LeLutinBanni

Hi,

​​I have 2 dashes for my 928. The one in the car is the original recovered with new oem like vynil.
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The look is better than before(was cracked). But i would like to get my spare dash to be restored to his original condition.
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Do you know if it possible to redo it ? Does it need a special processus to obtain the same look ?

My dash is made of vynil.

Nicole

There is a company called "just dashes" that will promise to restore your vinyl dash. However, it will end-up looking as if someone inflated your original dash. And depending on your interior color, it may not match that very well, either.

So, whatever you do, don't send it to that company.

Michael Benno

Where did you have the first dash recovered?

Mike B

Have you tried Rob Budd at http://www.classic9leathershop.com/p...928-recovered/

He recovered my dash in leather years ago and it still looks like new. He did a great job!

LeLutinBanni

I know his website. The problem is a want the OEM look.

My car do not have the full leather option.

This is why i am looking for a vinyl restoration.

LeLutinBanni

Did it myself.

The job is clean. But this is more a repair than a restore.

I really want to make it OEM looking again.

hacker-pschorr

What color?

What part of Rob's vinyl dash work doesn't look OEM?

Rob Edwards

William was reasonably happy with Just Dashes' work on his early '78 dash- The early dashes' vinyl is molded around the defroster vents without any plastic frame, so re-vacuum molding the whole thing is the only way to do it 'correctly'. His is a cork dash, so it's impossible to match perfectly but they did a good job with the base color match, and the edges are reasonably sharp.

Original cork vinyl center console vs. re-vinyled dash:






Dash vs. original cork door card and A'pillar. (Ignore the sheen on the door, William was re-conditioning everything with God knows what.....)

LeLutinBanni

#1 The stiches. OEM vinyl dash is made of one piece.

#2 The look of the vinyl. Rob's car are REALLY good looking. But they simply do not look like the original

LeLutinBanni

This is what i am looking for. Seem made with the same process.

Pretty close to original look.

hacker-pschorr

The only stitching on his vinyl dashes are on the ends, I never asked Rob if he could do the same dash without those stitches.

These are the photos Rob sent me of his Cork vinyl - the "marbling" looks more detailed than the images posted above from Just Dashes (could also just be the photos...), I'm guessing that could change with the different batches of vinyl....not sure.

Rob Edwards

Between you and me and Rennlist, if I had another 78 with a Cork dash that needed reccovering, I'd send it to Rob Budd and take the originality hit of the stitching along the lateral edges in order to get the marbling pattern. The current cork vinyl is a beautiful match for the original material on the dash, center console, door panels, A-pillar, and seat bolsters, so a Budd dash will look better to most casual eyes. The Just Dashes dash is more correct from a process standpoint but there's no way to replicate the pattern in the original vinyl as well. There's also bit more 'grain' to the replacement vinyl material vs. what Just Dashes use.

Both give a nice result, it all boils down to whether you want a better pattern match and can live with the (nicely minimized) seams, or you want a molded vinyl-over foam substrate reproduction.

EDIT: If Rob can do a vinyl cover without the stitching at the ends, it's a no-brainer, go that way.

VanD

Rob, I don't really understand the process behind that just dashes uses, but is there any way that Just dashes could vacuum form using the Budd Vinyl?

Rob Edwards

Good question- My sense is the answer is no, as they need to be able to heat and soften whatever thermoplastic it is that they use- not sure the sorta cloth-backed vinyl would work. I think every dash they do starts as black, then they re-color.

Here's a video on their process, the money shot sequence starts around 2:30.

mj1pate

yeah, Rob gets good marks on quality and delivery. Go with that guy