linderpat

subscribed for the rear consol flap.

dr bob

The instructions are pretty clear about using as little as possible. It's tempting to add a little more "just to be sure" but causes collateral damage as you state. I've decided that the thinnest continuous film possible is plenty, and I do add the water to the opposing surface very carefully, usually with a small brush like an acid brush.

The stuff foams up when it contacts its water 'activator", filling voids quickly to the limits allowed by the clamping. Assuming you have access after clamping but before it sets up hard, you also have the ability to do a little detail trimming of the still-soft foam a few minutes after you clamp.

-----

I haven't needed to do any console trim repairs yet, so have no direct experience with this particular usage. I have done a lot of work on the door panel trim, particularly at the top edge. The vinyl covering (on mine) has a thin foam layer under it. It's not at all practical to try and glue the foam to the door card itself, since it's usually pretty crispy already, and because it's open-cell foam that absorbs adhesive like a sponge. The combination of those things leads to very uneven top surfaces on the door panel. Solution for me was to use brush-on contact cement, but only on the lip edge of the cover where it wraps back around underneath the door card. Similarly, adhesive is applied to the inside of that top lip of the door card itself to receive the lip of the vinyl cover. I used long paint stir sticks and a lot of spring clamps to keep even pressure on the glue joint, also to keep the clamps from distorting the shape of the foam. So the top of the trimmed-out door panel is flt as it came from the factory, still with foam intact underneath.

You can buy replacement foam in rolls, fabric-faced on one side so you can glue it to the cover. Use spray adhesive for this, and resist the urge to pull or stretch the foam as you fit it up to the vinyl. I generally slide a sheet or two of waxed paper (the kitchen roll kind) between the sprayed and tacked surfaces so I can get alignment perfect. Then slowly slide the waxed paper out while gently pressing the foam to the vinyl. Goal is no bubbles stretches or wrinkles in either the cover or the foam. Helps if the cover material is taped or clamped in place on the worktable too, BTW. Contact cement isn't very forgiving, so do a dry fitup first, and another with the wax paper to polish your technique before you add glue and do the real thing.