Originally Posted by abrankhalid

I had the same cracked dash problem and I decided to try my hand at doing a dash recovery. It's time consuming but you don't need any special tools or skills.

To remove the vinyl, start with removing the fabric stitched to the edge of the dash that contacts the windscreen. It will be obvious once you have the dash out. Since the vinyl is old and cracked, it will splinter off in to small pieces when you try tearing it off the dash surface. It will take a few chunks of foam with it from the dash no matter how careful you are.

Once you have the vinyl all ripped out, get one of those home insulation foam cans from home depot etc... It's less than $10. Fill the gaps as well as you can by gently pushing the foam in the cracks. Remember that's thisbproduct is a one time use only since the plastic noozle gets clogged once it dries out. So fill in all the crevices cracks and little pot holes you would have made while pulling the vinyl off.

Let it dry and then sand it. This is the hardest part...even minor bubbles show up through the new vinyl I put on. So sand sand sand to perfect smoothness. I tried making a pattern out of thick paper but intended up frustrated due to all the curves. In the end, I just put the vinyl on without any pre-cutting. It seems all right for a first job. Still not done though but it's coming out okay.

I used 3m 90 super strength as my adhesive as it safe and cheap and it works very well. Has dec nt reviews on other upholstery related forums.

For laying down the vinyls, start from the middle and make your way towards the edges, gluing it down in small patches. For the curves and edges use a light heat gun or better still, a hair dryer as the vinyl can bubble quickly if over heated.

So there... Hope that's a good explanation of what doing a recovery entails.