Check it out let me know what you guys think. It's dark out and raining so you can't get a good look at it at all, but I've wrapped the center console and the part around the shift boot in black suede.

The process was to create a complete enclosed frame from MDF to fit the 5.2" garmin that I bought. Then we fiberglassed the frame to make a box. Then we bondo'd it to give it a smoother shape. Finally, we took the dash out, removed my non-nav cubby from my '05 enthusiast, mounted the garmin box where the cubby hole was, and use silicon to adhere the box to the dash. Then just using a wet finger, I smoothed out the edges and let it dry creating the perfect edges to wrap in suede. That's the gist. There's a lot more that went into it, but you get the idea.

The photos make it out to look purple or something but thats because of the flash and night time. Real light it's dark black. Suede roof liner and inside pillars will soon come to match. Also, the gauges will have black paint and clearcoat to match the frame of the garmin.

 

forgot the mention, any wrinkles and loose looking edges are because I had to put the car back together to get it out of my girlfriends driveway and come home from thanksgiving break. Once I paint the gauges everything will get re-pulled taught so everything will look perfect.

 

good work i was hoping you werent planning on leaving the edgesl ike that lol. Looks good though man i like it.

 

thanks man. It was my first time using MDF, fiberglass, bondo, silicone, and suede so I'm pretty d@mn happy haha

 

Looks almost good...that material doesn't really flow much.

 

I guess it's hard to get the perspective from those photos. If it stops rainin tomorrow I'll take some pictures from outside the car. Also, the roof liner and the inside pillars will be done in the same black suede so the car will actually be two-toned. In person the suede and the dash are the same color..

 

Look forward to seeing the finished product. I sueded my headliner so I know how much of a PITA suede can be to work with.

 

got any tips on doing the headliner? How did you pop off the thing for the sunglasses too?

 

I was going to say that it didnt look too good with the edges like that. Anyway how do you adhere the suede to it? Glue im guessing? Where did you get the suede?

 

yeah 3m super 77 for the front of the dash pieces. Behind the dash the suede is pulled over where any clips or screws might go to hold it in place, and then more 3m super 77 around the edges. Once I have time to put it back in a garage I'll take the dash out and get the edges all cleaned up.

The suede came from jo ann fabrics. Alcantara was quoted to me at $105/yard...real suede was $19.99/yard. Any fabric shop should carry real suede. This coming weekend I'm putting in new door speakers and the roof lining, so I will get more photos of what the dash looks like after it's complete.

 

Nice slippers....are your toenails painted??

 

haha yeah you like that? they are my gf's cheetah print ones. I was wondering if anyone was gunna spot those bad boys.

 

Haha it was a pain in the a$$ Once you get the actual headliner loose, you unplug a cord that connects to the map lights and then pull the whole thing out of the back. You will then see how to get the sunglass holder out.

Here is a picture of the finished product cept the sun visors (sorry to threadjack!)

 

damn that **** is ugly

 

IDK I like it and I dont like it.

 

+111111111111111111111

 

What did you cut the suede with? An axe?

 

I dont know how your going to make that look good with how the suede was cut but post pics when your done and prove us wrong. Good Luck