Anyone ever bought a dash kit?

natebood · 04-29-06, 12:28

I've been thinking about getting a dash kit for my Galant to dress up the interior a little bit, but wanted to get some opinions on them first. Anyone ever purchased one? Any problems with installation/long term? How were they applied, 3M double sided tape or some sort of adhesive? If I were to get one it'd probably be an aluminum or billet material. I ordered some samples of the materials so that will also be a determining factor. Any help is greatly appreciated.

natebood · 04-29-06, 06:25

Nobody? There has to be someone out there that's purchased/used one....

JDookie · 04-29-06, 07:12

A few years ago I purchased a woodgrain interior kit for my father to put in his 2003 F150. I'm not a big fan of these, and would never do it to *my* vehichle, but he loved it. Basically, the little panels went around the gauge cluster, A/C vents, radio bezel, window switch panels, etc. It placed the identical amount of "wood" trim that you would see if it came from the factory with it, like the Lariat pickups sometimes do. The kit came from my local truck accessory store, and the price varied as per the amount of pieces came in it. Installation was simple. Each panel was stuck on with the provided double stick tape, and just clean the surfaces with alcohol prior to installation.....done.

I'm sure there are lot of different versions of this type of product, so be sure to do your research when looking at the different ones.

Here's a pic of one panel in my father's truck:

natebood · 04-29-06, 07:18

JDookie,

Thanks for the helpful reply. Does your father still have the truck? Were there any long-term effects? (coming unadhered, etc.) The interior of my car is rather cheap looking and thought this might be a nice touch to make it look a little bit nicer. I've found one picture with a wood grain pic of it on a similar Galant, but I'd prefer an aluminum or satin nickel finish. Here's the pic I'm referring to if anyone wants to see, but there's a few pieces to that kit i'm not thrilled about:

LINK

Side note, they offer a molded kit and a "flat" kit. By the looks of the kit in the link I posted, it appears to be a flat kit and doesn't look all that great as I would imagine.

JDookie · 04-29-06, 07:34

No, he doesn't have the truck anymore. He actually only had it for about a year before selling it for his current one. Regardless, even if the tape eventually started to let go, all you would have to do is remove the loose panel, re-prep and re-tape it back on.

If it were me, I'd definitely go with something that uses tape, and not glue. If you ever change your mine, you can always remove tape, but if it glues on, you'll have to rebuy your interior panels.

The kit in the link you provided looks pretty nice to me, but I am confused when you say flat vs. molded.

natebood · 04-29-06, 07:45

As far as flat and molded go this is what I was able to pull up:

http://www.wooddashexperts.com/custo...Dash-Kits.html

Just in case you'd like to know. You've been very helpful. Thanks again.

JDookie · 04-29-06, 07:51

Ahhh, okay. I see what you mean now. I think it depends on the style of your interior as to which type of kit to get. When looking at the truck in the pic I posted, it obviously had a "molded" type of look to it already, so by using a molded trim kit, it kind of went with the flow.

I think the car they used as an example for the flat kit, looks great, and if they would put a molded kit in that same car it might look a little funny.

All comes down to preference. Maybe take some pics of your interior, post them, and see what kind of opinions you get.

No need to thank me. We're all hear to learn from each other, and have good conversation, which is exactly what you and I are doing right now. I'm just happy I could be of some help.

natebood · 04-29-06, 08:20

The only thing I'm worried about with the flat kit is in some of those pics...it doesn't fully cover the piece it attaches to so the original sides show. Hard to notice though. I was able to find a few molded kit pictures with the material I'm looking at, but I wish they were larger in size.

toyota2 · 05-01-06, 05:36

I have never used a dash kit but I hear good things about the stuff this guy(www.burtmanindustries.com) sells. I have never ordered from him so I personally cannot say, but I hear he has great customer service. He always gets good reviews from some of the other forums I go to.

Hope this helps even though I cant answer you question.
Shawn

Danase · 05-01-06, 05:39

The ones I have seen always look cheap.

bad venge · 05-17-06, 12:39

I got a torasport one in carbon fiber installed in 98 still perfect .... Follow instructions ... Cleaning is the key to get it to adhere well ....I used 3M adhesive remover and a white scotchbrite pad to scrub the entire install area .... Then used 3M adhesion promoter to wipe down the area,then peeled the backing and carefully applied