Im going to have my dashpad recovered (picked up a good one from canada, want to cover it before it starts to eat itself), who has done this and how did it hold when using either leather or vinyl? Any pice ? It seems obvious that I would want leather, but I live in a town that has 308 days of sunshine a year on average, and hit 100 before June... i'd like to never have to look at this dash again basically. I don't know how the weather will hold up here.

Any suggestions. ?

 

I feel ya about the heat. DFW isn't as hot, but I'm reluctant to replace my dash pad with and OEM/OER pad. I'm going to see if I could fiberglass it and paint it. Both vinyl and leather will be dried up in the sun, but if I had to choose one, I would probably go with vinyl.

 

hmmm, well you can always go cheap and put on a carpeted cover type deal from sears. hahaha, ill give you mine. it rains here about 308 days of the year.

 

Appreciate the offer.. but im wanting a nice dash, something.. anything better than the project sitting out on my balcony.

- note, if your dash is bad enough to throw away, light it on fire, and let it burn. You will find that their is a pretty steady skeletal structure under all the padding made out of metal. its just begging for someone with injinuity could rebuild the dash... make the better dash.

Anyway.. I think I am going with the Pleather/ vinyl stuff.

 

It depends on what you're trying to accomplish.

If you use leather, since it doesn't stretch, rather than "wrap" the piece, you'll need to have an upholstery shop stitch it into shape, which will give a nice european look.

If you want a stock appearance, then get some 3-way stretch vinyl, a heat gun, and good spray adhesive and go to town on it. If you're good with the vinyl, you'll be able to stretch it all the way around.

In both cases, you'll have a nightmare handling the speaker openings if you've got a Camaro, so I'd suggest filling those and relocating your front speakers. If you've got a firebird, those grill openings can be easily dealth with.

 

I bought a carpet dash cover from Classic Industries. I leave it on when I'm drivin around and just take it off for shows/ special occasions. It just sits on the dash (you don't need the velcro) so it's easy to take off.

 

I'd like to see it wrapped and stitched in leather. Or an alcantra type material. I've been wanting to try that on a 4thgen dash but haven't gotten around to it.

 

i would love to know what will hold up best to the sun and looks good. we get a few less sunny days, but not much (also in the 100's).

 

Is there a way you could modifiy a Camaro dash to use the firebird grills? I've never had a chance to get a close look at a firebird so I really don't know how they attach.

 

so i dont really understand why a camaro dash is harder to recover. the firebird dashes look harder, in my expierience that is.
and as far as the dash, i have an old carpet pad that goes on top of it. it was on it when i bought, and i took it off the day it came home!
if anyone wants it, its free.

 

It's pretty obvious if you just look at the dashpad. For the firebird, you can unscrew the speaker grills, wrap the pad, then reinstall the grills for a great look. On the camaro there aren't speaker grills, just slots in the dash pad itself. Getting the vinyl down inside of those slots, and getting it to stay there without looking like a hack will be very difficult.

 

Are the only differences the speaker grilles and heater vents? Would it be possible to use a bird dash and then notch the frontside center where the vents stick out since it'd be covered in fabric anyways?

 

The depth is different. The camaro dash pad is an inch or two deeper than the firebird pad.

 

I just took the carpet mat off, to clean. My once pristine dash pad cracked. I'm so bummed. Damn Arizona sun.

 

OH! ok, now i know what your talking about. that would make it harder wouldnt it?

 

i have a big crack in my dash, sould i fill the crack with epoxy and just cover over the existing pad or would that look like ****? also would that stablize the crack?

 

ttt i want to know the answer too, iknow there is some kind of vinyl epoxy out there that would work great

someone out there knows

also where do you find 3 way stretch vinyl material ?

all we have here is wal mart lol

thanks

 

depending on how large it is, you may want to replace it. you could fill it and cover it, but that just depends on your taste, if you like stock, or if you like it alittle more custom i guess.

 

I've been kicking around the idea of doing the fiberglass covering, the problem that i keep coming up with is it rattling, because on a crappy dash im worried about the fiberglass separating from the dash itself.

I even thought about epoxy on the cracks and using a bed liner coating on it. I would think to get around the whole speaker thing with the vinyl that you could just cover them up with the vinyl and use like a hot awl or screwdriver to make holes, but not too hot or it will burn through wierd. Then I think, eventually ill come across one at the junk yards here worth replacing. but it would look cool to redo one with the carbon fiber vinyl ive seen on ebay.

Matt

 

bed liners are... well, abraisive, for lack of better term. theyre very ruff, and just covering that wont make it look any good.

 

it is not rough if you put it on smooth. My interior is "bedlined" and its smooth because I didnt use the textured roller. It is all about how you work it..

 

i actually srayed mine on my 71 GMC. its pretty rough. I wouldnt know about other ways to put it on smooth, because I rolled it first, and it was rough, and then sprayed it, and it came out rough also, so thats my expierience.

 

use a 4" wide soft bristle brush. smooth as glass.