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felixbobcat
Samba Member
Joined: December 13, 2017
Posts: 172
Location: Los Angeles
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 Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2020 5:23 pm Post subject: Brown Dash Pad Renew |
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As an owner of a Westfalia with a brown interior mine has what almost all of these vans have, a dried and horribly cracked dash pad. I know some owners have opted to fill the cracks and recover their pads with vinyl. I decided to go a different route and paint a good black pad since they don't crack and are available at reasonable prices.
I've used vinyl paints before with great success and thought I could replicate the process on the pad. However when I painted seats, dash pads, consoles and other parts it was using a solid color, like black. The original brown dash pads are not a solid color but various shades of dark brown. By using a black pad I could use that color as a base and build up from there.
After cleaning it and using a vinyl paint prep I started with a light mist of Cordovan Brown from SEM. I then noticed that the black underneath was a little too faded to and would not let me start with an adequate base color. Luckily I had some Landau Black and misted a layer of that color on to to give me the dark base I wanted.
Now it was just a matter of putting three very light layers of Cordovan brown. The idea is to just put a light mist on each time so the paint droplets are very small and a little uneven. Also be sure to wait at least ten minutes per coat as per the cans instructions.
After the Cordovan Brown I switched to a lighter color - Bluebird Brown. Again I misted three coats of this color to create more depth. The last coat was slightly heavier in some spots but still trying to keep it random in depth.
I think the result looks great and was much easier then recovering.
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Yellow Rabbit
Samba Member
Joined: August 31, 2005
Posts: 1169
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| Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2020 6:23 pm Post subject: Re: Brown Dash Pad Renew |
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Very nice!
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jlrftype7
Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2018
Posts: 4768
Location: Chicago
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| Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2020 7:46 pm Post subject: Re: Brown Dash Pad Renew |
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Yes, Very nice indeed..... 
_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto |
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erste
Samba Member
Joined: March 29, 2013
Posts: 1110
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2020 8:44 pm Post subject: Re: Brown Dash Pad Renew |
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Looks so good!
The PO painted the brown steering wheel with black vinyl paint (not sure what brand) and I'm blown away that after 4 years it doesn't show any signs of wearing off.
I'd like to paint the wheel brown again one day. Thanks for sharing your process. Good info. |
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ALIKA T3
Samba Member
Joined: July 30, 2009
Posts: 7300
Location: Honolulu,Hawaii and France
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felixbobcat
Samba Member
Joined: December 13, 2017
Posts: 172
Location: Los Angeles
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| Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2020 9:05 am Post subject: Re: Brown Dash Pad Renew |
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| ALIKA T3 wrote: |
Good job!
The black ones do crack too  |
Didn't know that but liking what I got to work with here. |
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