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vinyal wrapping a tatty dashbord surround?

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 1:22 pm
by timrosser
I was thinking about using fiberglass to fill the various breaks and cracks in my old black dash surround, smoothing out and then wrapping with a mat black vinyl? Aiming for a factory standard finish! Has anyone tried this? Aside from melting the hole thing I think the main problem may be around the vertical air vent where it may be hard to tuck in the wrap, anyone know if this can come out? Thanks again, Tim

Re: vinyal wrapping a tatty dashbord surround?

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 1:30 pm
by jamescarruthers
The vents all come out easily (I normally prise out with a flat blade screwdriver wrapped in a thin cloth). Try not to loose the spring washer from one end.

Re: vinyal wrapping a tatty dashbord surround?

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 1:59 pm
by MisterH
I was considering using double sided tape, but have not tried it yet, will let you know how it goes

Re: vinyal wrapping a tatty dashbord surround?

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 2:07 pm
by jifflemon
I was toying with the idea of flocking one...

Re: vinyal wrapping a tatty dashbord surround?

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 2:12 pm
by dragonflyjewels
There is a thread on dashboard renovation where the damage was only on the edges, which was repaired then covered with a 20mm wide strip of black PU leather. Sorry to say I can't find the thread, but it looked very neat when done.

Re: vinyal wrapping a tatty dashbord surround?

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 8:25 pm
by mathrock
dragonflyjewels wrote:
Mon Mar 04, 2019 2:12 pm
There is a thread on dashboard renovation where the damage was only on the edges, which was repaired then covered with a 20mm wide strip of black PU leather. Sorry to say I can't find the thread, but it looked very neat when done.
cracked instrument casing problem solved..

Re: vinyal wrapping a tatty dashbord surround?

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 8:27 pm
by dragonflyjewels
Well done - that's the baby

Re: vinyal wrapping a tatty dashbord surround?

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 10:52 am
by timrosser
I like that but I'm going to press ahead with my experiments! I'm going to fill, sand flat then try a mat black paint, and if that fails a mild sand and the wrap! Will keep you posted!

Tim

Re: vinyal wrapping a tatty dashbord surround?

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:57 am
by dragonflyjewels
lots of pics please - good luck

Re: vinyal wrapping a tatty dashbord surround?

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 1:27 pm
by mathrock
timrosser wrote:
Thu Mar 07, 2019 10:52 am
I like that but I'm going to press ahead with my experiments! I'm going to fill, sand flat then try a mat black paint, and if that fails a mild sand and the wrap! Will keep you posted!

Tim
I did this with my cracked dashboard. it turned out really well. Just take your time and pay attention to detail. For the paint I used a matte black and a satin clear coat to protect it. I used a polyester spot putty filler to smooth things out where the cracks had been repaired. I actually had lots of cracks and many of the mount points broken off. Full picture set here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mathrock/ ... 785441147/

How the dashboard arrived after the car was shipped from Sweden to the USA
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Epoxied crack back together
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Filler added, sanded, and smoothed
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Repainted (still wet, not quite this glossy looking in person)
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Re: vinyal wrapping a tatty dashbord surround?

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 2:43 pm
by AleksanderHugo
Wow! That looks really nice! :D

I restored my dashboard using “plastic welding” with some wire melted in for reinforcement. It turned out OK. However, since my surround had been missing most of the mounts, I had to guess how they used to look like :) It was especially difficult around fog light switches, because large portions of original dashboard were missing there. It all holds together well now, but still creaks a bit — I guess it cannot be solved without remaking all dashboard from some fresh plastic.

Moreover, I did not paint my dashboard surround since I was worried that it will be too shiny compared to all the switches, knobs, etc. Did you paint also these other elements?

Re: vinyal wrapping a tatty dashbord surround?

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:30 pm
by timrosser
Matt, that looks incredible, I'm glad this has worked so well in practice as well as in theory! I'll keep you all posted :-)

Re: vinyal wrapping a tatty dashbord surround?

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 5:33 pm
by mathrock
AleksanderHugo wrote:
Thu Mar 07, 2019 2:43 pm
Moreover, I did not paint my dashboard surround since I was worried that it will be too shiny compared to all the switches, knobs, etc. Did you paint also these other elements?
Thanks. No, I didn't repaint all the other switches and trim inserts. The black matte paint with satin clear matched closely enough to not be super noticeable. I reinstalled it at night and the lighting was poor so I don't have great pictures of it installed at the moment aside from this one:

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