Can my dash leather be stretched back into place?

Can be stretched:: no
New leather required: yes.

 

Disagree

Mine looked about like that.

They stretched/reglued it.

 

The question is whether or not it can be done without remove the dashboard.

If you must remove the dashboard, makes little sense to keep the old leather which will eventually shrink elsewhere.

 

Can the shrinkage be prevented by periodic application of leather food?

 

give craig a call at:

Cooks Upholstery, Redwood City specializes in seat heater & leather seating, convertible top repair, convertable electric top repair, sun roof repair, body seal repair, interior car door, paint repair, carpet stains, and carpet damage.

they do stuff for FoSV

top notch/very reasonable

even if not local…can answer your questions given your photo

 

drjan

my impression is the best way to minimize chance of shrinkage is minimize heat/sunlight

always use sunshade/crack windows when parking in sun

thinks it is primarily two issues….iirc….they use heat labile glue product at factory…and collagen (in leather) when heated undergoes change in structure causing fibrils to shrink/shorten

 

So applying "products" will not help?
They all make promises, but as it is a laborious (for lazy me, anyway) and messy process, I would like to know if it is effective.
I do put up a screen to protect the dashboards in all my cars, but that does not stop the heat.
Here where the sun in shining hot every day I have seen some pretty spectaculary cracked dashboards, both plastic and leather.

 

Leather generally shrinks in three places: dash, parcel shelf and headliner. I was able to have my headliner reglued, but I had to replace the leather on the rear parcel shelf. Ironically, the dash leather is fine, but I always use sunshields front and back and park in the shade or under cover when I can.

 

Get ceramic carbon tint for your windows. I did and the difference is amazing. No heat is transferred through the glass to the dash. May not help with this problem but will save you headaches in the future and keep your leather from fading.

 

+1

 

Yes....i also got dark window tinting.....except for the windscreen where i got a clear 99% ultra violet block.

 

No way to stretch that area without removing the dash (not trivial even with Soren's very seriously excellent step-by-step). Also, if you could stretch that little section you will likely put a wave in the seam line just above the stretched area--so you would have to do it all the way across to keep it even). When we worked on the rear brake light holder, which was horrible, we were astonished to see how little stretch was available in the original leather. Zero! We ended up just buying a nice hide and recovering the whole thing. Pretty straightforward kitchen counter project and the car smells even better (We found some old stock Connelly leather--great smelling stuff. I wish I had Connelly cologne!).

Anyhow, the best thing to do is get the dash out and send the whole thing (including the instrument binnacle) to someplace that knows this road (e.g. the guy in Redwood City, CA). The fact is if that corner has started to pull it's all on its way. After the fix, whatever it's is, use a windshield cover to keep the sun off the dash. Or have the windows coated which takes the teeth out of the sun's rays. You might also consider getting it covered in Alcatara. It's not stock on the older cars but your shrinking issues will be over as it's extremely stable dimensionally.

 

Topic Bump.

I've got slight shrinkage just beginning on my 458. Tried to call Cooks but no luck....

Anyone else in the Bay Area done a glue/stretch job? Want to do it before it gets worse.

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I’ve done this with my 355
Find a good match with a leather swatch
Cut it and wedge it into place
Not a primary fix but you won’t be able to notice the pull

 

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/dash-repair-project-fingers-crossed.662531/#post-148644275