okay been wanting to do this for quite some tie..but ive been hearing many different ways of smoothing a dash such as sand down the original one till smooth and one was use fiberglass and cover it..aother was to use body filler...which way works best or what way would you do it? thanks in advance.
sand it. Start with a course 450 or so and work your way down to a 2000. Lots of work though. ive done it before and it wasnt to bad just took a long time. I have never done it using the other methods so maybe some one on here has and may have had better results.
The best way I was told was use filler and then sand it down. It will take less sanding that way without it. I'm covering mine in tweed.
Best way I've found an will do again I'd get fiberglass resin pour it on smooth it out (with hardener of course) an let it dry less sanding an easy
I have said it before, and will say it again. Please do not fiberglass your factory hard plastic dash. It will delaminate over time. The best route is, like mentioned, to sand it down. Use a skim coat of body filler if needed for any areas you want to smooth. 3M panel bond glue can also be used for shaving small areas. For that large 89-95 dash dip on the passenger side, the best route I have found is to get a panel of similar hard plastic (can be cut from another spot on a spare dash) and glued in. The panel bond is perfect for these dashes. Either sand it only, and start with 240/320 then step up to about 500/600. Prime it with some high build primer, then do normal paint steps.
if its a plastic dash, sand it all down.. I personally use 320 grit then 400 with a d/a sander and by hand to get the small stuff. If you are wrapping it you cant stop here. If you plan on painting it, shoot it with some high build primer to fill in the scratches. block and wet sand starting at 500 grit or so and gradually work your way to about 1000 and you should be ready for paint fiberglass and most body fillers don't bond well to plastic.. You really shouldn't need any filler unless anyway, unless you are fixing a crack or changing something. If you do need filler get one specifically for plastic (duramix, plastic fusion etc.. )
thanks for the replys guys!!!!..yeah i think im going the body filler way and cheat...haha...i wasnt sure with fiberglasss ive never used it b4...only used body filler...i will still scratch the dash so i can get the bdy filler to stick a little better
Personally I wouldn't want a dash full of filler, because if somebody smacks into it, I don't want it to crack up and fall off in sheets.
Fiberglass doesn't bond to hard plastic very well. I have done in to various projects, but it only lasts a couple years at best before it starts bubbling and flexing.
No reason to sand whats basically a plastic, on top of something thats already plastic. They aren't tough to smooth factory plastics if you use a power sander. I did it a lot working in a paint shop.
I have always seen people use bond fill primer. Spray and sand and spray and sand...repeating until it's smooth as glass.
