My solution to the warped/curling dash problem

[Manowarr]

The vinyl part of the dash on my 1993 Lumina was warping and curling badly. I removed the bolts for the dash and took it out with the intention of reglueing the vinyl to the hard plastic part of the dash. I took the vinyl and foam off and while I was holding it in the middle the ends folded down. As it did, the vinyl cracked. I wasn't going to reglue the vinyl when it had cracks in it. I ended up cleaning off the hard black plastic part of the dash and reinstalling it. And you know what? It doesn't look half bad. It looks good. If you don't tell anyone you removed the vinyl, they would have a hard time noticeing. After driving around with it in that manner for a couple of months now, I hardly notice it either.

[savannaz34]

Originally Posted by Manowarr

The vinyl part of the dash on my 1993 Lumina was warping and curling badly. I removed the bolts for the dash and took it out with the intention of reglueing the vinyl to the hard plastic part of the dash. I took the vinyl and foam off and while I was holding it in the middle the ends folded down. As it did, the vinyl cracked. I wasn't going to reglue the vinyl when it had cracks in it. I ended up cleaning off the hard black plastic part of the dash and reinstalling it. And you know what? It doesn't look half bad. It looks good. If you don't tell anyone you removed the vinyl, they would have a hard time noticeing. After driving around with it in that manner for a couple of months now, I hardly notice it either.

is it really just plastic under there?
if you can,would you post a pic or two please
i might just doo the sameopcorn:

[DnaProRacing]

I would love to see how that looks. specially with tinted windows. mine has two speaker holes, dont think that would look too great and wouldnt want to commit to it without first seeing how it COULD look.

Gary

[Manowarr]

I took pictures, but I couldn't find a way to post them on this forum. When you put the hard black plastic dash back in the car, the speaker covers and vent (top middle of dash) are put in their normal positions.

If you decide to do this, I recommend using a paint scraper to get all the foam off of the hard black plastic dash.

[jeffcoslacker]

You could also cover that shell with anything you want while it's out....I suggest fake fur with leopard print

Or contact paper that looks like marble...

or...

[savannaz34]

Dont You Have A E-mail Address.so We Can See Pics

[Manowarr]

[Manowarr]

[Manowarr]

[DnaProRacing]

i did the same thing. looks about the same. thinking about ordering the dash cover from partstrain.com. should make it look even better. problem is "will it fit now with the nylon is off"??? altho it is nothing but a fitted piece of carpet... i noticed on the left side of the above picture your vinyl is pulling away from the plastic. mine did that too pretty bad. even worse now that I put another steering column in. kinda hoping someone can come up with an idea to sorta "fix" that. mine does that all the way across the dash. i've managed to force the vinyl in quite a bit from the right side of the column over to the passenger side door. but you can still see how it has pulled a lil back up. there has to be a cure...

[gw84]

Manwarr, may I suggest painting that vent insert black to match the dash unless you're planning on re-doing the dash in red.

[DnaProRacing]

Hate to bring an old thread back to life, but, I finally installed the dash cover and wanted to show a couple pix. Looks a lot better than what it did before...

from the outside:

[DnaProRacing]

forgot to mention, the material is pretty thin so it doesnt impeed the sound of the speakers. and yes, my windshield is pretty dirty, tends to happen when you drive 100 miles a day going to and from work...
oh, you can order them from partstrain.com for $28 + shipping, comes to $37. OR go to coverking.com and view all they have to offer. lotsa good stuff. in fact, you can recarpet the entire inside for $165...

[gw84]

DNAPRO...that looks really nice!! Oh and if you hadn't said anything I probably wouldn't have suspected that the photos were black and white...just looks like they were taken at night.

[DnaProRacing]

I finished putting the bottom part of the cover on today. heres a couple pix that show how it turned out:

and from the passenger side:


What ya think???