Is there any way I can treat the plastic in my car? Like put some armor-all on it, and let it soak in? Will it make it less brittle?

I'm just looking at it as a long term thing... say if I know there are places where it has gotten brittle, can I somehow oil it so it isn't so dried out?

--Gary

 

No. Time to start looking for replacement parts.
And personally I think armourall tends to harden the soft parts.

 

I agree, but after you replace the brittle parts treat everything with baby oil. I have a truck that is 25 years old and everytime I wax it I apply baby oil to all the interior plastic and dash and it looks good as new.

 

I would think soaking it in very hot water should help. If of course you can FIT the part in a pot of hot water...

 

Nothing will help.
The flex agents in the plastic will gas and evaporate over time.
Heat and sunlight (i.e. UV) accelerates this process.
There is nothing that can put back these flex agents into the plastic.

Even Armor All will not help.
Armor All is a silicone based product.
Even the silicone won't help in this case.


-Ted

 

yep Ted is right.

 

ware can i get replacement vent parts and how far am i going to have to bend over backwards for them (cost)

 

www.mazdatrix.com



And to go rarestRX style...

-Blake

"Brittle plastic sucks"

 

Man, sure does suck... 'cause there is no chance of finding a non-brittle dash anywhere... they're just too old, even if they weren't sitting in the sun they'll be somewhat brittle.

Is there a way to temporarily soften the plastic long enough to say... put screws in, take screws out, stuff like that?

I broke a few of the fastener holes (just plastic loops) on one of my dashes taking it out... I wasn't horribly violent, the things just FELL apart when the screw moved at all. So I was wondering if I take out a dash in the future what I could do to avoid cracking those?

Thanks for all the input too guys... I agree armor-all is only good when your dash is already fairly hardened and you want it to look better... putting it on soft dash seems to make it harden faster somehow.

--Gary

 

See: https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/how-repair-instrument-cluster-bevel-plastic-tab-339927/