coverlay to mask crack

[curtis73]

I have a 1987 BMW 325 convertible and the interior has been all re-upholstered. I'm putting new carpet in next week. The interior will be all brand new except the cracked dash.

My first thought was to pull the dash out and have it re-covered by Just Dashes, but that is pretty expensive. Also, "pulling out a dash" is not something you can easily do in these cars. Its a very difficult process.

I've been tempted to do a Coverlay, but on an interior that is all but perfect, will it stick out like a sore thumb? I would think they might squeak and creak once installed. Anyone with info on them?

[eckoman_pdx]

Originally Posted by curtis73

I have a 1987 BMW 325 convertible and the interior has been all re-upholstered. I'm putting new carpet in next week. The interior will be all brand new except the cracked dash.

My first thought was to pull the dash out and have it re-covered by Just Dashes, but that is pretty expensive. Also, "pulling out a dash" is not something you can easily do in these cars. Its a very difficult process.

I've been tempted to do a Coverlay, but on an interior that is all but perfect, will it stick out like a sore thumb? I would think they might squeak and creak once installed. Anyone with info on them?

I've never installed a coverlay in a car, though my boss has. He says they hug the dash and fit nicely, at least the brand kind he gets (not sure what it is).

I never liked them myself. I am pretty anal as to what I like and don't like. MY rule of thumb is that if it sticks out like a sore thumb to you, then who cars what other people think, because it's your car.

If you want, I will try to get some info on what he uses...

Me, if I had the $$, I'd get a secnd dash from a junkyard, then I'd re-covered it to match. Once it's re-covered I'd pull out the old dash and put the new one straight in. That way theirs no down time. Of course, this is all assuming you have the $$ and it's worth it to you. Not many people have their dashes re-covered. Most just re-dye them or put on a cover of some sort to hide/protect it. I have always liked the look of a nice, re-wrapped dash in an interior myself. I think it really finishes off a re-uphostered interiror, but thats my opinion. My boss seems to think it's not worth the effort to re-cover new dashs (he tells me I pay "too much attention to detail"), so I guess we differ in opinion.

[curtis73]

Wise advice and I appreciate it. There are two problems with that in a BMW. When you re-cover it, they use the original frame of the dash to suck new hot vinyl over after they put some padding on it. On BMWs, a great deal of the shape is in the padding. In some places you'll have it up to 1.5" thick, and in others its very thin. Parts of the dash down by the center console don't even have any frame at all; just foam. IF you stripped it down, you'd have to have access to the BMW foam molds to re-cover it.

The other thing is that its more down time than you think. Some guys can do it in one day if they've done it a lot, but I've heard nightmares about three days and it still wasn't done, and then they forgot to re-hook up the blahblah harness and the car won't run so they had to tear it out again.

Wise words, don't get me wrong, but tearing out an E30 dash is not something that you can just do on a weekend. Its a b!t@h

I'm hoping at one of these E30 meets I'll see a buddy with one of those coverlays on the car so I can tell in person.

Thanks for the reply

[eckoman_pdx]

Originally Posted by curtis73

Wise advice and I appreciate it. There are two problems with that in a BMW. When you re-cover it, they use the original frame of the dash to suck new hot vinyl over after they put some padding on it. On BMWs, a great deal of the shape is in the padding. In some places you'll have it up to 1.5" thick, and in others its very thin. Parts of the dash down by the center console don't even have any frame at all; just foam. IF you stripped it down, you'd have to have access to the BMW foam molds to re-cover it.

The other thing is that its more down time than you think. Some guys can do it in one day if they've done it a lot, but I've heard nightmares about three days and it still wasn't done, and then they forgot to re-hook up the blahblah harness and the car won't run so they had to tear it out again.

Wise words, don't get me wrong, but tearing out an E30 dash is not something that you can just do on a weekend. Its a b!t@h

I'm hoping at one of these E30 meets I'll see a buddy with one of those coverlays on the car so I can tell in person.

Thanks for the reply

Well, good luck with it all man!!! I hope it all works out.