Dash crack prevention?

[daniel]

let us know how that works! i have one nasty crack going right down the middle that i got this summer and i'd like to fill it.

[dude8383]

Eastwood sells something for repairing dashes. It even has material that's supposed to have the OEM "grain" in it so you can't even tell it was cracked. For $20-ish, I figure it's worth a shot.

Matt

Thanks! Found the kit:

http://www.eastwood.com/vinyl-and-da...ir-system.html

[E30Nova]

Eastwood sells something for repairing dashes. It even has material that's supposed to have the OEM "grain" in it so you can't even tell it was cracked. For $20-ish, I figure it's worth a shot.

Matt

[KenC]

Mine is out of sight, so I just rubbed a bunch of epoxy in it.

[noE30]

Bump again, looking to do this soon. I tried searching and couldn't find any other threads about filling the cracks. Anyone know?

[noE30]

bump, for info on filling the crack

[jamiholzbach]

drilling a hole!

The first time I actually saw this was on a couple of vintage WWII bombers on the acrylic side windows, and yes it works!

[dude8383]

Anyone try something like the leatherique leather crack filler on their dashes?

x2

i was thinking about doing this but my little can has dried up completely.

what are you guys using to "fill" the crack? what are you using to match the color the of the dash after?

[e34john]

Anyone try something like the leatherique leather crack filler on their dashes?

[noE30]

what do you guys use to fill the cracks?

[guibo09]

stress is inversely proportional to the radius of the hole. ie, the smaller the hole, the larger the stress. a crack tip is like an infinitely small hole, so you get an infinitely large stress. this makes the crack propagate real quick.

the technical term for the repair is a stop drill.

[thedeal]

Drill a small hole at each end of the crack. This will keep it from spreading farther. That's about all you can do.

We do this all the time with cracks on reciprocating airplane engine, cooling fins, It relieves the stress of the crack by removing any sharp edges for the crack to continue on. Should work. Drill n' Fill!

[Cobra Jet]

interesting info about the holes -thx!

[Vethen]

Sitting out in the sun the dash gets dry, and without being moist the little stresses it takes makes it crack. Thats why people wipe there dashes with special wipes :)

And drilling a hole at the end of a crack evenly distributes the crack in a circle, and is harder to break through.
Look at it this way. Your opening a really large packet of ketchup and are tearing it, then make a hole punch in it. It's easyer to rip the started tear then pulling past the hole.

Hope it helps

[Cobra Jet]

what does drilling a hole actually do - never heard of that method...

Exactly why does the dash eventually crack?