Bob Haase

Seems the dashboard on my C4 is warping a bit. Is there a remedy for this besides a complete replacement? Perhaps the use of a heat gun? Is this portion of the dash difficult to remove? I would hate to replace it for such a slight imperfection. Thanks!

chitom

I think that is a normal bulge. Mine looks exactly the same.

John Boggiano

Mine is flat.

Madridcab

[quote]Originally posted by Bob Haase:
<strong>Seems the dashboard on my C4 is warping a bit. Is there a remedy for this besides a complete replacement? Perhaps the use of a heat gun? Is this portion of the dash difficult to remove? I would hate to replace it for such a slight imperfection. Thanks!

</strong><hr></blockquote>

Madridcab

See if it works this time... Bob, due to climate here in Madrid, lot´s of sun , had the same problem - but much worse (When I purchased - pretty much all cars I looked at had this problem). My dash is leather-covered, and I believe this was standard on all cars. Tried hot air (pain stripper) no effect, in the end took out dash top (20 mins job - screws on ventilation outlet, one at each end of dash under plastic cover, plus dismount center ventilation outlet, and unscrew bolt at 9 o´clock, several threads on the board are more descriptive) Took out dash top, loosened leather cover on windscreen side (glue and staples), cut the warped foam away with sharp knife!! (mine was beyond any other remedy anyway), glued and stapled leather back on, and - looks like new...

horst

Exactly like mine looks. I tried removing the defroster grill, and fashioned a brace with a flat bottom to bear on the warped spot. It was designed to put pressure on the warped spot, and had a turnbuckle, so I could increase the length gradually. Twice daily, I sat in the passenger seat with a heat gun in one hand and a drink in the other, and for 20 minutes or so gently heated the area, and slightly inceased the pressure applied by the turnbukle. After a week of doing this: voila! flat!. A week later, looked like I had not touched it, humped again! <img src="graemlins/cussing.gif" border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" />

Randall G.

Add my car to the club ... the dash looks just like Bob's photo. Has for several years.

I asked the local restorer/upholstery shop guru about it, and he wasn't optimistic about a fix. Short of a new dash, that is. Anyway, maybe Madridcab is on to something, with his approach?

The only upside is it not looking too bad. It more or less blends in, if you don't know it's not supposed to look that way. On the other hand, I've seen leather dashes that warped in the same area, but with sort of waves/ridges. Very unsightly, and not something I could tolerate living with. Probably similar to what Madridcab had on his car ....

Jacks911

Bob,

Add me to your list of Humpback dash owners. Looks just like yours! This may be a northwest thing in honor of the Whales that migrate in the Pacific near by ???
After reading about others with this "option" I'll leave mine alone and worry about something else this winter .... <img src="graemlins/xyxwave.gif" border="0" alt="[bigbye]" /> <img src="graemlins/drink.gif" border="0" alt="[cherrsagai]" />

Bob Haase

Madridcab, to clarify, you actually cut the stiff board away? What dit the leather attach to when you reinstalled it? Or, was the hump an actual delamination of the sub-material? Sounds like you are the only one here with a cure... do tell!

J-McDonald

It's not just a Pacific-NW thing, mine has a hump too, exactly where Bob's dash is warped.

scupper

Fortunately, my dash is perfectly flat - no bulges. But my baby spent most of its previous life on the hot dusty plains of Dallas.

Chuck
92 C2

alan911sc

1990 C4 also joins the humpback dash club. Maybe we could all go listen to whales together. Obviously a design flaw ,the the engineer did not take into consideration the coefficient of thermal expansion for thermoplastic dashboards.

tom964

[quote] Obviously a design flaw ,the the engineer did not take into consideration the coefficient of thermal expansion for thermoplastic dashboards. <hr></blockquote>

But the clean lines of the bulge are very impressive. Only a Porsche dashboard could bulge like that.

Madridcab

Bob, assuming your dash is leather covered, like mine, the dash structure itself (under the leather) is some sort of thick plastic foam, with a black plastic coating. The leather is glued and then stapled (normal paper staples) around the edges of the dash top. I just took off the staples all along the front edge of the dash top, and losened the leather (the glue was not causing much resistance, and using a letter opener, the leather came lose easily) Mine had a hump where your is, and it was slightly lifted at the front all across. The next step was to take a sharp knife, and cut the lifted part (and the hump) off, to make a flat surface. I then sanded the whole area (most importantly the borders where I had just cut through the plastic coating as it was easy to get a slight edge there(although given that the leather is fairly thick, it will hide some imperfections) The dash top was still thick enough to staple the leather back around the edges at the end of it all (I actually only put some glue on the edge, as I thought any imperfections might more easily show if glued down). The whole operation probably took a couple of hours, and my dash is now flat. You have to look hard to see any imperfections, certainly much better than before, and total cost of repair was some glue and about 30 staples..

horst

MADRID: Great post!

Since this is apparently such a common problem, would you consider writing this up in detail- perhaps a bit more than you already have- and narrate a step-by-step procedure? I for one, would appreciate it, and I amsure others would also. <img src="graemlins/bigok.gif" border="0" alt="[thumbsup]" />