appulstery...... if thats how you spell it?
Turbo Mini Forums

Hey, i woz wondering if someone could give me some advice on how to cover my dashboard/ door cards, it doesnt look that hard but i have no idea on whats involved. I'v spent a few hours practising on scrap pieces of wood with some vinal that woz lying around and to be honest it looks f-kin awful.
Any advice is appreciated!

thanks. Chris

998 turbo

upholstery dude

i did my old dash in vinyl and that turned out ok, just pulled it tight across the dash and stapled it round the back.

I've done my new dash/door cards/back seat bases etc in a thin black fleacey type stuff, just used a can of spray glue and they've turned out ok.

just make sure you pull the material tight across whatever you're covering and then fold it round the back aswell and it should be ok.

i've got a sheet of ally chequerplate to make my next dash out of though.

HTH, Nick.

Edited by Nick on 24th Feb, 2005.

before covering in vinyl/cloth make sure you use a thin foam first this will make the finish look much better.

ok, sweet, i'v been using PVA glue but i dont think it is the rite stuff, i'v been told epoxy glue is my best bet, can anyone confirm this?

998 turbo

Best stuff to use is the spray type adhesive. Not sure what formulation the glue is but the advantage is you get a thin even coverage, and so your finish will look much better. As sauber says a thin layer of foam on things such as dashboards and door cards gives a good finish, another trick if you are using vinyl is to leave it somewhere good and warm before you use it so as it becomes nice and flexible. Then just make sure you get it nice and tight over whatever it is you are making. Also you will find a decent staple gun will help loads for fixing vinyl on the back of panels. MDF is a good material to work with for this kind of thing.
Another tip, for covering round holes (for gauges etc) cut a spider into the vinyl in the area of the hole, then pull the legs through the hole and fix on the back with staples.

I doubt epoxy is what you want though, that is usually really thick high strength stuff, like Araldite?

yeah that spider way of doing the holes is definately the best way to go, then staple the legs round the back.

If it helps in any way the spray glue i get from the wholesalers is called "double sided tape in a can"

spray adhesive from your local carpet shop.

awsome, thanks 4 that, iill giv it a go :)

998 turbo

carpet glue is the business.

NO!!! you want contact adhesive!!!

it wont fall off in the heat, or stain through the material (if you dont put it on too thickly)
you can get it from b&q

Yep ! I trimmed my entire interior, boot etc using contact adhesive. I found the spray glue was crap.

Phil.

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