Armor All has been around for probably over 30 years and it is a great product for what it does but sometimes you need to remove all of the wax and dirt from interior parts if you are restoring them and painting.
The first thing to do when cleaning your interior is to vacuum clean any dirt that you can remove. Use a brush or dry cloth and remove any material that will come off before you try to clean it because all you will end up doing is liquifying that gunk and distributing it all over everything.
The next thing you want to do is spot clean any really bad spots. If someone opened a packet of ketchup or chocolate melted on your dash you want to clean that up first before you wipe it across everything.
Once you have the worst of the problems cleaned you can begin by using a mild detergent. My favorite general purpose cleaner is any liquid clothing soap.
You want to use clean paper towels and spay the towel with soap.. don’t spray the dash because you will get too much product on the surface which will leak down into seams and cracks and other areas where its hard to blow out even with compressed air.
After you have cleaned most of the dirt off of the surface with general purpose detergent you can reapply the armor all or stop here if the surface is in good condition.
If you will be restoring the color with a paint or dye you need to make sure every last bit of oil and contaminant is removed. To do this you will want to get some wax and grease remover and use either a lint free cotton towel or paper towels to lightly apply it then wipe it off while it is still wet.
Work in small sections that you can easily reach and if it is warm out you want to be working inside the shop or in some shade after the car has had a chance to cool.
Now that the surface is dirt and wax free you can prepare it for paint or dye.
It is important to prep your surface so it will accept paint. There are chemicals that can do this and some people will recommend that you use a scotch brite pad to abrade the surface. If you are going to use a scuff pad you want to use a gentile one .. a standard green scrubby should be enough and you shouldn’t have to use a gray or red pad that you would use for painting body paint.
Chemical products work well for prepping plastic parts because they do not cause damage to the texture of the surface they only open up the plastic to accept the paint.
SEM makes some good vinyl prep liquids that work on flexible vinyl and plastic parts.
One thing you do not want to do is apply a petroleum based product that could cause poor adhesion. Don’t apply reducer or lacquer thinner or any other solvent.
Make sure you saturate the surface with vinyl prep but do not allow it to pool.
Read your directions on specific use in your application.
You can now begin painting the surface after you have completed masking off for any overspray.
Remember to tack cloth the surface before you begin.