Installed one this weekend. 68 Firebird.
I have visions of it getting worse not better in the sun.
It only has 4 studs holding it down. Any suggestions?

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You are probably right about it getting worse in the sun. If this one fails, try www.coverlaymfg.com

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No one lives forever, the trick is creating something that will.
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Hey Dan,

Do you think steaming the wavy part and taping it down temporarily would help any, or will it just warp again later? Is there anything that can be done to salvage his dash pad?

It's things like this that I need to learn because I just know I'm going to run across something similar down the road - I'm going to be replacing the dash pad in my wife's Dart next year when it's ready for upholstery.

I don't know if steam would relax the foam or not, but it might be worth a try. You'd have to get underneath the pad with the steam, or take the pad back out, steam it and put weight on it. You know enough steam works for bending wood, Mark. You could also probably take a shot at brushing some contact adhesive in under the wavy spot, letting it dry and putting enough weight on it to hold it flat. I would then keep it out of the sun as much and as long as possible. It's impossible to say whether either of those ideas would fix it or not, there are way too many variables. I have a 75 Camaro coming in this coming Spring with the same problem, but that doesn't do anybody any good right now. I did find out that Coverlay Mfg. does not have a dash cover for a 68 Firebird, but it does have one for the 75 Camaro, so I will at least have that option when the time comes.

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No one lives forever, the trick is creating something that will.
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I don't mean to hijack 428ho's thread, but thanks for that link. They have a cover for our Dart that's about $350 cheaper than Just Dases wants to recover our original. Do you recover Coverlay's dash covers with vinyl/leather to match the rest of the upholstery, or do you just use SEM Color Coat to match things up?

The Coverlay dash pad goes right over the old pad, and you wouldn't have to do anything to it if you find one of their colors that you like. The chances of it matching your Dart are pretty slim, so you will probably need to color it with SEM.

The steps are slightly different for vinyl than for hard plastic: SEM Soap first using a gray scuff pad followed by #3834 Vinyl Prep or #38464 World Class Vinyl/Plastic Prep followed by Sure Coat, Color Coat, or Classic Coat. Color Coat aerosols would be the simplest, but you can get Sure Coat and Color Coat custom blended to match any color.

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No one lives forever, the trick is creating something that will.
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The problem with the one I installed is that it's a new but fairly cheap repop, meaning it has no metal backing plate, but I already had it to try so...

I bought another new one from OER and while it has a steel back plate, the down legs are not even close to the right angle. I was afraid they'd break it I tried any harder to install it.
Waiting to hear from them before I say screw them and send my original to Just Dashes.
Frustrating to spend $275 on an OER dash that doesn't fit.

The cheap one came with another car I bought for parts. Not sure where anyone could use it. That's pretty bad and typical from what I'm finding out.

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Wow. Those posts are at a horrible angle compared to the originals. Looks like it's for a much more raked dash/windshield angle.

Since the dash is out of the car, you might try skimming down the padding and original cover and overlaying new vinyl. I use HH-66 vinyl cement, and it holds wonderfully. I have reskinned armrests on door panels with it without putting down any new padding. just sand cracks and raised areas smooth and lay on the HH-66 (on both surfaces because it is a contact adhesive). Once it takes hold, it is very permanent.

On new Camaros (third generation) I just make new sewn covers to wrap that big wide top piece, edge around the defrost vents, and then reinstall. They look nice, and can go either stock looking or custom look.