Front Dash Crack

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Rocket Man

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Definitely not for the **** retentive.....
No sir lol. But I’m the guy who took my entire LT interior out of my Silverado and installed a dash out of a Tahoe so I could retrofit an Esky cluster., then followed with the door panels and had to make my own bezels for it all to work and look factory.

B5F8255A-9DA7-4F1E-826D-B352D3DC7F92.jpeg A347AB6C-63A5-421F-A60A-D52A20D80EC0.jpeg
 

avalonandl

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No sir lol. But I’m the guy who took my entire LT interior out of my Silverado and installed a dash out of a Tahoe so I could retrofit an Esky cluster., then followed with the door panels and had to make my own bezels for it all to work and look factory.

View attachment 247356 View attachment 247357


You like doing things the hard way......

I don't have time for that.... gotta take a nap....
 

exp500

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Best thing I've found is panel bonder, ( for bodywork)but have to use it from bottom side as its messy. Bonds exellent,allows a little flex so eliminates most new cracks, great to add a few strips to re-inforce original. Use super glue and baking soda from top to fix cracks- a piece of saran wrap will match texture with a little thought. Stop drill ends of cracks 1/8 in bit. Panel bonder fixes everything, hard to justify a $60 gun and $40 tube of glue but you WILL use it more than once.
 

Rocket Man

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Best thing I've found is panel bonder, ( for bodywork)but have to use it from bottom side as its messy. Bonds exellent,allows a little flex so eliminates most new cracks, great to add a few strips to re-inforce original. Use super glue and baking soda from top to fix cracks- a piece of saran wrap will match texture with a little thought. Stop drill ends of cracks 1/8 in bit. Panel bonder fixes everything, hard to justify a $60 gun and $40 tube of glue but you WILL use it more than once.
I used Lord Fusor 142 Plastic Repair epoxy, the best there is for repairing plastics, combined with 1/8” steel rods for reinforcing. I already had the gun. I also used hot staples melted into the back side using a special tool that cost another $100. (I returned it afterwards) It lasted a week before 2 new cracks appeared. My opinion is that once it starts cracking, the plastic is so brittle from either UV rays or heat it’s not worth trying to repair it because it’s just going to continue cracking. I mean, who wants to eliminate “ most new cracks” ? For me, it was a whole lot of work in removing the dash which is not all that easy, bonding/ reinforcing, trying to hide the cracks, reinstalling....hours and hours. Then i could still see the cracks because it’s impossible imo to make them disappear and to top it off it lasted a short time. Have you actually repaired one, do you have pictures, and how long has it lasted? I don’t mean to sound like I’m being negative but my experience suggests it’s not as easy as people make it sound and you’ll probably end up spending a lot of time and money just to end up back where you were. My suggestion is spend the money to buy the new part (which is reinforced in those areas) , add more reinforcement in some form, and install it once and for all.
 

Brooklyn hoe

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Hey guys haven't been on this site for a while but wanted to know where exactly on the dash needs to be reinforced. I have a new dash that I will be installing in the near future.
 

Rocket Man

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Brooklyn hoe

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Mine cracked in 2 spots but I noticed not everyone dash cracks in the same location
 

Rocket Man

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They always crack by the passenger airbag, by the instrument cluster, and if you have the center speaker, right there too. Every time that I’ve seen cracks that’s where they are. Where else have you seen them?
 

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