[S10xGN]

Hi All,

I remember seeing some guy's '96 Impala SS with custom speaker boxes covered in some type of heat shrinkable vinyl covering a few years ago and cannot recall what the material was. Anyone know what it's called? I need to repair and recover the dash pad on my Maverick...

Russ

[DanTwoLakes]

Heat shrinkable 4 way stretch vinyl is available in a few different colors from Select Products. CLICK HERE This stuff is pretty pricey at $56 a yard. Morbern makes a 4 way stretch vinyl called All Sport which is intended for snowmobile seats, jet ski seats, etc., and is a lot cheaper at $19 a yard. You can get it HERE

Keep in mind that sometimes a lot of stretch is not a good thing, and that both of these fabrics have their limitations. Here is Allsport on a jet ski seat and a snowmobile seat. The original jet ski seat was heat formed to get it to conform to the seat foam. The strap on the jet ski seat had to be sewed to non stretchy nylon webbing or it would have been too stretchy to be of any use. The snowmobile seat is a quick detachable seat for a racing snowmobile, and is made with Allsport Hi-Tac which has a grip to it. Both of these seats required sewing. It isn't possible to just pull one large piece over crazy shapes and not have wrinkles. For easier shapes like a simple dash pad, it should work fine.

[S10xGN]

Ooooh, that heat-shrink be high $$$ stuff! And I'd need 2 yards to get the proper sized piece (10" x 6ft). Dan, here's the procedure I'm gonna use, if you get a chance to look it over, could you comment on anything you'd do differently? The author used regular vinyl, the heat shrink was my idea to get it done without wrinkles. Here's a pic, there's only one crack almost centered in the dash. Notice how the outer edges curl down pretty severely...

Thanks!

Russ

[DanTwoLakes]

The process he describes in the Maverick forum will work as long as you are covering the repaired dash with vinyl. I have three comments on his procedure. 1) You don't need to heat the vinyl with a heat gun or anything else. If you find a nice, soft, pliable vinyl it will form around the dash pad just fine. The heating won't last long enough to do much good anyway. 2) He cleans the dash pad and the underside with soap and water, I would clean it with whatever solvent is required to clean up the glue you use. The solvent for most contact cements is Mineral Spirits 3) He advises not to use contact cement, but the Performance spray glue pictured at the end of the article is contact cement. You need to use contact cement rated for high temperatures or the glue will fail in the summer.

I would not cover the whole dash pad with glue. I would glue the vinyl to the center area of the dash pad the long way first, about 4 inches wide, pulling the vinyl as tight as I could from side to side and also making sure the direction of stretch for the vinyl was side to side. If it's possible, I would tack the ends down with short aluminum pop rivets to hold it 'til the glue dries. I would let that dry completely for a day and then tackle the rest of the gluing. The picture of the spray glue can at the end of his article is a good one to use. It is a high temp contact adhesive called Performance. CLICK HERE DAP Weldwood also makes a good high temp spray glue also available from the same place as the Performance glue. Good luck.

[S10xGN]

Dan,

Sorry to say, I'm just now getting around to doing this. I'm having a "thought" after looking at some vids on VinylPro's website. Do you think the recover is necessary or could I patch as per this vid and retexture? I did see their texture kit and it looks to be for small areas. That would probably work, but I was thinking more of retexturing the entire pad. Your thoughts on this?

Thanks!

Russ

[Irelands child]

This looks to be what I need for my ISEKI yard tractor seat.I made the "universal repair" a couple of years ago - racers/duct tape - but sure need to fix it right

Dave W

[DanTwoLakes]

Originally Posted by S10xGN

Dan,

Sorry to say, I'm just now getting around to doing this. I'm having a "thought" after looking at some vids on VinylPro's website. Do you think the recover is necessary or could I patch as per this vid and retexture? I did see their texture kit and it looks to be for small areas. That would probably work, but I was thinking more of retexturing the entire pad. Your thoughts on this?

Thanks!

Russ

SEM has products specifically designed to repair dashes. Give them a call at 800-831-1122 and ask their advice.

[S10xGN]

Originally Posted by DanTwoLakes

SEM has products specifically designed to repair dashes. Give them a call at 800-831-1122 and ask their advice.

Thanks Dan!

I finally got around to ordering today, hopefully I'll get the dashpad and hard plastic parts done weekend after next. I should get my dash painted Monday.

Thanks for your help and ideas!

Russ