DASH Pads,,,,,,,,,...............

i dont even have 1 my looked like it was set on fire so i threw it away

 

Give me time,,, We are gonna help you make that car smoken sweet,,

 

that cap is crap my friend put one on his and within 6 months it had 2 cracks

 

Prepping the dash and NOT glueing the cap down is the key to getting it to last. My cap is over 13 years old and still looks great.

 

Yeah, I don't see how the dash pad caps would ever crack. They are made of injection molded plastic. They are hard, yet somewhat flexible. They come with silicone adhesive to mount them so the adhesive lets the pad underneath continue to expand and contract with the temperature without affecting the cap. Perhaps if someone used some other kind of adhesive to glue the cap on or something, but otherwise, the caps are actually superior in durability to the OEM dashpads. As most everyone can attest to, the factory pads (especially colored pads) almost always fade, becoming not only discolored, but the material becomes brittle and damaged to the point where you can't even re-paint or re-dye them because the discolored portion becomes a different texture and is still visible even after re-coloring. Of course, most of them crack way before then. Switching to a good original pad, which are getting harder and harder to find, is alot of trouble, especially in a car equipped with air conditioning, and the original pad will be subject to cracking eventually, just like the one its replacing.

Many Maverick enthusiats restore their cars for occasional use and the car sits in a garage with a fairly constant temperature, then the car comes out on a nice day and goes to a show field where it sits in the 80-90 degree sun. This drastic change in temperature causes the pad to expand. Most people clean their pads with Armoral or other products which can clog the pores of the vinyl on original pads. If the pad can't "breathe," it can't expand and contract properly, so it cracks. These same circumstances occur on a bigger scale on cars used everyday. Constant exposure to the sun, changes in temperature, and a buildup of cleaning products cause original pads to crack. The plastic dash pad caps aren't nearly as succeptable to these things.

If a brand new dashpad can be made, then you could figure it would have an entirely new life cycle and should last several years just like original pads did. The plastic caps still have their place, though, and when installed correctly should last for years, and you should barely be able to tell they are not factory. I have run them on a couple of my own cars, including the 70 Maverick that was featured in the May 2000 issue of Mustang & Fords magazine. I don't think many people ever noticed it wasn't a real pad.

It would be nice to have a "real" reproduction pad available though, so good luck to Joe.

 

My thoughts exactly. I think a cap would be nice as a protector of an unmolested and uncracked dash pad. If they had the caps in 1970, many, many pads would be like new still. I'm going for it. Joe, count me in. I don't even want a good original when I can get brand new for a comparable price. I'll settle for black but what I really need is ginger.

 

You got it,,,,:bananaman

 

Looks like I'll need a blue one first for my Sprint, then shortly afterwards a black one. Better get busy!

 

what i really need is Mary Ann!!!

......

 

... Not always do we think alike .

 

Dont want to hijack,, but of the 5 mavs I own, 3 are black pads and uncracked. My 71 is blue and split to hell, my 77 is green and also uncracked. But the killer is my junk stallion with its black pad, and this car has sat outside for 20 plus years and is totally trashed. Dash pad is perfect. My 71 is from Idaho and I know it is dry out there. I dont care what colors are repopped, I have no problem with dying them.
Dan

 

dash pads

Howdy. The black, blue, and tan sound just right. Tan is easy to dye any color.
In regards to the plastic centre emblem in the 71-72 grilles, I have 2- 3 brand new emblems. Joe if you require 1 , PM me your address and I will send you 1 via courier. If I do not hear from Joe in the next couple weeks, I will sell the emblems I have. I will verify the quantity that I have. TTFN. RON

 

I dont think we are going to need the old dashpad cores,,,,I will check and make sure.

 

According to a previous owner, the black dash pad in my '74 Grabber has been cracked since 1985! It was originally out of a '70. He said the original (avocado green) dash pad was perfect, he bent in in half and trashed it when he swapped the green interior out for black , no one wanted a puke green dash pad for a Maverick in 1984.

 

...and no one wants one for a maverick in 2007 either...

...JFF...