Robby

With all the dash stuff goin on lately, I have to ask... I know Porsche had an optional leather dash, that was expensive as hell, but, it didn't seem to hold up any better than the vinyl ones, evidently.... The notorious vent cracks are just very annoying & I would like to get mine fixed (OR buy a used one & have IT recovered somehow...)- I'm just wondering what it would cost & WHERE to get it done...? I'm not looking for leather though... simple vinyl would be fine, as long as it was decent quality- would hope for reinforced vinyl around the vents, possibly.... any ideas here?

Thanks

PEvans

Pre-recovered dashboards:

http://www.944online.com/cgi-local/A...skukey_1000072

I'm interested to hear if you go this way. I don't know anything about these other than what is on the website.

Here's the place indentified by Jim Pasha in his articles on dash replacement:

http://www.justdashes.com/

He says the recovered dash is better built and hard to tell from the original.

Again, all I know is what I read.

Robby

I loked at the 944online link- their prices are nose-bleed-steep... I just sent them an e-mail though... wondering if the $595 recovering fee includes the $200 core, or, if that's going to bring it to $795....?

the other one does not list later 944's,... I've tried to get in touch w/them, but, have had no luck... they have not returned my e-mails... I'l try one more time... I'm just hoping to find someone somewhere who has actually had a dash recovered or something...

thanks

Robby

Just heard back from Ian at 944online... Was very impressed w/the quick response- it's only been a few hours- it's 8:30AM... He was very polite & seemed pretty knowledgeable... The price, $595 + $200 core, is for non-AB dash- AB dash is more- $995 + $200 core... That's a huge dif & doesn't make much sense to me, on a pricing scale, but, that's the way it is... Anyway, he says the material he uses is much stronger & that vent cracks aren't as much of a problem w/his recovered dashes... He also told me that the list price for a new dash from Porsche was >$4000...! This makes the recovering cost seem fairly reasonable I gueuss... Anyway, he is ALSO working on making new door panels & pockets, out of different material- not the cardboard stuff- in the near future- he says it will probably be at least 4 months before they're ready- he's looking at $450 - $500/pr for the panels & #300/pr for the pockets- ballpark- these are more 968 style of the 10-speaker system type... not trying to tell too much here- hope I haven't misquoted anything, but, just wanted to let you guys who are following this thread, know...

Geo

I'm sure that would be because the dash and the AB "door" would ahve to be done separately, thus consuming more labor and materials. Not that cost determines the prices, but I imagine in this case it has a strong influence.

Robby

Yes, it would be seperate, but, the total area would be the same... I do understand what you're saying though... he also said he recovers the glove box door on AB cars to better match the material, but, this part makes no sense to me whatsoever- I mean, if the door on AB cars needs to be redone to match material on the dash, then, the door on non-AB ones would need it too, I would think....? I mean, the door is seperate on both & would get the same wear & tear either way.... Either way, this is all really out of my league anyway, so, doesn't really much matter...

I'm going to talk to a local place that recovered the hatch cover on my car for $50- these things are >$150 new- it looked good at first- had it done in linen b/c I was going to try to convert, but, then found out that 968's never had that interior color & I want 968 door panels, like the black ones I currently have- I then ended up spending almost $20 dyeing the damn thing back to black- I'll never consider dyeing anything again after that...

Robert D

With the dash covers at 944online, charging THAT MUCH more for non-ab dashes does not make sense... First off, why would the new material not match old material...why would this be desireable? The old materal matches the rest of the car and if it looked different it wouldn't be worth the money at all. With AB dashes, is there really a need to recover the AB door??? The AB never cracked on my 88 dash, and from what I remember most cracks start from the defrost vents... That is just ridiculous pricing IMHO, ~1000 for a non-original looking dash. I'd much sooner go for a covercraft dash cover and call it a day...or use a carpet cover.

Robby

That's true- the AB door really shouldn't be a problem & yes, the only real problem area is where the dash meets the base of the windshield- those small vents w/the tiny sectional areas b/t each one- very thin edges of vinyl, etc... My worst crack comes off a vent & extends toward the left AB door line- the vent directly behind this line- it's like it's growing together.... Most of the other ones are minor, & haven't gotten much worse in the last 6yrs, nor has a new one formed... however, I've seen the cracks only get a tiny bit worse & have had no new ones, thanks to constant use of a sun-visor, plus, frequent garage parking...

Anyway, you're right though, the AB door is perfect- not to mention the glove-box door... That really does seem strange now, that one style would include the glovebox door & the other would not- $400 dif... I'm not as worried about the vinyl matching the rest of the car, since, the dash is it's own large piece, but, would want all parts of the dash to match each other... I really hope, for that price, that it looks high-quality.... makes me wonder how the extremely rare, factory, leather dashes held up in these areas....?

Robert D

Well, considering how much fun it is to remove a dash in the first place...I can't imagine then paying 1000.00 on top of that for one to replace it with. Coverlay's can be done right...sticking them down mainly...but aside from that why replace a cracked dash on a car if you do not intend to show it? If I had another 944 I would simply buy a carpet cover, coverlay, or just let the cracks show. My previous 944 had a perfect dash and I still kept it covered with a carpet piece....why? I guess I'm ****.

With the Blazer I'm driving now, the dash is cracked and the driver's seat has a tear....I am soooo compelled to buy a cover for the dash and seats or go search the parts yards for good looking pieces.....but its a Blazer. Still bugs me........

PEvans

Robby,

Thanks for following up on these. I have been thinking about replacing the dash in my 86 951, so this is helpful.

I got the impression that Just Dashes would recover a core you provide rather than sell you a recovered dash from inventory. Hopefully you'll hear from them.

I'm also not aware that you can still get new 944 dashes from Porsche, at least not the pre-airbag version for my car. When they were selling them in the 90s it was more like $1,600, again, no air bag.

Am I wrong in assuming that replacing the dash is such an involved job that you would only bother if you were after perfection?

aribop

Just Dashes sucks!

I had a leather dash that I wanted recovered (by the way the leather is only on the bottom half of the dash...the top is still vinyl). They wanted $800 to recover the dash. That's fine for the whole thing but I only needed 1/2 of it covered. They would not work with me on any part of it. And it took me forever to finally get to speak to the owner! That is not how to build customer loyalty!

I will never recommend them, I don't care how good their work is.

aribop

Replacing a dash is not that bad...just a bit time consuming.

Mike Murcia

This is good and timely information Albert. Robby, what is so bad about dyeing vinyl? Doesn't leatherique sell some vinyl dye?

thingo

I made a lot of enquiries with mine, I wanted to go with full leather but every trimmer said I would really need to get a piece to sit in the hollow where the vents are, the way the dash is designed there is no way to stop it lifting (sun is very strong here).It would be possible to get a piece of say aluminium laser cut, but before anyone convinced me it would look good enough I found a second hand dash from England, where of course the sun doesn't shine..

Yes I have the added disadvantage of rhd- no covers available, and my interior is burgundy, so colour matching is an issue as well.

The only other option is what we call 'reskinning', they somehow reattach and fill the cracks, I wasn't convinced, and it was the same price as the leather.
I am getting the lower half of my new(ish) dash done in leather, and the centre console trim/armrests.

Mike C.

Unless you're really bent on getting a new looking dash, I found that you can make it look reasonably good by contact cementing one of the carpet overlays on there. They have several colors and you can really make it wrinkle-free if you're careful.