Anybody out there ever do a home repair / recover job on a dash pad? If so how'd you do it? My wife wants to attempt it with all the cracks and missing plastic (filling it in with epoxy or its equivalent) and recovering it with vinyl. Let me know because any help I can get will be appreciated. Scott
If she wants to try, you have nothing to lose. Good woman that wants to help. You better let her or life may change as you know it :Brow: .
Its going to depend how particular you are. Its very difficult to get excellent results on this type of DIYS project. It sure wouldn't hurt to try because it will probably look better than it does now. I know "Just Dashs" who specialize in this process uses a thin dense foam covering after the bad spots are smoothed down. I'm sure this is what makes for a perfectly smooth finish. They also use some kind of vacuum forming process which we can't duplicate at home. Maybe try going to their webiste and see if they have any info on what they do. update - I looked up the link for you. You'll see the foam I was talking about. No clue where you might buy it but it might be worth checking around. http://www.justdashes.com/71_olds_dash.php
My Auto Upholstery guy said it cant be done at home like factory due to the Vacuum forming process. he did say the vinyl can be cut and sewed with seams at each corner or sharp bend in the pad and it comes out nice. just some folks don't like the seams.
My thoughts exactly! I was thinking this last night when I first saw this thread - heat. I suppose if you used a heat gun to soften the vinyl in the corner areas, you may get a decent result. From the link in Jason's post, I still think it could be worth a try. Your dash pad has a lot less going on then that Cutlass pad. And after you try it, I can learn from your mistakes and do it myself on mine! :TU:
You can probably get away with recovering a 66 GS/Skylark dash pad by gluing on a piece of vinyl. It will be interesting to get it pulled around/stretched at the corners, but it could be done. Many other year dash pads have too many contours to begin to do this. The trick will be to pick the appropriate glue to hold it at the corners. If the glue releases the new cover will start pealing back from the edges. I would not expect a perfect job, but it should turn out real nice. I have done this with 67 Chevelle dash pads before the reproductions were available. They have the same basic contours as a 66 Buick dash pad and they turned out nice. Duane
Well the wife is determined so I will provide all the info thrown at me. She is a keeper for sure!! :TU: Now I will draw the line at letting my daughter paint the car.......:laugh: Keep the info coming and thanks.. Scott
My wife did this on a much smaller scale... arm rest pads. She made the 'slip covers' out of the same vinyl that the seats are made of and slightly too small so that the seems/corner bulges would stretch and flatten out a little when installed.
