Dying a black dash brown - can this succeed?

[Otter74]

I'm looking for a replacement for my cracked dash - but it's brown (my car is a 1980 SC), and straight and untracked brown dashes are not exactly littering the earth. Black dashes are not too hard to find. It seems a bit unlikely to me that a black dash could successfully be dyed brown to match, but perhaps this is because I'm incorrectly thinking of the dye as a saturation rather than a coating. Is this something that I can successfully do, meaning it matches? My entire interior is brown and I'm not sure I'd like a black dash and door tops on an otherwise brown interior.

[john walker's workshop]

SEM has a variety of spray coatings for leather and vinyl.

[Arne2]

I've used the SEM coatings several times, including once on a (non-Porsche) dash pad. While I'd be a little concerned on long-term durability of a color over black on a high-wear surface, coating a dash pad should hold up fine as long as you do the cleaning and prep properly. You need to use SEM's vinyl paint prep product 2 or 3 times to ensure you get all traces of silicones and oils off the surface. Used dashes are difficult since prior owners may have used Armor-All or the like on them.

[eastbay]

You would actually be painting your dash, SEM stuff works great. Works better on leather than vinyl in my experience, but still good on vinyl.

[geshaghi]

The dye process works better on leather. SEM is really more paint than dye, especially for vinyl. You could also have your existing dash recovered with new leather or vinyl. No matter which route you choose, the Porsche brown is not easy to match.

[jjeffries]

Hi Otter, I've been researching this too because I'm refurbishing the dash on my 87 924S:

JohnJ's 87 924S Rehabilitation

To add on to what the other fellows have stated, I contacted SEM's tech desk and received some excellent feedback. They show two vinyl/leather paint products, Color Coat and Classic Coat. Which to use? You'll want Color Coat, which is the more durable; Classic Coat is softer, more suited to leather and soft upholstery.

Here's something cool: an approved SEM dealer (that will be an autobody paint and supply house in your area) can custom mix and tint Color Coat if you buy it in quarts, as opposed to their factory-pack aerosols, so you can get just the color you want by taking along a sample. You can shoot this to great effect with a $20 Harbor Freight gun. It's a single-stage product, so no catalyst to mix.

I hope that helps. And anyone interested in a dash-overhaul-turned-into-obsession, please check out my 924S thread.

Best of luck to you, John

[Otter74]

Thanks for all these - I was thinking of this as a dye, but it seems that what I'd be doing is painting it, in which case I have more confidence in matching the color. My existing dash is not one I want to rework - I don't want to have the car down forever, and the windshield and gasket are going to get replaced at the same time (really I'm just doing the dash because I have other work I want to do that requires taking the windshield out). I've seen a light-colored leather dash for sale here that could be dyed brown relatively easily, but it's leather and I don't have leather anywhere in my car. A good black plastic/vinyl dash isn't too hard to find. In a perfect world I'd prefer the 86-up dash to avoid unnecessary future windshield removals, but that would require a lot of metal work to redo the mounting points by the cowl and enlarge the air vent holes in the understructure.

[3literpwr]

Leather can be had in most colors, maybe you should just wrap it.

[Tremelune]

Originally Posted by Otter74

My entire interior is brown and I'm not sure I'd like a black dash and door tops on an otherwise brown interior.

You sure...? It looks good, and reflects less light. I'm of the mind that dashes should always be black, regardless of the color of the rest of the interior...

[Bill Douglas]

Otter, I've just had a look at my brown dash. I'm guessing yours is much the same. My brown is slightly a "leather look" plastic and fractionally mottled brown that would be very hard to match. I thought if I ever did mine I'd put the same brown paint on the top of the door panels so it matches where they meet.

I've got a perfect spare black one, but like you I'd rather stay brown.

[Otter74]

Bill, you're right - it's got a leather look texture and is sort of a rich, warm dark brown. I'd be OK with a different texture as long as I can match the color. I'd like to replace my door tops eventually, since they're slightly ratty-looking.

I think black with an alternate-color lower looks good if that other color is something light or bright, but I think black and dark brown just isn't quite right. I could live with it but would probably then want to break it up with something like tartan between the black and the brown. Plus I just like the brown. If anyone has a brown interior with a black dash, I'd be interested to see how it looks.

[Bill Douglas]

Those tartans are nice. Especially if you can tie it in with another color already in/on the car. I like black and white houndstooth for the seat inserts, but I don't think it would work for me with dogs with muddy feet scrambling in and out of the car.

[Wswco]

Brown over black looks good! Instead of paint or dye, why not have it wrapped with real leather?

[Otter74]

Yours looks good, but my entire interior is dark brown and I am just not sure I like all-brown with a black dash and door tops. I'd rather not rework my dash because I'm going to have some minor rust in the windshield channel addressed, the windshield and seal replaced and the dash replaced all at once, and that can all get done in a week or so if the dash is a straight swap. I'm just not interested in spending a ton of time reworking my cracked dash and covering it, since I have more car projects than I have time for as it is. My girlfriend wants to just get a new one from Lakewell!

[Stophos]

Back in the 80's high end GM cars in NYC (and I am sure elsewhere) constantly had there dashes mangled by radio thieves. The replacement dashes were all black and painted with vinyl paint to match the original color. I don't recall the product used but it went on like factory color and was extremely durable. I am sure that quality product it is still out there so take a sample to your local automotive paint supplier assuming thye are open, and see what they come up with.