Dash Pads?

[dn010]

I finally got to replacing my evaporator over the weekend. So, a "while I'm in there" kind of a situation is happening now - my interior looks pretty great aside from a few things - one being the cracked dash pad that is also shedding it's coat of vinyl spray paint to hide it's sunburn.

Is DMCH the only ones reproducing these? I am on the fence about shelling out $300 for a repo from DMCH, I've heard mixed things about the fitment. Any comments on this?

[81dmc]

From what I've heard, the plastic ones are horrible quality! Once in DMCFL's showroom, I applied pressure to a plastic dash, and it squeaked and creaked. I suggest you just recover your dash with a medium thickness leather. After all, you will never find another with the quality of the metal-based original...

[Gfrank]

Zero complaints about the dmch pads. great bang for your buck. The studs aren't very strong, so don't tighten up much, once the nuts touch your done. Can't comment on color, my hole interior was dyed at once
I hear a lot of people saying they are junk, how ever I'd suspect a good majority of them have never touched one

[Drive Stainless]

Zero complaints about the dmch pads. great bang for your buck. The studs aren't very strong, so don't tighten up much, once the nuts touch your done. Can't comment on color, my hole interior was dyed at once
I hear a lot of people saying they are junk, how ever I'd suspect a good majority of them have never touched one

I have one. It was better than any original dashboard that I could find at the time, so it's been installed for a few years now. I spent a good 4-5 hours trying to get the glovebox lid to fit correctly. Eventually I made a custom bracket and shimmed the adjacent dashboard studs to get it to where I liked it. The finish is easy to damage. Speaker installation is simpler than with the OEM dashboard due to the longer studs.

[DMCMW Dave]

Here's an install hint. Before you fit it to the car, grind about 1/8 inch off the leading edge of the dash (this is the part that tucks under the base of the windshield, you will NOT see this modification). The dash was made a bit too perfect and often hits the glue at the bottom of the glass. Some cars may take more, but this is a good place to start. This causes you to force the dash into place so that the studs line up. This then puts some tension on it that can lead to problems later. The idea is to have it set in place with zero preload on the structure of the dash.

The other cautions given about not overtightening the studs applies as well.

If you want it to be a bit more "dead", you can glue some dense foam padding into the squares on the bottom side of the pad. I also dynamatted the one in my car (5 years ago, no issue) but this might be a bit risky if you car sits out in the sun a lot as the dynamat will tend to hold heat.

[dn010]

Thanks for the replies guys, at this point I really need my D as a daily driver by this Monday so that leaves me with very little time to get it ready - my wife threw a piston in her daily so now she has to take my daily which then forces me to take the D to work .

As much as I don't want to have my car looking awful, I may have to drive around without a dash until I can get something going but after the first post of advice I did purchase a special type of vinyl. The stuff I got is more durable then the usual vinyl upholstery I use (on the usual cheap stuff you slide a nail down it and it will rip the vinyl), it has much more of a leather texture to it too. My problem is the speaker holes, I haven't figured out what I'm going to do with them yet but I'll have to make it up as I go.

The upholstery cost me $50, if it looks awful - which it might since the color slightly off from the rest of the interior, I'll have no other choice but to get a reproduction dash.

[81dmc]

My problem is the speaker holes, I haven't figured out what I'm going to do with them yet but I'll have to make it up as I go.

You could use speaker grills like this owner did.

I, however, mounted speakers in my foot wells with tweeters in place of the 3.5" speakers.

[cdrusn]

I've had my DMCH dash for about 5 years and it is some crumbling on top of the glove box area and some near the binnacle. For what you pay you should get a better quality. Maybe they are better now.

[Ryan King]

I finally got to replacing my evaporator over the weekend. So, a "while I'm in there" kind of a situation is happening now - my interior looks pretty great aside from a few things - one being the cracked dash pad that is also shedding it's coat of vinyl spray paint to hide it's sunburn.

Is DMCH the only ones reproducing these? I am on the fence about shelling out $300 for a repo from DMCH, I've heard mixed things about the fitment. Any comments on this?

Dont get a new dash. They are horrible.

Stick with your original. Either get it recovered, or do what I did and buy a nice dashmat.
I used to hate them, but I find this one to be really nice.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000F3C0PA/...ing=UTF8&psc=1

[Gfrank]

Dont get a new dash. They are horrible.

Stick with your original. Either get it recovered, or do what I did and buy a nice dashmat.
I used to hate them, but I find this one to be really nice.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000F3C0PA/...ing=UTF8&psc=1

How long did you have a repo dash installed?