How to Clean and Repair Your Car Dashboard

Having learned in other articles that we have published here about what the different dashboard lights mean, you might be interested in knowing how to keep your dashboard looking fresh and beautiful. No matter how powerful a V8 engine you have under the hood, if the dashboard is cracked and bad looking, chances are your car will lose that chic appeal it held when you bought it. You do not want that, do you? In addition, a cracked vinyl dashboard is a good hub for roaches, dust mites and bacteria, which could affect your children or even you, that is, assuming you haven’t already been affected.

Cleaning a vinyl dashboard

A vinyl dashboard is prone to cracking up when it is exposed to the hot sun. The good thing is that it should not be too hard for you to do the repair. However, start by cleaning it right. The top layer can wear away if you use too abrasive cleaning products. First, rinse the dashboard with warm clean water, without using soap.

Then use a towel and soap to scrub it. If there are stubborn stains, scrub that spot away with a soft brush. You can then dry the extra moisture with a soft towel. Do not use harsh soaps and cleaning products because those could lead to scrubs and lines on the dash.

Repairing the dashboard

So your dash is all cracked up now and it is embarrassing you. First, you have to understand what it is made of. A dashboard is made of foam padding, which is then layered up with a vinyl fabric. When high temperatures, water and cleaning agents find their way to the foam interior, the dash is bound to crack sooner or later.

1. Repair the cracks as soon as they appear because if you wait too long, they will become bigger, uglier and harder to repair.
2. Buy your dashboard repair kit online. Inside the kit, you will find some sealant, color compounds and a heating iron. This however depends on where you buy yours. Research carefully to ensure that all you may need is included in the repair kit.
3. Sand the edges of the cracks a bit to even them out. You can use the regular sandpaper for this, but do it gently lest you make the cracks bigger.
4. You can use some liquid metal filler to fill up the cracks, then use a vinyl paint to finish off the dash and it will look as good as new.
5. You are done. If you mixed the dyes right, no one need know that you repaired some cracks. Everything will look so good, not as good as new.