vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,085
Club RR Member Number: 146
|
|
Dec 27, 2020 17:55:01 GMT
|
Dashboard in my Maestro is quite badly cracked.
Ideally, I'd get a new dashboard. However, since this dashboard is actually okay apart from the cracks, I'd rather try and repair it. The tutorials I've found online so far are either dealing with padded foam filled dashboards, or are offering solutions like silicone sealant that looks no better than the cracks.
What I want to do is make the cracks go away. I assume I'll need some sort of filler and probably a vinyl paint afterwards to unify it all. Has anyone done crack repair successfully? Can anyone point me to a decent tutorial on how to do it?
Maestro dashboards are made like moulded headlinings and are a composite fibreboard of some sort with a vinyl covering, they aren't padded or soft. Recovering with fresh vinyl or fabric is going to be very difficult in a DIY setting, I assume they were originally done by heat/vacuum forming a thin layer of vinyl over the fibreboard form with a bonding agent between.
|
|
|
|
|
dragon
Part of things
Posts: 148
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 31, 2020 10:59:49 GMT
|
Filling the cracks in a solid plastic dash isn't really the hard bit, that can be done with a flexible filler such as those used on plastic bumper repairs. The tricky bit is replicating the texture, particularly after sanding back the filler as you'll have scuffed surrounding plastic too. I'd say that unless it's a very small, localised repair where a small area of texture can be successfully replicated with a repair kit (I'll dig out a link to the type I've used before), then the best option would be to have the dash flocked afterwards. This does mean the dash has to come out but then if you're going to a proper job filling the cracks, it would need to be on a bench anyway.
*Edit* I just read your post properly and realised the dash isn't hard plastic but a vinyl shell over compressed fibre. The flexible filler and flocking method above would still work. There are vinyl repair kits that could be used on this kind of dash but I've never found them that effective for anything more than very small spot repairs. The finish is often shiny compared to the rest of the dash. You normally get a selection of texture cards which you use to print on the texture that matches your original. Again, I've had mixed success. If someone does have a product they can recommend for such repairs, I'd be interested too.
|
|
Last Edit: Dec 31, 2020 11:57:36 GMT by BenzBoy
|
|
|
|
Dec 31, 2020 11:53:03 GMT
|
Near where I live, there is a carpet shop with a whipping machine for edging rugs. I think someone with your skills could cut a dash mat from carpet and then have the edges whipped. It's a common and pleasing alternative used in california etc. A non slip backing can be bought and glued on from home bargains.
|
|
|
|
vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,085
Club RR Member Number: 146
|
|
Dec 31, 2020 12:42:33 GMT
|
I don't really want to flock the dashboard, that's going to look weird since nothing else is flocked in the car, and I don't want to make a sun rug either because I'm not a fan of how they look. Sun rugs are the chrome wheel arch trims of dashboards (and best used before the problem happens rather than after).
I wonder if vinyl wrapping might be the answer on this one. The vinyl/plastic coating of the dash isn't heavily textured and does seem to be about the thickness of a heavier vinyl wrap and it looks like it's that coating that's cracked rather than the supporting board, and it has lifted in a few places. Could I remove the dashboard, strip off the old vinyl somehow, and then get it re-wrapped by a professional/company? I know I couldn't DIY it, vinyl wrapping anything more complicated than a small flat board is a skill I have learned I do not possess.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 31, 2020 14:17:44 GMT
|
Vinyl wrapping is an interesting option. I'd be cautious about removing the old shell, it might be preferable to repair the cracks with filler and give the wrap a smooth, even substrate to stick to rather than remove it and have a possibly lumpy, uneven surface to cover. Better to speak to a vinyl wrap specialist about what the options are. Certainly if it was being retrimmed, those hard vac-formed vinyl shells generally stay in place and get repaired before covering in leather / alcantara etc. I'd be interested in knowing whether a vinyl wrapped dash would be possible on a dash like yours.
|
|
Last Edit: Dec 31, 2020 14:20:05 GMT by BenzBoy
|
|
vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,085
Club RR Member Number: 146
|
|
Dec 31, 2020 14:43:43 GMT
|
If the headlining board is anything to go by, the dash surface under the grey vinyl/plastic is going to be quite uneven and unattractive, I hadn't considered that. Still, a professional would know what to do about it. Not in a position to waste their time with an enquiry at present so I'll keep hunting for solutions. That said, if you can vinyl wrap a dashboard like this that opens up a lot of interesting options for custom interiors, especially with some of the prints and finishes available now.
|
|
|
|
duncanmartin
Club Retro Rides Member
Out of retro ownership
Posts: 1,320
Club RR Member Number: 70
|
|
|
These guys cover the repair bit for a cardboard/vinyl dash, but then they flock it afterwards. I wonder if you could go through the same process and then wrap it (or even just paint it in something that gives a similar surface)? Also, I didn't realise, but you can get all sorts of different colour flocks.
The dash in my Y10 is hard plastic and horribly cracked (and falling apart), so I think I'm gonna have a go at this soon. There are a bunch of interior trim panels that are worn out alcantara, I wonder if I can sand that and flock them as well. Anyone know how quickly flock wears out if it's something that you touch like a glovebox?
|
|
|
|
vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,085
Club RR Member Number: 146
|
|
|
That makes sense, that's like repairing a fibreglass crack. That, combined with a vinyl wrap, is probably the best way to get what I want to do then. In theory, at least. Flocking will always wear off eventually if you touch it. If you're doing a low contact area it's fine, but if it's on anything you're in contact with a lot, it's going to get shiny spots before too long, that's just the nature of what it is. At least it doesn't disentegrate under UV like so many DIY 70s velvet interiors.
Looks like it's a dash out job whatever I do and right now, I'm not ready to get that deep into this car. Maybe when I've got the Princess sorted out I'll give it a go, we'll see.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Looks like it's a dash out job whatever I do and right now, I'm not ready to get that deep into this car. Maybe when I've got the Princess sorted out I'll give it a go, we'll see. I was just going to say that based on what you have written in your other thread, I thought this wasn't intended to be a project car! On that basis, whilst a cracked dash is unsightly, one thing that I reckon looks much worse is a badly repaired one. As such, I'd be tempted to leave well alone until such time as either the dash needs to come out anyway or you have been able to source a replacement. Even a buying a cracked secondhand one would give you the time to experiement & repair at your leisure to the standard that I know you would want to achieve.
|
|
Last Edit: Jan 1, 2021 21:56:30 GMT by Paul H
|
|
vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,085
Club RR Member Number: 146
|
|
|
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, right? I think this is a job I'd like to do at some point anyway, just to see if it can be done, so a spare dash is probably the right solution to this one.
|
|
|
|