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It happens to almost every vehicle you own. Sooner or later you develop cracks in your dashboard. They can start out small, but can quickly grow and become very ugly. It seems that no matter what you do the car you are driving will eventually develop cracks. You tell yourself that this time you will not let the dashboard crack and you will take great care to prevent this. You clean your car often and pamper the dashboard by cleaning it every week. But that may actually be part of the problem. You are cleaning your dashboard too much. What?

Dashboards are not made that strong. They are a thin layer of vinyl fabric over some foam padding. There are a few factors that cause the vinyl-chloride plasticizer to leach out of the vinyl, which will cause it to become brittle and eventually crack. The harshest element that will cause this sunlight, followed by excessive cleaning and using a protectant every time you clean the dash. The best cleaning solution for your dash board is actually a soft cloth and some warm water. This will get your dashboard clean and not damage it.

Once your dashboard does develop cracks it is best to try to repair them when they are small to prevent them from become too large and ruining your dashboard altogether. Several vinyl repair kits are available at your local auto parts store that should allow you to repair the dashboard without too much work. There are also plenty of companies that do this kind of work for more money than a repair kit. They will do a better job than you usually can because they have done it many times before. Although their price might be a little costlier than, it will still be less than replacing your dashboard altogether, which is neither cheap nor easy.

To keep your car in good shape and to maintain its value it is important to keep your car clean. Furthermore, when it comes time to sell the vehicle, it will be much easier and you will get more for it if its body is in good shape. There is no set number as far as how often you should wash your car. It really all depends on factors such as where you live, how you use your car, and what season it is. While taking your vehicle through the automatic car wash, as opposed to washing by hand, is much easier, there are some important things to keep in mind when it comes to automatic car washes:

There are a few different type of automatic washes, these include the older versions which use brushes, the newer versions will be “brushless” or “touchless” Finding the latter two are the best options as some older car washes still use abrasive brushes (instead of cloth), which can leave small scratches in a car’s finish.

Touchless car washes use only high-pressure water jets and detergents to clean the car — without physically touching it at all. There is virtually no chance of your vehicle suffering any cosmetic damage this way. Also, some areas have “self-service” coin-operated hand washes, which are great for spraying away heavy dirt buildup.

At the end of a wash, if it is a full-service car wash, the attendants may wipe down the car by hand.  This is usually OK — provided the attendants are using fresh, clean and soft towels to do so. Dirt and other abrasives in the rags can scratch the finish just like sandpaper. Simply driving away from the wash and letting air flow over the car to dry any remaining water won’t hurt anything — and is the best guarantee of a no-damage experience.

There are usually different ‘packages’ at a car wash, whether you want a basic wash or ‘the works’. One worthwhile extra an undercarriage bath, it may be worth the additional cost. Jets of water sprayed directly underneath the car can break loose accumulated. It’s also important that underbody drainage holes not be obstructed by mud and other buildup. The undercarriage bath should help keep those drain holes clear.

In most cases automatic car washes are absolutely safe for your vehicle. In fact, automatic car washes can be safer for your car’s finish than washing your car yourself because do-it-yourselfers sometimes don’t use enough water to safely remove dirt; or they wash the car in direct sunlight — which can burn spots in the paint. Or they use the wrong type of soap — such as dishwashing detergent, which removes protective wax and leaves a chalky residue on the finish.