Under Construction
See also Protectants in Home and Garden. Auto Trim History:
Armor All, has been the leader in Vinyl, plastic and rubber protection, but Meguiar's,
303 Aerospace Protectant and others (see below) are all popular now.
You can find blogs claiming problems with Armor All such as, dust collection, no UV protection, deteriorates rubber, etc.
A comment at 303 Protectant VS Armor All - CrossfireForum.org in 2007 says,
The arguments against Armour All are as follows:
Armor All claims:
See: 303 Protectant VS Armor All, 2008 at CrossFireForum.org for pros and cons. Armor All is, without a doubt, the single most maligned product in the automotive finish care world. Back in the day it was just about the ONLY product of it's kind on the market, and it was being used on plastics and vinyls of the time (think back to the great quality of domestic car interiors back in 1975 - yeah, junk). Now consider that most people did NOTHING to the dash in their cars and over time the material would just dry out horribly. So Armor All hit the market and people jumped on it. Spray some on that badly weathered dash and the material would often swell and split, so everyone blamed Armor All - after all, the dash appeared fine before applying the stuff. Truth is, if the dash is that badly dried out it will have a tendancy to swell and split if you appy almost anything to it - even plain water. But since Armor All had virtually no competition at the time, it took the blame. Armor All was reforumlated several years ago, mostly due to changing VOC regulations that they, us and all of our competitors face on an ongoing basis, and it's now basically just a water based dressing not terribly unlike 303, or several of our own (Meguiar's) dressings. It does tend to impart a pretty high shine still, which I personally don't care for (but then again we make a product or two who's appearance I don't care for, but some folks like that look so we make 'em). Of course, just because many of these are water based doesn't mean their all identical - far from it. 303 is an excellent product, but I'd put our M40 Vinyl & Rubber Cleaner/Conditioner or Hyper Dressing up against it any day. Otherwise Armor All is fine to use on the interior, tires, etc. If you don't mind the look. A note at the Wolfgang Vinyl & Rubber Protectant page in 2009 still claimed "Other protectant products contain petroleum distillates as their shine agent." Because of VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) regulations in many states this is no longer true.
Vinyl & Plastic Auto Trim:
Ratings at Amazon: (2014) Armor All Protectant Gel vs. 303 Products vs. Meguiar's vs. Mothers Polish at autopia.org
Rubber: A 2012 review of wheel and tire cleaners at Consumer Reports rated Eagle One A2Z, Meguiars, and Mothers best.
Others: Exterior paint: Wax: Nano/Ceramic coatings: Everything you need to know about Ceramic Coating in 2020 Glass Links:
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