Dash Pad

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jkeck55

jkeck55

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I have found a nice dash pad for my Duster but it is the wrong color. I have seen people talking about dyeing the dash pad. How is this done? Can it be done to an OEM dash pad? If not I will pull it and offer it for sale.
 
Yes , they can be Sprayed any color you want. Check out a company called SEM for the paint. Ask your local bodyshop supply store too. You can even find it in the local auto parts stores in spray cans. Gotta degrease the pad very very very well. On a Dash pad it should hold up well. The paint tends to wear off in hi contact areas like an arm rest.
 
i cleaned my dashpad really well and painted it (was green) to black with duplicolour vinyl and fabric paint...it looks really good, but i cant tell you how it holds up to the sun and stuff because i havent actually reinstalled it in my car
 
Thanks, I have an auto supply store jsut down the street from my house and will be picking up the paint today.
 
jkeck55 said:
I have found a nice dash pad for my Duster but it is the wrong color. I have seen people talking about dyeing the dash pad. How is this done? Can it be done to an OEM dash pad? If not I will pull it and offer it for sale.
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this is what i did . i took my das pads out , picked all the vinal off the foam, then used fiberglass resin to harden it . then i sanded it and painted it . now in stead of being soft and sun killable its hard as wood and i fabed in some smoke holders and noches to keep stuff from sliding around so much . i learned this from one of my hot rod mags .
 
I tracked down the paint and hope to pull the new Dash pad this weekend. I am even going to test it on the steering wheel from the donor car and see if I can get myself a new looking steering wheel.
 
I used SEM and also bought there vinyl prep. It looks awesome and you can even tell it was painted. I was really worried it was look bad but it was far looking bad.
 
If you guys think it will rub off then I should just continue my search for a steering wheel.
 
If you sand and prep the steering wheel to give the surface a "tooth" the dye will stick better . It will still wear off.
 
jkeck55 said:
If you guys think it will rub off then I should just continue my search for a steering wheel.
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Again if you clean it really good ,then prime it and paint it with a good acrylic enamel (not the vinyl paint) then a clear coat, it should last a long time. It will wear off eventually, but depending on how often you drive it should hold up for a good while.
 
Everything you rub and touch will eventually wear off.

I have had very good results using PPG vinyl dye. I have done dash pads, doorpanels, headliners and even seats. All good results. Nothing has flaked off.
I changed the interior color and dyed some seats in a small airplane back back around 1993.
The guy has flown it 800 hrs on it since then. That equals about 48000 driven miles, and it hasen't worn through or flaked off the seats yet.

I believe the quality of the dye is as important as cleaning and prep.

Steering wheels are a different story, soft Tuff wheel types will accept the dye , but, IMO, no dye will stick well to the hard plastic wheels.
Epoxy primer and paint is a better choice for them.
 
Not to disagree with you Charger70, but I did a little math to compare....

800 hrs / 5 hrs per plane trip (avg.) = 160 trips X 2 (enter/exit) = 320 butt slides (avg.) on the reconditioned seats.

48,000 mi / 25 mi per car trip (avg.) = 1,920 trips from home X 2 (enter/exit - not to mention extra stops along the way to pick up date, get bread and milk, retrieve kids from school, get dog from vet, etc.) = 3,840 butt slides (avg.) on the reconditioned seats.

That is about 12 times as much butt action on car seats as on the airplane. What can I say, I deal with numbers a lot in my job.
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All in all, I agree that quality products will last quite a while, if applied properly. But, a vinyl steering wheel will get an undue amount of use and will show signs of wear more quickly than seats ever will.

We used black SEM dye on my son's Dart Sport armrests about three years ago, and they still look as good as the day we did them. He drives it every day. On the other hand, the factory-dyed leather steering wheel cover in my 2001 pick up looks horrible, and has for quite a while.

Just an observation,
Jerry
 
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