Cheap Dash Crack Repair
#17
Done With Sidepatch
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Just curious...I've been thinking about this for a while...Has anybody tried a DIY recover with leather or some kind of vinyl? I would love to hear about a personal success story...and how they achieved it.
#18
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Join Date: Feb 2004
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There's a place in Van Nuys called "Just Dashes" (no affiliation) that specializes in refinishing auto dashboards - particularly collectables like old 'vettes, etc. Their work is very good but it comes with a price - IIRC a 944 dash will run about $700 or $800 and you're without it for a few weeks. There have been various solutions proposed and implemented like sanding off the old vinyl, bondo-ing the dash and sanding to make it smooth and finally applying a 3M textured vinyl finish (came out well too), a "brush-on" kind of stuff, etc. I asked the upholstery shop that redid my seats whether they could do a dash and they said they could, although I'd have to bring it in to them to assess how much work would be involved, how many pieces of vinyl or whatever I wanted to use, etc. So I imagine an upholstery shop COULD do it, but prices and quality I'm sure vary widely.
Tifo said it, I've never seen a "good" dash cover install. All of them just look and feel cheap, chincey, plastic, etc. Maybe there's a way to get them installed with better quality or something that's just lacking in all the installs I've seen. Dunno. Perhaps pull the dash out and use some of that expanding foam stuff under the cover to make it more "solid" and help adhere it uniformly? Again, dunno without experimenting and (luckily) I have no need to. . .
I just hold out for cars with good dashes - too much of a pain to deal with as a "fixer-upper" item unless everything else is nearly perfect. . . Just my preference I guess - I like my cars to LOOK good, classy and like what I think a Porsche should look like - not some PepBoys inspired collection of aftermarket junk glommed together. . . But like I said before - whatever thrills ya'. . .
Tifo said it, I've never seen a "good" dash cover install. All of them just look and feel cheap, chincey, plastic, etc. Maybe there's a way to get them installed with better quality or something that's just lacking in all the installs I've seen. Dunno. Perhaps pull the dash out and use some of that expanding foam stuff under the cover to make it more "solid" and help adhere it uniformly? Again, dunno without experimenting and (luckily) I have no need to. . .
I just hold out for cars with good dashes - too much of a pain to deal with as a "fixer-upper" item unless everything else is nearly perfect. . . Just my preference I guess - I like my cars to LOOK good, classy and like what I think a Porsche should look like - not some PepBoys inspired collection of aftermarket junk glommed together. . . But like I said before - whatever thrills ya'. . .
#20
Three Wheelin'
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Virginia
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Heres the problem, if you're vinyl is gone from the heat and UV, theres a good chance the wood type material around the vents is gone too. In that case the dash is worthless.
#21
this posting used to have pics and its the best way I've seen to do it yourself...
https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...2&page=1&pp=15
https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...2&page=1&pp=15