Re-surface vinyl dash

[MB750]

I just unwrapped my vinyl dash (with glovebox) and there's some dents in the vinyl:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=182005&d=1679614030

I didn't catch this during inventory because I didn't take it out of the plastic. In full honesty, there's an outside chance it was fine at inventory, but when I put everything back in the box I accidentally rested it on the glovebox hardware.

David at FFR suggested putting it in the sun for a while and maybe that could help expand the dents back out. I've done something similar with a heat gun on motorcycle seats before and it works, but when I tried that on this nothing changed. Right now it's in the sun, and since there's no shortage of sun down here this weekend I won't pass judgement until the weekend is over.

My question; has anyone resurfaced the new vinyl dash from FFR? This vinyl has a very thin foam backing before its stuck to the plastic dash. I'm talking like 1/32", but it is really stuck to the plastic. Personally I'd like to go carbon fiber, but I'm not sure how that would work around the curves of the glovebox.

[Jetfuel]

Sorry to tell you but those nicks/deformities are not returning to its original shape…
Most likely it will require new underlay padding and leather/vinyl covering…
I put a few small bubble dents on mine and try every trick I learned from our interior shop…got most of them out and they were but 1/16 deep….

Jet

[MB750]

Yea, I kinda figured that. There's no underlay padding on these new dashes. The vinyl has padding built into the material, and it's glued right onto the plastic. The only way I could resurface this dash seems to be by scraping or sanding the old layer off. Not sure that's worth it if I can get an aluminum dash from FFR for around $100. I'd lose my glovebox though.

I'll give FFR's sun-baked suggestion the weekend, then go from there.

[edwardb]

Too bad about that damage. Worth a shot putting it in the sun. But I too have my doubts. One of those came with my 20th Anniversary Roadster (that's when they introduced it) and I didn't use it. Mainly because I wanted a different gauge layout. Plus I was doing all leather in that build. I would question how practical it would be to resurface the vinyl version. I'd personally recommend either the pre-cut or blank aluminum dash from FF, depending on the layout you want, and cover that instead. No reason you couldn't use the vinyl dash glovebox components in the aluminum dash, e.g. door, hinges, catch, compartment, etc. Easy enough with just a cutout in the aluminum.

[RJD]

I had a dent in the vinyl dash that never recovered. While racking up some miles in gel coat, I noticed that a crack formed in the bottom lip of the dash were it connected to the under dash support.

Ultimately, the dash seemed too flimsy for my taste and I replaced it with an aluminum blank. I harvested the glovebox though and then had the blank upholstered.

182025

182027

182028

[MB750]

I had a dent in the vinyl dash that never recovered. While racking up some miles in gel coat, I noticed that a crack formed in the bottom lip of the dash were it connected to the under dash support.

Ultimately, the dash seemed too flimsy for my taste and I replaced it with an aluminum blank. I harvested the glovebox though and then had the blank upholstered.

182025

182027

182028

Good stuff, and probably the direction I'll go. I'm also thinking about laying carbon fiber over the aluminum because I like that look.

After you cut out the glovebox, did you mount the glovebox flange on the back of the new aluminum dash panel, or the front?

[RJD]

Good stuff, and probably the direction I'll go. I'm also thinking about laying carbon fiber over the aluminum because I like that look.

After you cut out the glovebox, did you mount the glovebox flange on the back of the new aluminum dash panel, or the front?

Back - check out the second picture.

[bobl]

I wonder if it would be possible to cut a hole in the back side of the dash and work the crease out, kind of like paintless dent repair. Maybe you could add or replace the damaged foam underlayment to get support back.

[MB750]

I wonder if it would be possible to cut a hole in the back side of the dash and work the crease out, kind of like paintless dent repair. Maybe you could add or replace the damaged foam underlayment to get support back.

I'm gonna do the latter, with carbon fiber. There's a few people on Youtube who've made a business out of laying carbon fiber (not that vinyl CF garbage, actual carbon fiber) over just about anything, including a finished vinyl dash. They just sand it down to rough, lay down some epoxy, lay down the CF, then more epoxy. Let it cure, sand, and finally clear coat. I'm gonna go that route.

I wanted a CF dash anyway, this is a good excuse to make it happen. Besides, leaving it in the sun did nothing.

[AtlantaCobra]

Something to consider....I had the vinyl dash for years and it eventually started to separate and create air bubbles between the foam and the vinyl. Looked terrible. My plan was to pull the dash and remove all the foam and vinyl and then re-cover with carbon fiber vinyl. Even ordered it and the large sticker laminate looks pretty good. I realized that pulling the dash, scraping the old junk off was too big of a job and I ordered the real Carbon Fiber Dash from F5 along with the new GPS gauges.
My point is, since you haven't installed the dash yet, try scraping the vinyl and padding off and trying the carbon fiber laminate. It's cheap and worth a try.