1Z Einszett Cockpit Premium Review

[Mike @ einszett]

Really from both. However, you`ll find that most plastics these days do really well over many years of use. As I mentioned above, today`s automotive glass filters the majority of UV rays as well as some IR (infrared) rays which cause heat. Both Cockpit Premium and Vinyl-Rubber Care and Protectant are formulated to remain stable due to heat preventing them form losing their effectiveness.

As far as the drying/cracking/warping, the problem lies with products that contain petroleum distillates - specifically low volatile ones. Think mineral oil as a low volatile distillate and lighter fluid as a high volatile one. While applying lighter fluid on plastic is not a good idea, it has less damaging effects than mineral oil which will just sit on the plastic and dry it out. But lighter fluid will flash (evaporate) very quickly before it can do a lot of damage. This is why you should always keep polishes and waxes away from plastic trim. If left on there, they will dry it out and cause it to turn white (basically accelerate its aging/oxidation)

It used to be that certain products used low volatile distillates to give the high gloss shine. They were the reason for the damaging effects, not silicone as many claimed.

With water-based protectants and treatments like Cockpit and Vinyl-Rubber, the damaging effects due to distillates is no longer an issue.

As far as UV protectants, I`m not an expert at this but I can tell you two things. One, the ingredients in the products inhibit the effects of UV. Not entirely clear exactly how but I will find out.

Two, you can not associate an SPF rating to the products. SPF stands for "skin protection factor". If you have an SPF 15 suntan lotion, that means it will give your skin the ability to stay exposed to the sun 15 times longer without getting burned than had you not worn any protection. So if it takes your skin ten minutes to burn without any protection, putting on a SPF 15 lotion will give you approximately 150 minutes of protection. Then you`ll have to re-apply. BTW, there`s even controversy about the true effectiveness of anything over 30 or 45 SPF. Similar to horsepower wars.

As you can see, associating an SPF with car care products would be silly. How long they actually last? Of course it depends on your region (Florida or Vermont) and how often you drive (garage queen or daily driver). Having lived in Texas and California and car parked outside quite a bit during the daytime, I can say that applying every 4-6 weeks is a good idea for the exterior and applying Cockpit every 3-4 weeks on the inside.

An important characteristic in Vinyl-Rubber Care and in Gummi Pflege to keep them effective as long as possible, is a sealing effect. When the conditioners and protectants are applied, the product forms a sealed layer so they don`t escape after a wash or two. The level of UV inhibitors in the protectants on the market are virtually the same, the key difference is how long you can keep them on the surface they`re treating. This is why the sealing effect we have is so important. You can have all the UV inhibitors, protectants, etc in the world but if it washes off, it`s useless.

If you want to read more information on this topic, check out this article I wrote: How to Clean Car Plastic and Tires - einszett Car Care Products

[TroyScherer]

Interesting review John. This is one of the products that I have on my list to try as I like a matte natural look. But I can never seem to validate the price vs Megs Natural look that I can get locally. In your opinion is it a better product than Megs Natural?