bottle, in prolonged use they seem to cause the plastic dry out and to deteriorate, likely due to the n-propoxypropanol (basically a cleaning solvent) used in it . Unless your trying for the dull white-ish gray look for your panels :rolleyes:

I've been using the original Armorall for years - but not on plastic and not for appearance. It doesn't have enough UV or weather resistance to hold up in exterior applications, but what it's good for is preserving rubber during storage. Think of ArmorAll as cosmolene for rubber and plastic.

Trying to restore or keep a soft polymer looking shiny is much harder than trying to keep a black gloss paint finish looking clean. It's easier to aim for a natural looking semi-gloss or satin appearance.

I use Armorall on the hard rubber components of my scuba gear, tires and other items when they are stored out of season. For the exterior of my Element I use 303 on polymers, wax on paint. For the interior I use a low gloss B2B product on the dash, 303 everywhere else. I apply all these when I wax and clean my vehicle in the fall and spring; use 303 on the tires when they are rotated. The rest of the time I just wash the exterior, wipe down the interior with damp microfiber cloths.

One thing to keep in mind when using 303; it's supposed to keep the material from deterioration due to UV. It isn't a polish and won't restore or make materials look shinier. Over-application of 303 will lead to water streaking until the excess is washed away. I find that it is easiest to apply it late in the day, let it dry over night and then thoroughly wash the areas where I used it the next day.

Since this is the Armor All Hate thread, I'll chime in. I used some kind of Armor All interior wipe for the dash board on my 93 4Runner. 93 is along time ago. I bought the vehicle for cheeeap in 2005. Around 2006 I thought I'd go for a full detail and spruce her up after a Georgia clay mud run from whatever I found. Young and dumb.... used the AA, about a week later, after the greasy feel went away I found a crack in the middle of the dash running from the windshield toward the AC vents. Totally cut my dash in half. Granted, it was probably brittle already from the age and previous unknown care of the car and then dried and shrunk in the summer sun just a bit more to crack the itch.

Haven't touched any Armor All since. Learned my lesson the hard way.