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The Dash of the Toyota Supra MKIV is known for its original soft paint to be very scratch-sensitive. No wonder it does not look good over the years.

New Dash elements have become rare and not necessarily cheaper and if you can buy some, you would rather put them aside for "good" times and use them less for everyday life.

As once a painter said: "The project stands and falls with the preparation". It is not only important to prepare everything thoroughly, but also to use the right materials.

Expansion of the Dash elements

The expansion of the Dash elements is relatively simple and many have done this already zubor several times and have accidentally made one or the other new scratch in the soft paint.

If all elements are out, then the controls on the back must be removed. The ventilation and some switches are clipped, other elements such as the air conditioning control panel are simply screwed. The dimmer for the dash lighting must simply be pulled out in front, behind it hides a mother screw which fixes the element.

preparation

When removing the old soft paint, unfortunately, a lot of time and patience must be brought. Everything really has to be scratched down to the actual plastic. Forget the easy grinding away of the soft paint. As faster and more practical here is a classic solvent / thinner with sandpaper has proven. It is also helpful to use a piece of plastic as a scratch. This leaves less traces in the plastic.

Once you've made it, the plastic parts are best sanded rough with a 400 grit sandpaper and then cleaned with a silicone remover to keep it free of dust and grease. It is best to use rubber gloves as well.

If you have rough cracks or even cuts in Dash, you can of course close them. Resin or, as I have used it, a plastic filler from Presto , which is available in every hardware store.

In my case, I have wanted to close a whole nick of a Zeitronix wideband track then attached there.

As a solid surface, a flexible plastic disc on the back was used and glued. Then the front was applied flush with the plastic filler compound. The mass dries within 15 minutes and can then be sanded smooth with sandpaper. Do this all the time until all bumps are removed.




Once you have completed this preparation and cleaned all elements free of dust and grease with the silicone remover, the bonding agent can be applied. This is available as a spray can at any auto accessory store such as WM. The application is also well described on the can: It is sprayed fine. After about 30 minutes, the filler can then be applied and, after a drying time of about 60 minutes, smoothed again if necessary. The filler closes even more small cracks, but no bumps. This can also be applied several times.

As always very important: Before every new spray, always clean everything free of dust and grease.




paint

Of course you can use a paint from the spray can, but with the number of dash elements, you will not be able to get along with a single can and the quality, and longevity of the applied paint in cold and sunlight is set there.

In this case, the paint was mixed and applied with an airbrush system (including compressor). Really good and used devices are already around the 80 € on eBay classifieds and you will certainly synonymous for other small projects (such as small paint repairs) can use.


The paint is mixed together with a hardener and acrylic paint at a mixing ratio of 4: 1: 1. For mixing, there are practical disposable Becker to get the exact mixing ratio. This varies with the different paint manufacturer, so you have to ask first. The color " signal black matt " was used, which comes quite close to the original paint.


The hardener becomes active after only 2 hours, so you should always mix the paint right before painting. To dry, you put the things best for a night in a quiet place.

Matt clearcoat? Dipping?

In fact, I'm undecided whether to apply a clear coat afterwards, but I'll probably leave it that way for now. There are equally good experiences of other users with "dipping". For this one or the other may write something about his experience.

The result:




A comparison with the still unprocessed power window control. With signal black, the color is quite well hit.



Feedback is welcome. What are your experiences in restoring your Dashes?