Mike, Tom, Phillip, Randy

What an incredible time I have to say The Interior Guy and the Viper Products Team had at the Mobile Tech Expo 2012! From what I heard over 9000 people went through the Worldgate Resort in Orlando, Florida. All I know is it was awesome for all of the people that were there both exhibitors as well as Mobile Techs and you newbies too. A ton of information was shared between all techs which is something I thought was so awesome. No matter how seasoned you may be there is always something new and better to learn. This business is always a learning adventure for sure, I love it!

The range of booths that were set up was almost perfect, there were booths from Dent guys to Interior Guys to Paint and Autobody and even a few in between. The show is growing bigger and better every year for sure. Now being the first year that I went I really don’t have much to go on but from I’ve heard this one was the best. Of course there’s always room for growth and improvement so I’m definitely looking forward to next years show and what The Interior Guy and Viper Products will have to show as well as the other exhibitors and the Mobile Tech News crew.

Well its been a week since Ive gotten back and wow what a week I’ve had. First I want to say I don’t like the weather here as much! Man it was nice in Orlando, nice 80 degree days in January is something I could get used to for sure. But I have to say its nice to be home to my family and my clients. Kinda got a little behind being out of the loop for 3 days so as u know when you get behind its always tough plus add my new adventure and well let me explain…

Big things are happening here at The Interior Guy! While I was in Florida soaking up the warmth I was also soaking in the idea of expanding. Starting next month if everything works as planned The Interior Guy will be a distributor for Viper Products. Yep a distributor! This is gonna be incredible for you all as my following as well as for The Interior Guy. Not only will I be posting about new products as well as instructional help but I will be able to supply you with the products as well, cool huh? Location is also a big thing with shipping costs these days and with us being right smack dab in the middle of US, how could it get any better. So now Viper Products will have the country covered for all your Automotive Interior Repair Products. The main office in Orlando, a distributor in California and now here in Missouri. With all this at one place you shouldn’t have any probs getting the top of line automotive interior repairs to your customers.

I’m stoked and my wife is as well. She will be doing most of the order taking and shipping and I will still be doing repairs and taking care of my clients here, as well as my interior repair training, since my training program is designed around the real world situations I surely don’t want to leave my clients. Plus now that I’m wearing the big boy pants I cant forget who put the diapers on me . For now you will still call the 1-800 number and place your orders with my main man Randy Singh, and it will probably be that way for a while until I can get my wife up and going with this.

So keep your eyes out for changes here at Automotive Interior Repair with The Interior Guy. I hope to get products up soon as well as reopening my forum for more access to Q&A. My forum just got out of hand with spammers and I just didnt have the time nor patience to put up with them, but I’ll bite the bullet and get’r back up soon.

One thing I have added is a map locator on my contact page which is the beginnings of a nation wide locator for automotive interior professionals. This is going to be my way of networking everyone together. So with that said if you want your info on the map shoot me an email with what you want in the bubble and I’ll put it up there. I think this will be a killer tool for all, so get your info emails in soon!

Well the Mobile Tech Expo 2012 was definitely a big success in my book and it really put a fire under my butt to get things rocking and rolling in the automotive interior repair profession.

I hope you all had as much fun as I did in Orlando and I look forward to seeing each and everyone of you all again real soon.

Talk to ya soon – Mike “The Interior Guy”

My decision on going with this Aztec Hot Rod Extractor was based on size, mobility, suction, and heat.

The reason for size was amount of room I have available in my van, which is very limited. I’m running a Dodge Caravan with just enough room for me and everything else I carry. So a small unit was really my only option.

Mobility of course goes with the biz, you don’t want a big bulky machine when doing mobile interior repairs and detailing. No since breaking your back more then what we already are. It only weighs 18 lbs, so carrying it around from vehicle to vehicle should be a breeze. It does come with casters that you have to install but right now I’m not using them, no real reason other then rolling around in the van. It’s light enough I shouldn’t have to much of a problem, but I do have the option of installing them if needed in the future.

The suction or lift was pretty important too, a lot of the stains or just dirt I run across in vehicles need quite a bit of suction to get them out. This unit carries a whopping 102″ of lift, more then any small unit I researched.

Now heat was probably the most important second to size. The grease and grime that gets tracked into a vehicle is what the dirt sticks to, which no matter how much you vacuum won’t come out. Hot water helps to remove this grease and grime which in turn removes the stains. The Aztec Hot Rod Extractor reaches a temperature of 200 degrees in a matter of about 10 – 15 minutes depending on the temp of water you add.

One thing about this extractor is that it is a hot water ONLY extractor. You don’t add your cleaning chemicals to the fill tank (you’ll void the warranty if you do, so no chemicals! ). Instead you spray your cleaning solution onto the areas your cleaning then using the extractor you remove the chemicals with a blast of hot water. I was a little disappointed in this but really this gives you more control of where you want or need chemical if you think about it. Believe it or not the hot water itself will clean too, a chemical isn’t always needed for cleaning. Also what about rinsing, one of the most important parts of cleaning. If the residues of the cleaning products are left behind they will cause the fibers of carpet and materials to become sticky which will actually attract even more dirt and can also damage the fibers altogether. So basically your cleaning with your chemicals and a little scrubbing and elbow grease then blasting your stains away with 200 degree hot water.

I have only used the Hot Rod a few times now and have to say my research and contemplation has really payed off. I am really pleased with results of this little machine. Here’s the features and specs that helped sway my decision…

• 200°F Heated solution tank
• (110°F water heats to 200°F in 8 minutes)
• Ready to use when dwell time on pre-spray is completed
• 1.5 Gallon solution tank capacity
• 2.5 Gallon recovery tank capacity
• Piston pump delivers 60psi
• 1600 Watt heating element
• Lights indicate when heating and when temp. is reached
• Power requirement less than 15 AMPs
• 50 ft Single flow cord
• 16ft 1 1/4″ ID flexible vacuum hose
• 16ft 3/16″ ID spray hose
• Weight of Spotter without solution is 18lbs.
• Maneuvers easily on 2″ casters
• Easily accessible to fill, empty and clean
• Dimensions of Spotter: 17″ high, 18″ long, 13″ wide
• 3″ stainless steal upholstery detail tool
• 3 year limited warranty

Pretty sweet huh? I thought so too!  This really is a professional extractor and not just some cheap wanna be. I was also told by the Aztec rep that any standard head attachment will fit the Hot Rod Extractor. This makes it nice for adding a crevice tool or any other attachment that fits any other extractor. In fact my last trainee purchased a head that is specifically for upholstery for his extractor. The water jet is set up differently so not to leave the upholstery as wet. Great idea just a little pricey for me right now though, lets get this paying for itself first.

If your looking to add a nice professional extractor to your mobile interior repair and detailing business then I would definitely recommend you take a good look at the Aztec Hot Rod Extractor.

Most of the colors are close to the original colors of the interiors of most of the vehicles on the market but always test an area first before you start any project to insure color match.

I will say this on Black, mostly the Landau Black will be the choice for most of your repairs. It just matches better with sheen and all.

Red’s and Blue’s be prepared to use maybe twice as much dye in most projects due to the transparency of the dyes.

Always clean and prep prior to applying any Sem aerosol paints. Soap and warm water always works great! Scotch Brite pads are usually all that’s needed for scuffing the surface, any harsher and sanding marks could be left and will show through and leave you with undesireable results.

Apply a coat of adhesion promoter to the surface before you paint, this will also help to give you maximum adhesion and a lasting repair.

For all your Sem Aerosol colors check out TCP Global’s Auto Color Library. They have a great site for everything automotive whether it be the outside or the inside. Just scroll down on the left you’ll see Vinyl and Leather Paint under the heading Aerosol Paint Center. They will also mix custom colors for you!

Talk to ya soon,
Mike “TIG”

We finished our holiday this last weekend at my Father in-laws. He lives on a 160 acre farm around Kisse Mills, Missouri. Great view of the Missouri Hills. It was really warm so we got to spend a little time outside enjoying it. As my wife and I were out in one of the garages nose’n around with her dad, she came across a little swivel stool that she remembered from childhood. She made a comment on how she remembered it and before she could finish dad said “take it”, he said, “all it’s doin out here is collect dust”. She thought it would be a great hair cutting stool for the kids, and the pack rat that I am who was I to say no. The wife’s an ex-beautician but still cuts hair on occasion and it sits just at the right height for her. I wish I had taken a picture of it so you could see how it looked before I got a hold of it…pretty ugly.

One thing I like to do in my spare time is fixing up little things like this. Call it tinkering, but it’s actually rewarding to take an old piece of furniture, like a stool, an old chair or table and make it look like a completely different piece or just make it look new again. Now I don’t go all out, and sew new pieces in and all that but if it’s repairable by a vinyl mend or sanding it down and painting or staining then I’ll do it. I have several little stools in my shop that I’ve done.

This little stool was just asking for some t.l.c. . I’d say it’s at least 40 years old. The vinyl is in really good shape, minus a few little spots along the edge that had been nicked. The color was the old light tan with some sort of funky print. The metal legs were a kinda blush beige stuff…all I know was it was ugly and needed an update.

Looking around the shop I came up with a silver for the legs and I used Sems black vinyl dye for the vinyl seat and back. Now remember I was going for cheap, using what I had at the time. There are times I will go all out on a piece but this one just needed a little update and really I had the stuff just needing to be used.

Older vinyl is nice to work with as long as it’s not to far gone. If the vinyl is cracked through out or if it’s brittle enough to break then it’s usually to far gone. The older vinyls are thicker and mend really nice but one can only do so much magic. If it’s to far gone, recovering is your only option, but with stools it’s pretty easy to wrap a new piece right over the old or replace the stuff altoghther. Done that alot, just heat the vinyl with a heat gun as you go, makes it a little easier to work with.

One little tip when doing older vinyls like this, go darker, like a dark brown or black, it just seems to just hide better. Another thing to keep in mind is to use colors with white in it or even black, but mostly white. True colors like red, yellow, and blue are usually to transparent and you have to use so much dye and it just looks terrible when your done. If you do want a true color you need to paint it white first, this will give you a good base for the true colors, it makes them pop instead of having the under color showing through.

I took the seat and the lean back off. If you can disassemble something do, this will keep you from getting over-spray where you don’t want it. But if you can’t then mask off the vinyl parts first, paint or stain the rest and then do the vinyl, this will insure no dye is removed from masking. If you run into a situation where you need to mask off a freshly painted area, take the tape and lay it sticky side down onto your bluejeans, this will take some of the sticky out of the tape and make it less likely to remove any fresh paint.

I then cleaned the metal parts, scrubbing with my red scotch brite pad and prepping solution, then wiping clean with a terry towel. There was a little rust in a few places so I took a little 400 grit sandpaper and smoothed them out. Now if you have a lot of rust, then a primer is usually needed but in this instance there wasn’t that much and again cheap. Once cleaned, off to spraying I went… light coats first, especially with metallics, your metallics will sparkle better and not look foggy by laying them on light coats at a time plus less chance for runs. I might be doing it cheaply but I don’t want it to look cheap.

There was also a chrome ring around the bottom for a a foot rest, shined up nicely with a little steel wool. Takes the rust and ugly right off.

While I let the metal parts dry I prepped the vinyl for dyeing and repairs. Cleaning the vinyl really good ensures the paint will stick hence lasting longer. All I did was cleaned it really good with my prepping solution and a red scotch brite pad, wiping it clean with a terry towel. I then took the back clamped it in the vise with a towel to cushion it so not to tear up the vinyl, and to steady it for any repairs needed. I noticed along the top edge of the there were a couple of chunks out of the vinyl. Luckly I had a grain pad close to the grain of the vinyl, if not I could have made one but I had one so we were cool. Now all I did was take a little vinly repair compound and laid it right over the exposed foam and metal with my pallet knife, heated it slowly, pushing up the pieces of vinyl laying out, kinda shaping it as I went, layering it up until it was level. Once I was close to being done I shot a layer of dye on it to see where I was at. Close but needed a little more, I’m pretty picky, so I laid a couple of more layers on, paying attention to the edge only, I didn’t want to go over the edge and get into the face of the chair, repairs on the face are a lot harder to hide then on an edge. Once I was happy with my vinyl repair I pulled it out of the vise, sprayed it with Plastic Magic Adhesion Promoter then sprayed it with the Sems black, again light coats at a time, this keeps the runs down and just makes for better adhesion and just a better look when your done.

There is another way to repair these types of vinyl repairs. With thick super glue and a 240 grit sand paper. I know not all of you have access to the stuff I have so I thought I’d throw in this little trick. This trick will only really work on the edges, not recommended for the face or seat areas, it will crack. All you do is squeeze a little glue in the hole and start sanding over it, the glue will dry as you sand and the sandings will act as a filler. Micro bubbles work pretty good too. Micro bubbles is a super glue additive used as a filler, use this stuff for the larger areas. Just keep adding glue and sanding until its smooth and level. Now you can leave it smooth or add a little texture with Sem Texture Coat, then dye. I use this trick only when I don’t think I can do a conventional vinyl mend, usually when I think the heat will make the vinyl swell. Some vinyls will swell when heated, making a small hole bigger! I hate this stuff you start out with a tiny little hole and think you have an easy fix then you put the heat to it and the hole is now about a 1/2" around, urrrggg. Identifying this kind of vinyl is kinda hard, I’ve found the vinyls with a foam backing do this mostly. I think there thinner or something. So on these types I use superglue first to hold the vinyl then do a low heat vinyl repair over the area.

After all was dry I put it back together. This is always fun, things always seem to go back together a lot harder then they were taking apart. Had a time putting the swivel seat back on. They used ball bearings laid into am open track to make the chair swivel smoothly. Kinda funny trying to do this one by myself, holding it upside down with one hand and trying not ot loose the ball bearing while putting the seat back on with the other hand, quite humerous, but with a few choice words I got it.

My little stool project turned out really nice. My wife was amazed and happy, which is always nice. I’m also kinda anxious to show it off to my father in-law.

Making the old new again can be rewarding in many ways and can be done with just extras laying around your shop taking up space. It’s not that hard to restore those old pieces of furniture with a little time and some patients you can have something for another 40 years of memory giving.

Painting in temperatures less then 40 degrees makes it almost impossible to yield a perfect repair without a little preparation first.

The first and foremost thing is to heat up the area where the repair is being made. Now the best way to do this is with a hairdryer, not your heat gun. This will heat the area just enough to make it easier to work with and not damage the area any further (like a hole in vinyl getting larger due to to much heat being put to it). Heating the area will also help your compounds work like their supposed to along with giving you a warmer surface for the dye to stick to helping in curing time.

Here’s probably the biggest tip I can give you in helping your water based dyes to dry faster. Add a little rubbing alcohol, otherwise known as isopropyl alcohol, to your dye mixer. Now not too much, just a little squirt or two from your squeeze bottle will do. It makes a huge difference. The alcohol evaporates the water from the dye faster which in turn dries your dye faster. When buying it though make sure you get the 90% or better mixer, it’s more of a pure mixer. Here’s a link to a 99% isopropyl alcohol.

I usually start adding alcohol to my mixer at about 50 degrees or so especially if there’s a lot of moisture in the air. We have some pretty high humidity here in the mid west so when I have a blustery moist day I add a little rubbing alcohol to my dye and it cuts my drying time to almost nil. One thing too by using a hairdryer rather then a heat gun they blow harder which with the alcohol mixer, airflow is the trick. It seems like with more air blowing on the dye with the alcohol the faster it drys too.

With the prices of gas going down we can also get a little leeway on being able to run a vehicle with the heat on. If you can, run your vehicles when doing your repairs with the heat blasted. This will not only help warm the inside up but will also save the battery and blow a few of the lot rot cobweb’s that occur when some of the lot cars sit. It’s still a waste of gas but when you have a cold day and a repair is needed to be made then a warm car can improve the result immensely.

Well I hope all is well out there in your automotive world. Stay warm and make sure to keep your water based dyes warm too. Frozen dyes are ruined dyes.

Talk to you soon,

Mike “TIG”

I get into so many autos that the buttons on the radio are peeling off and what your left with are white buttons that just look awful. At night it can be at the least distracting. Have you seen one of those? Well Viper Products has done it again and has come up with a fix for those peeling buttons. Its a two part film. A translucent film and a black film with cut outs for the lettering. All you do is sand the peeling radio button to give you a smooth surface to put the film onto. Prep, then lay the film over the radio button and heat it to reform the coating to button. The lights from the radio still shine through the lettering and the finished product looks, as Viper Products always does, factory. I’m waiting on a video that I can put on here for all to see, but I just couldn’t wait to tell you all about it until then. You can view the video here – Viper Products – and don’t forget your discount code when you order – IG1100 – Guys you just can’t go wrong with this one. Like I said I see a lot of vehicles with the radio buttons peeling and I get a lot of requests to fix them. Up until now I’ve had to tell them to replace the radio, or try to buy new knobs, or just live with it. I’ve even dyed a few of them to to cover up the ugly, but the letters are gone and they won’t light up. So this system is a must add to your automotive interior repair business. Some of those radio’s can get pretty pricey, so being able to fix the peeling radio buttons without having to replace the radio can be a huge asset to your business and your customers. Go check the video out and come back and shoot me a comment on what you think of How To Fix Radio Buttons Peeling.

I got into a 2007 Chevy Avalanche today at one of my dealers to clean and repair the drivers seat. When I got done with the seat and was wiping up some dirt on the carpet, I happened to look up and directly under the steering column on the dash panel were 2 screw holes in the dash from a trailer brake that had been removed, I about choked. This truck didn’t have but maybe 30k miles on it and screws had already been put in the dash, I couldn’t believe it. There has got to be a better place to mount those things, but whats done was done and now I had to fix it.

This repair is not that hard to do, and can really make a difference in the appearance of an automobile. Automotive plastic no matter where it is in the vehicle can be repaired the same way, this repair works for all screw holes and small holes as well. Now the holes say the size of pencil eraser are about the biggest you can go with this one. The holes you see where a toggle switch has been are really too big for this fix.

First and foremost is getting rid of the burr’s and raised area left from the removal of the screw. Most of the time the holes have not been pre-drilled so there’s a raised portion around the holes and burrs left from the threads of the screw as it is screwed into the plastic. To remove this and make the holes level you will need to trim this off. The way I do this is with a brand new razor blade. I use a new one because you will need a very sharp edge to cut the plastic, and not your fingers. Take your razor blade and lay it flat up against the plastic piece and push it through the plastic that is raised up, making the screw hole level with the rest of the area.

Here’s the fix… Its a product you’ve seen on TV called Mighty Putty, you’ve probably seen it, it’s great! Just slice a small amount off knead it into a ball to get the two parts combined, tear a small amount off then push it into the screw hole. Now leave a little bit above the hole, don’t push it all the way through, basically a little glob on top. Grab your 240 grit sandpaper and sand lightly over the glob until it’s level, finishing with a finer grit like 400 or 600. You have to kinda work fast this stuff sets up pretty quick. Inspect the hole and see if it’s all filled in, if not pinch a little more off and push into the hole, sand and inspect. If it’s level and all filled in, your done filling and now it’s time to clean the area thoroughly with your prepping solution.

Sometimes depending on the size of the screw hole and where it’s at, you may need to texture the area a little. Now I use the heavy body water based spray grain for dashes and door panels. I do it the old fashioned way with a mouth atomizer, I have a little more control with it that way. If you have a smooth piece of plastic, then no need for the texture. Sometimes you may need to apply a surface primer to help fill in the small imperfections on the smooth plastics.

Lastly, apply your grip base then dye the area to match with your water based dyes and then topcoat with the appropriate sheen of topcoat.

When your done the screw holes in the plastic should be gone and look at the difference it makes on the appearance of the automobile, wow.

This fix is a great way to eliminate those unsightly screw holes in automotive plastic dashes and plastic trim panels. As far as that 2007 Chevy Avalanche it turned out pretty good, you could still see the areas just a little, the grain in those dashes are pretty hard to imitate, but it still looked better then two big holes sitting there staring at you on pretty much a new vehicle.

ITW #44229 2OZ Repair Epoxy Putty 2 OZ, Magnum Plastic/Marine & Fiberglass Repair Epoxy Putty, 15 Minute Set Time, 1,500 PSI Bond Strength , Adheres Above Or Below Waterline, Fresh Or Saltwater Application, Dries White, Will Not Shrink And Is Rustproof, Uses Include Plastic, Fiberglass, Plastic, PVC Pipe. *Manufacturer: ITW CONSUMER *Model number: 44229 *UPC Code: 078727442298 *Length: 2.88 *Width: 1.25 *Height: 7.88

Mighty Putty As Seen On TV Mighty putty bonds to almost any surface Easy to use epoxy resin will fix fill and seal almost anything Can be painted sanded machined tapped or drilled when fully cured Easy to use instructions included 3 tubes

As I was sitting there on the dock this weekend I couldn’t help to think of what I was going to write this week. I started thinking of some jobs that have been somewhat of booger for me, and I couldn’t help to think of the fist time I painted silver plastic trim. You know where the paint rubs off or scratches off and leaves you the black plastic underneath.

It was on a Mitsubishi Eclipse door trim. I freaked out, and the reason being is that I mixed all my paints by eye and I remembered with exterior paints how many different shades you got with metallics, a bazillion…. The only shade of metallic I had on board was straight silver, gold, and pearl. Man….I thought how am I going to get this to look right. So off to mixing I went…. By looking at the plastic trim piece, it was silver metallic, but with a brownish gold look to it, and darker then straight silver. I started with silver, added a little brown, then a drop or two of black to darken it, and a little yellow oxide to give it that yellowish gold look.

When mixing metallics, one thing to keep in mind is using the color white, if you need it lighter, then try adding a little pearl white or more silver if you added to much black or if it’s to dark. The reason, you will milk it out and lose your metallic look. White is just not good with silver, but there are cases where you will use it, just add a little at a time.

Now with testing metallic paint you can’t just dab a little and dry to see if your colors right. Reason being is that the metallic flake in the paint will lay flat and show darker then it really is, what you want is the metallics to stand up and sparkle. So the only way to check your color is to spray it. Spray a little spot, light coats, and see if it disappears against the color your going for, if it does then your there. You can almost see if your ok by just looking at your mixer, but by spraying a little you’ll be for sure.

Prepping the area is pretty simple, but there are some do’s and don’ts . Most of the plastic trim, I’ve found, don’t have a large amount of dye on them. Now, I call it dye because you use your vinyl dye to paint the plastic, so I’ll probably go back and forth calling it dye and paint. Anyways, if you take a scotch brite pad and your prepping solution, ( alcohol, acetone, THP substitute, ammonia, and water ), and spray the plastic trim piece and scrub, most if not all the paint will come off, and at the same time your scuffing the plastic for the dye. You can strip it all off or leave a little depending on the amount of paint missing, the prepping solution works a lot like Sem Sand Free in that it feathers the edge. But if you need your Sem Sand Free then go for it, it works on the smaller stuff just as good ( like just a scratch or something ). Don’t use sandpaper with a heavier grit then say 400, or you will leave sanding marks that will show up in your finished product. If you have a scratch thats needing filled or just sanded out, you can use a heavier grit but always finish with a finer grit to remove the marks. Wipe it clean, with a lint free towel so to not get fuzzies in your job.

Once prepped, mask the area off, apply your grip base or sticky primer, then spray. Now with spraying metallic paint, or dye, you always use light coats and don’t hold your gun too close or in one spot for too long. You will get what they call modeling your paint. What this is, is a dark shadow in the paint. What causes this is the metallic flakes laying flat and showing you a dark shadow in your paint. So light even coats, and dry between. This will give you the effect you need and make the finished product look like it’s supposed to.

Topcoats are another thing too. When your done your work will have either a glossy finish or a mat finish, look around the vehicle to see if you need either or. Always topcoat your work, but make sure you get the right sheen. I’ve noticed both, so check it out, if you spray it with mat and it’s supposed to be glossy it will show and won’t match the rest of the vehicle.

That Mitsubishi Eclipse by the way, turned out really good and yours will too with a little practice and know how. I hope I gave you the know how on painting plastic silver, now it’s up to you for the practice.

Talk to ya soon – Mike “TIG”

Well I said in my last post that I would give you guys a post on my daily activities, and here’s the first. Thought I’d share a little of what I do on a daily basis, to let you all know in a little more detail of the repairs I do on a daily basis. The way I’m gonna try to do this is to not just list the vehicles I worked on and tell you what I fixed and so on, but I’m gonna pick a couple that either gave me fits or I feel would be a good one to talk about. Some will be long and some short, but I hope to give you a lot of info.

As you see the title of this post is GMC Yukon Denali Console Lids, this is one I run across pretty much on a daily basis and one that can be a booger to fix. I thought today this would be a good one since I worked on 2 of them just today.

The console lids peel ! The dye they use from the factory is I feel just a little to delicate to be using for a console lid, but never the less, they are repairable with the right dye and the right know how.

My pictures might not be the best, due to the fact I’m using my phone and the lighting is not the best, but you can get a general idea of what I’m doing.

These are before and after shots of the GMC Yukon Denali console lids that I have repaired. If you can see in the first shot the areas around the lids and just above the larger lid there are areas where the dye has peeled off. Its exposed the black plastic underneath and just looks, well bad.

I first clean the area really well with my prepping solution and scotch brite pad, now this is just a preliminary clean to get all the grime and silicone off so the tape will stick. Now I use the green tape, as you can see, it seems to stick better then regular masking tape, it’s got more sticky to it. I also use the 2″ wide tape, it’s a little harder to handle but I like it because it’s wide and I don’t have to use paper. ( 3M 2″ GREEN MASKING TAPE )

I mask off the wood grain trim and the CD player, this ensures my job will look tip top when I’m done. Now depending on how well your gun control is will depend on whether you need more then just tape. You can cover the seats with towels ect.

Once the area is masked off, I start my prep. I take my prepping solution and my scotch brite pad and clean and scuff the whole console area. The areas where the peeling is I will try to peel some of the areas off with my scotch brite pad so to give it kinda a strait line, not just a bunch of chunks out of the dye, this is a prelim to my next step. Wipe it down or blow it out good, and don’t get the flakes from the console area on the seats, it will stick if it drys on there.

Now here is a crucial step and it can be a pain in the butt if you use too much or the dye doesn’t cooperate. Take a strip of 400 grit sandpaper, fold it in thirds, and grab your Sems Sand Free ( Sand Free – Aerosol ). This is the only way to get the edges of the dye to feather. If you were to just use sandpaper, the dye would just peel and keep peeling, not giving you a good smooth edge which will show if you don’t use this step.

Spray an end of the sandpaper and sand the areas where the peeling is. You will see the edge of the peel melt and start to smear around. Sand until it is dry and starts to roll up, lighten up on the sanding and stop. Look at the area and see if it’s smooth, if not repeat. Now heres the tricky part, if you use to much of the Sems Sand Free the dye will start to pucker and then you have a larger area to fix. So don’t just go hog wild, this is a pretty delicate sanding trick, just take your time and let the chemical flash out before you apply any more. Sand all the areas that have peeling going on, but don’t sand the rest of the area with the Sems, you can I guess but there really no need to and you might get to much chemical in one spot and create more work, the next step will scuff the other areas for dye.

Next take your scotch brite pad and dry sand the rest of the console area, this will scuff the area for dye and remove any ruff areas from the Sems.

Alright, now you need to clean the area again to get all the sanding bits away and so you have a good clean surface for the dye. Wipe the area down with a lint free towel and your prepping solution sprayed on the towel, this will remove any fingerprints, and the rest of the grime.

If you use a plastic primer, apply it now. I usually use a wet paper towel to apply my primer. I use a grip base, which is a water based sticky primer. This gives the water based dye a glue like substance to adhere to and helps with oil migration from hands. Basically makes the dye stick.

It’s time for your water based dye. I use water based because it’s water based they use from the factory. Remember me talking about using too much chemical and the dye puckers, well thats what will happen if you use a solvent based dye, so only water based, no rattle cans.

I mix my dye by eye, and I came up with a little formula that works pretty good. I mix my dye to match the darker gray dash, then add silver. It matches really good, sometimes I have to tweak a little with some yellow oxide and white, but normally not. Don’t forget your crosslinker and make sure your strain your dye.

Spay about 3 coats of dye, drying in between. Usually the areas that were peeling will disappear pretty quickly, but I try to put about 3 coats just to be safe. Sometimes around the areas that had the damage I will turn the air down on my gun so that little droplets of dye come out, this gives it a little texture and helps to hide the damage.

Finally, topcoat with a low gloss topcoat with a little slip additive added to it to give you a soft feel to the finished product. Peel your tape off, and there you go a new console, if you did it right.

All I can say is that this is a tricky little repair, but if you take your time and pay attention, you will have a new console when your done, and one that will last.

If you’ve got any questions don’t hesitate to comment or join my forum and post it there. Talk to ya soon

Mike ” TIG”

Due to the exposer to old mother nature, these materials become dried out and crack over time leaving you with a crack in your dash. Left unattended this small crack can and will get larger.

There are measures that can be taken to prevent the dash from getting cracked in the first place. Now I know your dash is already cracked and your wanting to know how to fix it, but this will prevent further cracks and keep your car cooler and looking nicer, and well…. for further reference.

One way to prevent this is to use a sunshade. This will not only protect your automotive dash from the sun but also keep your vehicle cooler keeping the plastic pieces cooler and less likely to warp and then crack.

Another way to prevent the materials from drying on your dash is to condition them with a good vinyl conditioner-protectant. Now I know I’ve always said to not put the slimy stuff on your interior pieces and parts … But if your vehicle is exposed to the sun on a constant basis, then I would recommend you use a vinyl conditioner. Now I’m not going to say that any old vinyl conditioner will work, because it won’t. Tire shine is not vinyl conditioner! This is probably one of the biggest mistakes made, and I do a lot of repair because of it. Tire shine contains solvents, which as you know from previous articles, it doesn’t mix well with the water based dyes being used on todays cars. What it does is lifts the dye from the surface, causing it to peel. So no tire shine…What I recommend to my customers is a product made from a leather conditioning producer that I feel from some of the research I’ve done is safe and should work very well, it’s made by Lexol and it’s called Vinylex. Designed by the guys that really know their stuff when it comes to interior conditioning and protecting.

The last and final tip to keeping your automotive interior, including your dash, looking it’s best and lasting longer is window tint. Now in some states you need to be careful with the tinting laws to make sure you don’t get it too dark, plus you need to think of your safety too. I have tint on our family Tahoe and I kinda wish I would have gone a little lighter, at night it’s really hard to see, my Tahoe stays nice and cool, but it’s a pain in the butt at night. I have to roll the window down sometimes just to see. So keep it light and you will be impressed with the results, plus it looks cool.

Now on with the fix for that crack in your dash.

Depending on where the crack is and how big it is will depend on how to fix it and how expensive the repair will be. If the crack is bigger then 2″-3″ and curled up on the edges, the repair will probably not look that great. There is a limit to the size of crack that can be repaired, too big and it probably won’t hold and will look like crap. If the crack is too big, replace the dash pad, don’t try to fix it. Another thing is location, if the crack is up close to the windshield then it’s almost impossible to do a repair without removing the windshield, which can be costly. So with that said you be the judge.

The first thing I do before I start any repair is to mix my color, this insures that at least the color will be right.

Next I inspect the crack in the dash, if the edges are curled up then you will need to trim that off with a razor blade or Xacto knife. The goal here is to get the area as level as you can. Now when doing so cut at a 45 degree angle and don’t bring the ends to a point, what I mean by this is trim all the way around the crack rounding off the ends of the crack, this will insure that the crack will stop and not crack further after your repair.

Of course your next step is prepping the repair area, use your prep solution with a scotch brite pad and clean the area thoroughly. You might need to clean the entire dash depending on where and how large the crack is.

Now it’s time to determine what fix you going to use.

If the crack is smaller then an 1/2″ I usually grab the super glue and do a super glue repair. I do this by spreading the glue in the crack then sanding it smooth with a 240 grit sandpaper, texture with your water based spray grain, then dye.

But there are times when your vinyl repair compound will need to be used, after all this is vinyl. The low cure usually works best because high heat tends to warp the repair area. This is where your patience comes in when doing your repairs. Thin layers of compound work best, curing and dying between coats until the area is level and smooth. You can texture while layering your compound with your grain pads. One little trick I use to help level the repair when using a grain pad is a little rubber squeegee about 3″x5″, it’s what body shops use to squeegee the water off the painted surface when they wet sand. This little thing works great, when you use your hand to imprint your grain into your repair, your hand kinda molds around the area and doesn’t leave a level area but with the rubber squeegee it gives you a little more backing when you go to imprint. Now graining your repair can be tricky, the low cure compound doesn’t grain that well, but if all else fails make sure the repair is level, this is your best hide. If that is achieved then texture with your spray grain.

One last trick up my sleeve is the use of a great product from Urethane Supply Co. This is a two part epoxy like substance that is specifically designed for padded dashes and the name says it all, Padded Dash Filler.
This stuff is the bomb, when it comes to dash repair. Mixes like Bondo and is even applied like bondo, but its flexible. It’s just what the doctor ordered when it comes to dash repair. If the crack is larger then 1″ this is the stuff to use.

Now this product will require you to trim the area and then sand around the area about 1″ to 2″ out with a heavier grit sandpaper like a 180 grit, this gives it something to bite too. Trim down into the foam a little to, so that you make like a little groove for the compound to lay in.

Mix your compound on a small piece of tile, I like using small tile pieces, they clean up easily and are easier to hold when mixing and applying. Now when you get the product they send you the red catalyst, try the blue, it seems to set up a little quicker. The blue you can get at any automotive parts shop. But the red works just as good just takes it a little longer, time is money in my business.

Apply your compound liberally over the repair area, don’t worry about getting your first coat really smooth, all you need is to get it covered, you’ll be sanding it smooth later. Let it set up for a while, depending on the weather will depend on how long this stuff takes. You can speed it up a little with a heat gun but don’t melt it just give it a little boost.

Once hardened start sanding, I usually start with a 180 grit to knock off the big chunks then progressively move my way up to a finer grit like 240 and then to 400.

One coat won’t be sufficient, I promise, this is another layer thing. Sanding between coats. Each coat you apply you will need to make smoother. Again what your trying to achieve is a smooth level repair.

After all is smooth and level, grain with a spray grain then dye.

As far as texture goes, I use two types of spray grain. One is a water based spray grain and the other is Sems Texture Coat. In fact the Sems Texture Coat almost matches the some of the Pontiac dashes to a tee. Now the Sems Texture coat is a solvent based, but I haven’t had a problem with it peeling up against the water based dyes on the dash, so kudos to Sems.

One other trick I have found with the the Sems Texture Coat is after sprayed if you let it flash out a little but not dry completely, you can take your grain pad and imprint your grain into the texture coat, pretty cool huh.

Dash repair is an art and a craft, just like all automotive interior repairs. If the steps are followed right and patience is used in your repairs you success will be good.

Hope this helps in your dash repair adventure. One thing to always keep in mind is to keep your repair as level as possible, this is your best hide.