How rare is an uncracked dash these days

[Staszek]

Mine is uncracked, but its the second dash and its one of the last NLA "New Material" Dashboards. Hoping it will stay a long time with care and being garage kept.

[82eye]

I have owned three E30's that came from Northern Europe. They are all crack free. There is some combination of sun and temperature in that end of the world that makes the dashboards last longer.

i live in kind of a similar climate. you give me false hope lol

[82eye]

I don't know what other benefit Aerospace 303 is supposed to have, but the UV protection claim seems to be false - At least based on that Project Farm trim restoration video. One of the tests was UV protection and Aerospace 303 didn't do anything when tested with a UV Meter.

the uv block is probably what's going on with the sunscreen lotion. i'm just wondering if the oils or whatever it is suspended in would dry the dash out.

[MrBurgundy]

I witnessed my dash crack in front of me... It was on a cold rainy day..

Second dash... I'm just living with it. Not worth to change unless it's really bad

[prisonerofdoom83]

Welp I buy the bullet went with just dashes a very pretty penny and a 7 month wait . I had a core dash luckily . $2k Later

[Tzantushka]

Welp I buy the bullet went with just dashes a very pretty penny and a 7 month wait . I had a core dash luckily . $2k Later

I feel your pain after doing the Australian equivalent of a dash re-skin.
See Post number 80 in the build thread

Hint - do some test fits with the vents and fascias parts before finally assembly.

But I have not looked back since doing it.
Every time you drive the car it will put your OCD at ease.

[prisonerofdoom83]

I feel your pain after doing the Australian equivalent of a dash re-skin.
See Post number 80 in the build thread

Hint - do some test fits with the vents and fascias parts before finally assembly.

But I have not looked back since doing it.
Every time you drive the car it will put your OCD at ease.

Yes the guys that did the dash had me take the vents to make sure everything was good and it was . I didn’t like the fact that used dashes were so expensive and could literally crack the next day . My original one did that one day it was beautiful the next it was cracked

[Aleman]

They're out there:
$1,000 - https://newyork.craigslist.org/wch/p...587520131.html
$1,300 - https://jerseyshore.craigslist.org/p...591737365.html
Winner winner chicken dinner - almost crack-free - $200! - https://albany.craigslist.org/pts/d/...594666191.html

[varg]

It has to be extremely rare by now. Only the best kept cars in the most mild of climates. IMO it's heat and thermal cycles that accelerate it, in the end the material has a limited lifespan since unlike leather it's not really possible to keep it supple by just using the right care products.

I didn’t like the fact that used dashes were so expensive and could literally crack the next day . My original one did that one day it was beautiful the next it was cracked

Yeah, even new ones are an unknown quantity imo. I'm going to live with the cracked dash on mine, maybe put a cover on it if I find a fairly nice one. It was crack free for the first 9 years or so I owned it, a good run. Now it has one over the top of the gauge cluster hump, one small one in the passenger side tray, and one small one starting on the cluster side corner of the AC vent hole.

[RossfromAZ]

Though I'd chime in for those that don't know you can still purchase Genuine BMW windshield shades for the E30 – keep perfect dashes crack-free for longer and cracked dashes from getting too much worse.

Ordered one recently and the fit is perfect, looks good too with the classic black 'BMW' lettering.

[roguetoaster]

It has to be extremely rare by now. Only the best kept cars in the most mild of climates. IMO it's heat and thermal cycles that accelerate it, in the end the material has a limited lifespan since unlike leather it's not really possible to keep it supple by just using the right care products.

You know, someone needs to test this. I have a spare cracked dash that I'd happily torture test with whatever chemicals and see if we could achieve any increase in pliability without cracking up PDQ after application.

If we knew exactly what type of material they used it would be helpful.

If we found something effective I might be willing to try it out in the real world on the uncracked unit in my touring.

[varg]

You know, someone needs to test this. I have a spare cracked dash that I'd happily torture test with whatever chemicals and see if we could achieve any increase in pliability without cracking up PDQ after application.

If we knew exactly what type of material they used it would be helpful.

If we found something effective I might be willing to try it out in the real world on the uncracked unit in my touring.

I would like to know what the best preservation products are myself. From what I've seen, the dash is just vinyl bonded to an open cell urethane foam. A mild detergent and a some vinyl-specific product with UV stabilizers is probably the best option.

A little background on the materials for those who don't know. Flexible vinyl like what you cover seats or a dash with is the same basic material as PVC, but with added plasticizers, usually phthalates, probably BBP in these dashes. The plasticizers change the way the polymer chains interact and bond with each other and in essence make what would be a hard brittle material a ductile and even stretchy one. There will also be stabilizers added to improve lifespan. Flexible vinyl is substantially made up of plasticizers by weight, depending on the application. The phthalates used in vinyl are pretty stable and have low volatility but are subject to migration with time and heat, they are also soluble in many solvents. Because they're such a large fraction of the material, as they migrate; either to the surrounding foam or into cleaning products in which they may have solubility, not only does the vinyl lose flexibility, it shrinks. This is worsened by the base foam, an open cell urethane foam, it is much more thermally stable than the vinyl surface, which will expand and contract more than the base it is bonded to, increasing stress. Time is the big one here, it's hard to test what helps because it has to be a long term controlled test to know what works, and unfortunately you can't just rub some plasticizer goop on your dash and restore it. Once they're gone, they're gone for good. Heat, UV, and thermal cycles are all enemies of your dash, but time will claim them all eventually.

[reelizmpro]

It has to be extremely rare by now. Only the best kept cars in the most mild of climates. IMO it's heat and thermal cycles that accelerate it, in the end the material has a limited lifespan since unlike leather it's not really possible to keep it supple by just using the right care products.

You're right because I have yet to have a dash crack on any of my E30's under my watch. I've bought CA cars with cracked dashes though (replaced with good used dashes) so it just depends on how vigilant the previous owners were. I always had tinted windows and a sunvisor, then later I graduated to car covers. My M3 still has the original dash, no cracks but it's been garaged since I got it in 99 and I always use a visor if parked in the sun. Here in SoCal it does get hot at times but climate is mild by the coast where I live.

[dnguyen1963]

[ZeKahr]

Though I'd chime in for those that don't know you can still purchase Genuine BMW windshield shades for the E30 – keep perfect dashes crack-free for longer and cracked dashes from getting too much worse.

Ordered one recently and the fit is perfect, looks good too with the classic black 'BMW' lettering.

Can vouch for these sunshades, had one of these sunshades over my crack-free dash which I had installed in the car around 2020. The car sat outside in a parking lot all throughout the year. I only used the sunshade during the summer and there were still no cracks on the dash up to the point where I sold the car this January.