Gotta love 10* winter chills, got in my car tonight and my dash had cracks running down boths sides.

 

i hope mine doesnt crack, its suposed to get in the low teens this weekend, cant wait till spring comes back around.:lala:

 

my 13 year old dash isnt cracked

 

Thats why my dash is in my closet

 

Yea, Ill get another one that is damage free probably, and not put it on until I can garage the car. Not bad, the thing lasted what...16 years before it cracked. Made it through last winter for me.

 

Well I'll be damned! I was just coming in here to curse out Old Man Winter because MY dash cracked last night!!! Son of a bitch! I always thought it was HEAT that killed dashboards!

Yep I've got 4 cracks down the middle of the dash. They weren't there when I got home at 1:30am last night, but were there when I got into the car at 11:00am this morning.

I have a beautiful spare in the basement, but I was expecting to put that on in another 10 years, when our cars weren't in junkyards anymore. Guess I'll be using it this summer! But I'll be keeping the old one, and that'll go on every winter. Maybe I can re-wrap it in vinyl or something.

At least it only took 263,000 miles and 17 years for this to happen... (sigh) And I had fixed this dash after it cracked from my accident in 1996, where the windshield cut up the corner. But my dash repair kit sure as hell won't make those super-long/super-visible cracks look as pretty! You shoulda heard the curses I was spouting off as I drove away...

[edit] Weird... you're in NJ, too, Stealth? Can we sue the state?

 

well mines already cracked lol the corners i sharpied up the corners so they are black and i also cut a hole in one speaker grid so my infinity can fit out of it

any sugestions on fixing or repairing to make it look better when u look at foam on the edges?

 

ouch, i was just talking to someone about dask cracking

 

The cold makes the vinyl contract, just like it does the air in your tires, and since the vinyl is stretched so tight--CRACK! Same principle applies to the road surface... Mine's been cracked for a while now and I have yet to even bother with it...

 

damnit, right after i got done reading this I go outside and my dadh is cracked right where the stereo vents are. 10 degrees outside sucks.

 

haha @ u guys! Mine isnt cracked and i even took it out today 2 times, and it was about 30 degrees.

 

At least some people here live where the temp stays ABOVE zero! Makes good for working in the unheated garage!

 

I cracked mine two weeks ago. I was trying to get rid of the infernal squeak from hell that comes from the driver side. I can move the dash pad up and down and it causes it to squeak, so I decided to tighten down the pad. Man, that was a dumb move, now I have a crack going from the leftmost screw in the top vent to the speaker grill.

 

\

Yep, it was like 9*F the night my dash cracked, cracked along the speaker grilles on both sides. Sucks bad....not a big deal tho, I'll just pick up a 2nd one and switch them (good idea).

 

Mine cracked 2 nights ago in -5 degree weather. the passenger side speaker grille was cracked when I got the car. I woke up this morning to find the drivers side speaker grille cracked aswell.

 

Yep, same here... it was single digits out when mine cracked. I'm just amazed that I've had my Firebird through 10 NJ winters, even the blizzard of '95, and this never happened before. (sigh)

 

My dash cracked started cracking a couple years ago. I have it covered with a dash cover, but the squeeking gets really annoying. I know that the 120 degree summers here are to blame for it.

 

Mine cracked on me while driving a week ago, same place I saw the driver's side vent crack, and discovered the passenger side after I got out of the car to inspect the new crack

 

Man it like everyones is cracking, thats crazy! Well I should probably check mine since it is off and then bring it in side. The dash pad off because of a delayed Dash board swap, I have the Mint Dash 145 gauges too just in the garage waiting to go in but I drove the car all the time and did not have time to take it out with out the car being non driveable for a day of so but now its in the garage its to damn cold. Well I am gonna cross my fingers and hope its ok.

BTW do those vinyl repair kits work for small rips? Mine in ripped an inch and a half just was wondering if they worked.

Kevin

 

Mine cracked last week. I usually keep it under a shelter but it was out in the open for several days as It was on ramps and stands while I upgraded the exhaust system. I was PISSED! The interior was flawless before the dang cracks appeared in the dash.

I will probably bite the bullet and buy a repro dash instead of getting one off Ebay. At least I will be starting with a newer piece and can keep from having to deal with it for a while (I hope).

BTW Does anyone have any good advice for preserving the vinyl. I have heard that Armour All was not all that good and tended to dry the vinyl out...

 

Well, mine has'nt cracked yet but about a month ago I bought a dash cover from Covercraft And I am hoping this will protect it. I will take it off for shows and stuff. But it just never really drops below 20 here in GA

 

ditto on the cold cracking the dash, though i kinda helped it along... I always start my car before i head off to school cuz shes a bitch to drive if she isn't partly warm. Anyways i was getting in and i barely bumped the side corner and it shattered the entire corner and three small chunks fell off. Until about a week ago mine was mint. I just hope it doesn't spread.

 

mine cracked a couple weeks ago over by the right speaker grate.

I'm debating on trying to make a mold for it, and create my own fiberglass or carbon fiber dash. I'm not paying the 100+ for a new one.

 

damnit, im in NJ too and its probably about 15F here...i hope my dash is ok

 

Craking dashes everywhere !!!!!!!!! Not here tho. We just had the coldest winter, with the first real snow here since 96. Got down to 2 degrese below zero, my car is outside, and never craked a piece! yay for me! .... otherwize, sucks for you guys.... are most of you gonna replace your dashes with ones from boneyards? There is a mint (i think so... would have to check) dash on a parts camaro at my GF house, 86-87 not sure... if anyone needs one, i could see if i could ship it.

 

I think next summer I'm going to buy up all the dash pads I can find in the junkyards & put them in my heated garage so I can sell them in the spring of 2005 to next winter's dash victims.

 

I really dont want to go check my dash pad after reading this Its been 20 F and lower all week. I have a bad feeling.

 

Might be too late for most of you...BUT if you put a thick layer of Leather conditioner on the dash, it will give it a little more flexabilityl. JUST DONT EVER USE ARMORALL, IT CAUSES CRACKS!!

 

I hope mine is ok its been under a car cover all winter

 

Looks like we got a whole bunch of Fbody nuts with cracked dashes here.

Do you think it might be possible to do a Group Purchase on these? If so does anybody have any ideas on who would be the best company to approach about this?

I am going to replace my cracked dash. I will probably wait until mid march when the cold is mostly gone here. It would be great if we could get a group buy together and save a few $$$.

I'm not going to go with a boneyard dash. I think you are just asking for more cracks going that route...

If anybody is interested in a group buy and has an idea of a source please post here...

 

Mine cracked last winter on a really cold night. Its a bad feeling to go out in the morning and find the damage. I feel for you all.

 

Guess what, I pulled my car out of storage 2 weeks ago and there it was! MY DASH CRACKED THIS WINTER TOO! Damn. Has anybody tried to recover their own dash in vinyl? I heard talk of someone going to attempt that spray on bedliner stuff too. I ordered another dash off ebay, but it cracked in shipping!!! I've gotta do something and was just wondering what kind of successes/failures you all have had with recovering these things. I asked Just Dashes about recovering it and they quoted me $400

 

after reading the posts
now im worried to go out to my camaro and look....

 

tis why my dash board is still in my closet and has been there since early november :lala:

 

Here is a picture of my dash. I bought my car for 300 bucks and it needs lots of work.

 

hey hey, new dash in the garage for me

 

argg I'm already on number 2 and its been cracked since last winter. Do they make NOS pieces and if so how much are they?

 

NOS pieces?

 

Is there a way to refurbish the dash to OEM quality? It seems like everyone has this problem. If someone knew how to refurbish our dashes for a decent price they would probably have alot of business.

 

it cracked in a few places,was told it was the vinyl conditioner used at the detail shop?!?!?!?

 

New old stock... as in.. its new but its the proper piece for my old car...

as far as repairing I dont think theres anything they can do for the speaker grid... but you could try one of those vinal patch kit things if you want... it probably wont look perfect but a little better than a crack I suppose..

 

Yes, Just Dashes will take your pad, scrape all the old vinyl and foam off, then apply new closed cell memory foam to the structure and finally heat/vacuum seal new vinyl to the pad just like GM had it done, but at $400 it is anything but a bargain AND their turnaround time is something like 8 - 10 weeks!!! I wish there were a better way to do this.

 

They claim their restoration is of higher quality then OEM.

It's nice to know it is available tho.

 

Just in case you guys wanna know and might not be following the other thread floating around... here's what I just wrote:

Okay, so initial testing looks promising for the truck bedliner coating. Tonight I bought a can of Duplicolor truck bed coating and did a one coat test patch on the back of the pad. It turned out really good actually. The final texture when it dries kinda looks like a cross between leather grain and a crackle finish and it moves with the foam without cracking or flaking if you press on it. My biggest concern now will be if I do decide to use it, can I keep the application looking consistant across the entire pad?

Still exploring alternatives though... What the hell is stretch vinyl, where can I get it, and how much does it actually stretch i.e. far enough that there will be enough to wrap under my defroster vents? Anybody use this stuff before? Of course, the other option is making a fully sewn-to-contour vinyl cover for it.

Later,
Harry