I find the shiny dash on my 1.4Tdi to be very annoying as the reflections in the windscreen on a sunny day very distracting. I got rid of the annoying reflections from the air vents in the side windows by painting them matt black but this obviously is not possible with the dashboard so I am thinking about covering it with something or other(yet to be determined) but can anyone tell me what the small square thing is on top of the instrument binnacle. Is it a sensor for the aircon, and can it be covered?

Chris

I find the shiny dash on my 1.4Tdi to be very annoying as the reflections in the windscreen on a sunny day very distracting. I got rid of the annoying reflections from the air vents in the side windows by painting them matt black but this obviously is not possible with the dashboard so I am thinking about covering it with something or other(yet to be determined) but can anyone tell me what the small square thing is on top of the instrument binnacle. Is it a sensor for the aircon, and can it be covered?

Chris

If you have got Climate control then it's one of the sensors iirc, I wouldn't want to cover it.

Have you tried cleaning it with a matt finish cleaner? I use some Armour All Matt finish on an applicator pad for mine, which is a Roomster with the same dash, and I don't find anything distracting about refelections etc.

If your car has climatronic, the small square part over the instrument is the sunlight sensor which should not be covered. If you don't have climatronic, it's just a "blank".

I'd clean it down with a weak soap/car shampoo solution, dry thoroughly then apply some 303 Protectant to it. This will protect the dash plastic by applying a layer of UV protection to it, but the finish of the product is also matt, so that should hopefully cure the shininess.

303 Aerospace Protectant

Steve

Have you tried polaroid sunglasses? They cut out the reflections in the windscreen, almost making it look as if there is no glass there at all. I find that brown lenses seem to aid clarity even more.

I use a matt finish dash cleaning cloth. cant say ive noticed a reflection on the window but it very rarely sunny where i live.

am sorry... you dont like the way the dash shines?... ummm sun glasses?

When you say shines, do you mean it shines because someone has used those gloss finish dash wipes? as they annoy the hell out of me. I use the matt wipe ones, much nicer. Mind you I have a Superb, but my fathers Roomster I have driven a lot on sunny days, never had a problem with shiny dash.

Thanks for all these replies, most of which I found helpfull. I have used some of the matt dash cleaner which helps a bit, hopefully it will improve the situation with further applications.

As far as Polariods go I have tried these and they do solve the problem but I do not particularly want to wear them all the time, so getting rid of the shine is a better solution for me.