joejoe

My '86.5 developed a small hairline crack about 1" long on the pod about 1 year ago. It had not lengthened until the last freeze here (22degree or so). Yesterday I look and now it has lengthened to about 5". It is still no wider than a hair, but I am wondering if there is a way to repair easily. Looked through search and what I found for repair was for larger splits. I know champagne has a cover, however my dash is not leather and not sure it would look right. I have 2 rough pods and a dash cap I am thinking of using. My '81 has a cap on it (only pod) and looks o.k.. I guess the real question is if there is a way to repair hairline split? Should I wait a bit for stress to relieve itself more? Any ideas appreciated.

Bill Ball

To effectively make a repair, you need to widen the crack anyway, so follow the same techniques.

bronto

Similar subject, what causes cracks, and how to prevent them?

* Are there particular cleaners/treatments to avoid? Armourall? When I was a kid the conventional wisedom (of teenagers) was that if you *stop* using armourall things would start cracking, so best to not start.

* Weather issues - seems obvious to keep it out of the hot sun, but this is the first I'd seen severe cold mentioned. I grew up an hour from Porterville so I recognize the dry, biting cold they get there but hadn't occured to me that it would cause a dash to crack.

Right now my dash is in pretty good shape. There's a couple of hair lines at the edges of the defroster vents, and that's about it.

Rob M Budd

The list of cleaners to avoid can be quite long. A cleaner that can be used is something like Murphy's Oil Soap.
It has a low ph and can be used on leather too.

Beside UV and heat, an enemy of vinyl and leather is dirt. Heat and UV will help dirt absorb the natural oils in leather and chemicals is vinyl leading to failure.

Once it starts, particularly with vinyl there's really not much you can do to prevent it from continuing.

I've had vinyl dashes and pods develop cracks while just sitting on the shelf. And I've seen un-cracked vinyl pods crack while installing them.

I think when these cars were made, the manufacturing process wasn't up to par for interior protection against UV. Recently it has become better..

A cover is the way to go. But of course my opinion is biased.

jheis

I haven't tried this, so take it for what it's worth....

I read somewhere that a way to stop a crack from propogating is to drill a small (I'm thinking 1/16th") hole at each end of the crack. I think the theory is that by rounding the ends of the crack it will stop it from spreading. Might give it a try if you have access to a right angle drill.

I'm considering trying it since my '82 has recently begun to show two short hairline cracks - I'd been been lucky so far..., but my car now lives outside - so, I guess it was inevitable.

James

potsiewebber

As much as i hate to spread bad experiences, i had my pod repaired by dan brindle of portia parts and it did not even last 1 month. the repair was not that great to begin with and it didnt last at all. it hasnt even seen the sun yet. take my advice and spend the extra bucks on a pod cover. good luck

RyanPerrella

is that "dan the pod man"

I tried contacting that guy about 7-8 times early last year when ifirst bought my car. I never got a damn response from him.

I have to agree with joejoe in that although the leather cover is really nice, I dont want to remove my dash to have it leather covered as well. And I dont think the leather cover pod will look very good with a standard dash. I was thinking I would fill the cracks in mine, use the vinyl dye on it and reinstall. I am trying to figure out what kind of filler to use for the cracks though, i dont want bondo as i think its too stiff, i want something with a more rubbery composition, something that will expand and contract and not crack again. I figured i do it this way, try and do it myself, spend $50 on the materials, and couple hours of my time and see how it turns out. If it looks like crap then i just have it recovered later. No real harm. I think its worth the gamble for me.

Any suggestions on a crack filler?

Dennis Wilson

Ryan,

Did you try this address for Dan?

dbrindle at kondratyev.com

Dennis

Podguy

James,

Please state the story correctly. Yes i repaired your pod and gave you a guarantee. Before I did the repair I called you and told you I thought you would be happier with another solution. You GTS pod had some minor cracks and I did not want to do the full treatment as the texture I use is quite different from the factory. You agreed for me to do a minor repair with the provision that should it crack in the future I would then do the complete mask with the full texture.

Several months after the repair you contacted me and said the pod had started to crack. I offered to repair the pod free of charge (I prorate my repairs over one year) and extend the guarantee for another year. Normally, I would send you out another repaired pod to change out, but since I have no GTS cores the repair is dependant on my having your pod to repair.

I stand behind all my work and have very good luck with longivity. You understood the terms going in and yet you choose to misrepresent the truth in a public forum. This after I spent extensive time with you in e-mail and on the phone helping you with the body repairs for your smashed up GTS.

If any one is trying to contact me I am always available on the e-mail Rennlist or by e-mailing me at DBrindle@kondratyev.com

RyanPerrella

Yup i tried that e-mail about 7-8 times last year and never even got a response.

RyanPerrella

Anyway, i think i will try it myself this go round.

Whats a good crack filler to use, any suggestions?

Podguy

Joejoe,

Unfortunately when a pod or dash starts to crack they will continue to crack. When I first started testing pod repairs I only repaired the cracks. Rarely would the pod crack in the area of the repair. However, shortly after the repair cracks would show up in other places. The solution was to put a mask on the entire surface. This essentially puts a new skin bonded to the original vinyl After doing this the problem with future cracking went away. Some of the pods have lived a few years through Arizona sun - my initial testing grounds.

Here is the deal. For some reason Porsche used inferior materials on the pods and the dashes. No excuse can be made for the design or the process of injection molding being a new process. The first 928 was made in 1977, 15 years after injection molding became a srandard on most cars.

I have a 1991 Toyota PU and had a 92 Mercerdes and before that an 84 Mercedes. None of these cars have problems with the dash panel cracking. The Toyota is especially abused as I leave it for long periods in the sun and have never once cleaned or protected the dash. Yet, it is as it came from the factory. So pod and dash cracking is more a problem with Porsche and the materials used rather than the process.

Just Dashes in LA does injection molding. They strip the old material off and mold new a dash from new material. While I have not seen their work and have not followed up with anyone who has one, I suspect the longevity is probably as good as most cars made today.

I do know that covering a cracked pod or dash will cause the surface cover to crack if the cracks are not repaired first. I noticed that Rob out in Detroit is putting a layer of foam under his leather covers. This is an excellant solution as it gives a better look and will probably increase the life of the product.

Leather is a nice solution, but you have to remember to keep things covered. When Porsche was first putting out the leather dashes they found they were replaceing them within the warranty period and more than once in areas like Sunnyvale and San Diego (I know this from first hand experience). Also know that the very early cars had better longevity with the vinyl dashes and pods. The pods on the 78 / 79 cars are made of a different foam substrate and they seem to be more resistant to cracking.

In the end Porsche discontinued the use of leather on the dashes, arm rests and center consoles. An "all leather interior" could be special ordered but starting in 87 leather was used on the door panels, rear quarters and roof, but was deleted from the dash and other high sun exposure places. Several people I know who had warranty repairs on the leather dashes were convinced by the dealers to "upgrade" to vinyl as a saner choice.

Then again if you live in Britain where the sun rarely shines you will find most of the interiors holding up well. It is tough selling pods in England.

I recommend against the use of Armorall and other such products. I find looking at the cores that the worse pods are the ones with the highest Silicon content. After a while the surface of the pod can get so burnt that it is soft to the touch. Any pressure will cause indentations. I am not sure if Armorall is the cause, but the silicon content on these seems to be higher than on the better cores with fewer cracks and less sun burn. Maybe people load up the Armorall after a dsah starts to crack, but why take the chance.

If you want to do a quick repair, auto parts stores sell vinyl repair kits. They are easy to use and will produce a reasonable job. The dash caps are not a great solution. While they are inexpensive they have a ridge in the front and will warp over time. The fit around the switches leaves alot to be desired. Over time the ones I have seen crack. The texture does not match the original. Worse than the Pod caps are the dash caps that just end up looking like crap in about five minutes. I have a blue and a black pod with good caps if anyone is interested.

There was or is a guy on the East Coast who was injection molding a quality dash and pod cap. The pod cap had a very fine seam that if applied correctly disappeared. He was selling them on eBay and claimed to have an exact match to the factory texture. I was going to pick up some and start to install them but never had the time with all the other projects I have going on.

Hope this helps. I am not trying to sell one process over another. There are differences in cost and qualitity for each solution. I do not advertize or encourage new orders and do pods only to help out other 928 owners who want a cost effective and reasonable solution to a very common problem.

RyanPerrella

its funny and still seems to ignore my posting. Although i do appreciate his explination and thoughts on porsche injection moulded dash parts. Interesting, I hadnt thought of just dashes but my give them a try. I also didnt know that post 87 porsche called a 928 with rear quarters and headliner and door panels minus the dash and pod leather, "full leather."

I now feel confident saying my car is a full leather car now. Even though there is no option code for it on my car. Yet i have all those parts in leather.

Champagne

Leather, like most anything else high end, requires a bit of care and attention. Regular treatments with appropriate nutrients will keep leather perfect for years, be it a pod, a dash or anything else in the car.

I always find it funny that people seem to think that leather pods and dashes can't survive in a Porsche. They seem to do fine in other high end marques.
The fact that Porsche had a bit of trouble with theirs at one point, does not mean that it's impossible.

As for pairing a leather pod with a vinyl dash, let's keep in mind that the factory did not seem to have a problem with the opposite. They produced a lot of leather dashes paired with vinyl pods and nobody seemed to mind.

Not fishing for an order here, just my opinion

Paul

Tony

or raise your pod so you cant see it