I was cleaning my car, and figured that, as long as I’m doing the outside, I might as well do the inside. I found a bottle of ArmorAll, so I used that on the interior.

And then I noticed that the label suggests it can be used on tires. So I tried that. They look much better: they don’t have that absurd “really shiny” look that cars in showrooms and car shows have, but they’re a nice deep black now, and make the wheels look even cleaner.

But then, having doused everything rubber and plastic in my car with ArmorAll, I came inside to use my computer. And got to thinking about the Thinkpad’s top. Anyone who’s used a Thinkpad will know what I mean: it’s a really bizarre consistency, sort of rubberized plastic. It scratches easily, picks up oils from your hands if you touch it, and always looks dirty.

So you can probably see where my mind went: can I use ArmorAll to clean/protect the T60’s coating like I do on other plastics?

I figured that the key would be to not use too much, especially since I didn’t know how it would work. So I sprayed a little on a paper towel and rubbed it in. It ended up still looking like too much, so I used a spare cloth to wipe it down, going in circular motions.

I’m on Day 1 so far, but I’m currently very happy with the result. It’s a nice solid consistency, albeit slightly slick. It looks, well, clean, and at least as good as when it was new. The edges are already starting to look a little different (they always have, due to fingerprints where I open/close the lid), but it’s still a definite improvement. I’ll wait a few days and see how it looks then before I decide if this was a good idea or not…