Plastic dash cover or leather one?
 

There seem to be 4 approaches to my cracked dash :

1) Ignore it, leave the nasty carpet cover on that it has right now
2) Buy one of the plastic cover-type repair kits - $100
3) Buy a leather dash blanket - $200
4) Get it re-upholstered in leather - $700

So (4) is more than I am inclined to pay, though it looks nice. Which of 2 and 3 do you favour?

If you aren't willing to spend the money on #4 buy a dashmat for ~$50. The plastic covers will warp if you leave the car in the sun. I had one on my 944 and it looked good for about 3 months once I parked the car in sun it warped and looked like crap. My old Mercedes had a cracked dash and I used a dashmat which did a pretty good job at a fairly low price.

Buy a cheap spare dash, fiddle with it in spare time until its nice enough to suit you, then swap it.

I'm thinking Alacantara, unfortunately my dash has no cracks yet.

It has a carpet dash mat and I think it looks absolutely awful. Has anyone tried the leather dash mats like Jager sell?

Do not try #2, They end up looking worst than a dash carpet. There is a thread on here where some one repaired the cracks using fiberglass bondo, sanded, SEM texture paint, then paint to match interior. I believe the thread was a few years old, with some post about how it had held up after a year or two. That is the route I am thinking about going on my blue interior, but I doubt it will work on an OB cork interior.
Next option, I would buy the leather dash kit from Robert Budd or Paul.

Tim,

I was thinking the vinyl version of the Rob Budd kit for the '84. I think if carefully done it could look MUCH better than a bunch of dash cracks w/o having to go to the trouble of actually taking the dash OUT of the car... Try it Tim and lets see how it goes! You did a good job on those seats, lets see the dash!

You might consider having the dash rebuilt by these guys. http://www.dashboardrestorations.com/ I don't have any first hand experience with them but there may be some here who do. Found this thread from a lister who had his dash done by a company in Australia that does the same kind of work. https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...dash+australia

you have only 2 options

Either 1 or 4

Leave it and deal with it, or get it leather covered

Those plastic things are garbage and who wants carpet on their dash? Options 2 and 3 are simply a waste of money!

When I got the '84, it had a dash cap... It was warped and looked AWFUL. I removed it and removed most of the torn up leather and insulation from around the vents. I picked up a black "brushed suede" dash cover from "The Dash Man" (Amazon.com). It's not true suede, but it looks much better than carpet if you ask me. The vent holes fit perfectly around the leather dash style vents and it looks 100X better than before. It's no leather dash, but it's certainly not an irritating eyesore either. If I had a new leather dash in my car, I'd probably still install one of these covers just to keep it nice, so my dash looks just like it would with a new leather dash! :)

You can see a small sliver of the cover in the signature photo below... I'll try and post some good photos of the dash when I get a chance for future users.

I'd probably try one of the leather dash covers from Jager if the fit was as good as The Dash Man covers.

You still have to remove the dash to install the vinyl cover. I will have to do it someday on the 78 since it is cork, and can not be painted to match. But I have a spare 88 dash that I will try the bondo trick on one of these days for the S4. If it works, I may do it again for the brown 79 dash.

$589 plus shipping ($50 + -) for your dash redone in vinyl.
I'm running with backlog of 6-7 weeks.
Pay 50% with the order and the balance plus shipping when it's done and ready to ship, about early January. Add $100 if you want me to use one of my cores.

No obligation, just info for reference.

I have seen one redone in vinyl by Rob, it looked prefect.

Funny... I have a plastic cover on my 924. I have had it for years... maybe 15 now. It has not warped. Of course I did not glue it to the dash. I saw too many of them warp and split due to differences in expansion between it and the dash in hot and cold conditions.

Anyway I also use a sun screen in the front window. It protects the dash, seats and steering wheel perfectly. So maybe the plastic looks crappy to some but no reason that they absolutely will warp. Again 15 plus years in my 924 and no warping.

Reason I am looking again now... nice -18 deg morning and come out to find the 928S4 dash has split right down the center DOU!

For the 928 I am thinking about going with the leather overlay. Does anyone have a pic they can post with one installed?

You can get a new leather cover an install it yourself. I did that. Kind of tricky, but it looks great. Check for pricing.