Best method to fix cracks on dash?

[Brain75]

BTW, for those of you at home looking at all the crap in the bed and unpainted inside of bed I am doing a spray on bed liner .... probably this spring since it's too cold now.

I literally do not have enough extra space to store the bumpers and headlights etc, even for a week of painting - so all that went in the bed and then a sheet of painters plastic thrown over it.
I had to push the truck 1" away from the garage doors, spray the bed and tail, then roll the truck (by the tires) back to 1" away from the back wall in order to spray the front.

 

[jballard81]

I picked up the charcoal color dupli-color vinyl spray. Close but a bit too dark compared to the existing color.

I've been using deep matte grey from Krylon which is a touch too light.

There's a medium grey in the dupli-color vinyl spray, it also looks too light but I might try it as well to make sure.

 

[RobbieD]

For some odd reason, your post makes me think of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears".

But, I'm totally with you on how annoying it would be to have to look at an interior that doesn't match from piece-to-piece.

Unfortunately, I think it's going to be trying everything that you can get your hands on for a match, or spraying everything with the same color.

 

[Brain75]

I'd stop spending money on many many cans.... my interior isn't even going to match given how good the vinyl spray turned out. All the "hard" plastic is pulling together in one color, but the "soft" plastic - the dash, the "leatherette" on the door panel insert, etc is slightly different shades due to sun fading. One of the reasons I decided to go "black and tan" - separate the tan pieces from each other so no 2 really really touch (other than the door cards). If you get too wrapped up in your goldilocks color you will have a mint invested in the interior.

When I got the light sand, I picked the closest color to a picture on my phone. When I got the medium beige I had the cigarette lighter drawer in one hand, a can of paint in the other and a woman to tell me if they looked close enough to her. If attempt #2 had been off, I was gonna just live with it.

 

[Brain75]

Lets see your "too light" Krylon option - I think it will be the ticket. That x-mas tree fastener looks like it was a black one, and you got light coverage so the black shows through on the low spots... Was it black to begin with?

 

[jballard81]

Probably a good call. I've already been using the too light version and it's close enough as long as it's not on the same panel.

Here's the too light in place

It actually starts off much lighter

Here it is next to the charcoal (in its raw form)

 

[Brain75]

FWIW, I have seen much worse match on the x-mas tree fasteners on the new new trucks - like last 5 years new.

 

[jballard81]

Drying after second coat of too light matte grey. Will give it another half hour and see if it needs another.

I don't hate it!

 

[RobbieD]

That's turning out good. Well worth the effort.

 

[jballard81]

Used the rest of the can to put another layer on top. Let it dry for about 24 hours and then put the vent/wire routing sub structure back in. Used some interior protection spray on it to clean it up.

Here's a close up of the color difference between the Krylon matte grey and the OEM on the vent.

Haven't decided if it bothers me enough to spray the vents (which would be a pain I'm sure) or let it ride.

It's definitely not perfect, but I'm happy with it. Just as importantly I got learn and practice some new skills.

Now I just need to make time to pull the dash out of my 94 without breaking anything too badly

 

[Brain75]

on mine (1990) all the vents are unpainted black (matte).... don't know if you want to do that, but one way to hide the very slight shade difference...

 

[Ranger850]

on mine (1990) all the vents are unpainted black (matte).... don't know if you want to do that, but one way to hide the very slight shade difference...

I was going to suggest that. To black out the vents and accent pieces to give it a break in color

 

[jballard81]

Can't leave well enough alone

Picked up a can of satin Rust-Oleum charcoal gray (matte would have been preferred)

Test sprayed a Xmas tree clip and it's really close to OEM I feel like.

Pic of Xmas tree in OEM color vent

Is it better enough to warrant a respray? Not sure yet . It's getting cold here and my time for garage paint jobs is probably limited..

 

[Brain75]

you already paid for the can.....
If you already installed the dash skip, if not get er done.

 

[jballard81]

Good point. It's definitely not installed yet. Just taking up room in my office