Dash Rewrap

Tell me about it. My 612 back in March, 2022. I also had to have the rear shelf re-done.

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OMG! These are painful to look at - I hope your cars are/ were fully restored to their full beauty. Please post the “after” photos!

 

I know what you mean I had to recover the dash on my Daily 2013 California .. and decided to switch it to couio . Total time to get it back was over 2 months and the repair had to be done 2 times as the first time the job was rejected by the Dealer... but it sure looks great now.. worth it to me .. That total service call was 28k of which 13 was the dash and the rest was minor stuff I decided to fix while I was waiting..

 

Whoa…

 

I feel you. I had my dash redone about 3 years ago and it looked like that for a month or so. To make it worse, the defroster vents are plastic. They get sticky AND tend to break off the tips. When I did my dash getting the defroster vents took forever. I think it is better now, no idea why, but long term they will probably be an issue.

 

George can you just unscrew the old ones and put new ones in or is it a big job? Mine are curled at the ends.

 

You can BUT, the screws are only accessible when the dash is out.

 

OK, here are some after pics. My job was particularly difficult. Most 612's had a black leather dash which was different from the color leather on the seats and doors. In my case all the leather was the same color, so the new leather had to match the existing leather on the doors and seats. In some pics you can see the glove compartment and door leather.

The guy who did the job used to do leather for Rolls Royce in England. He did an excellent job. In fact when the new leather came in,
he noticed a very slight difference in color. He called me to come in to look at it in case I wasn't satisfied. I'll tell you I had to look real hard to discern any difference, and who knows if the company they used sent new leather if it would be any better, or even worse.

And as George noted with Ferrari, this guy did not spare any leather. I don't expect to be doing this again!

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They do that intentionally. You will not stop the leather from shrinking if you insist on parking the car in the sun. On TRs the leather was glued and stapled. When it shrank it crushed the yellow material and fiberglass the dash structure was made of like a beer can. Then there was nothing to recover.

Our TRs dash leather is perfect. Still looks new. The car is never parked outdoors without a windshield cover in place and a window cracked open.

 

Brian is right about the leather shrinking. It did shrink on my dash, but the problem on the rear deck was not shrinkage, but rippling of the leather. Apparently there was enough that it did not pull away from the edges, but it just didn't look good.

It is great if you can never park your car under the sun, and I use this cover when I can (at the FCA Annual in Scottsdale 2019), but I can't put it on when I'm driving for hours on the roads.

After I had the leather redone, I had a company install a clear window film that is supposed to block UV rays (we'll see ).



(Note: I can't lower my window when the car is parked. Even the slighest breeze getting in the car will set off the alarm.)

 

This is the best advice. I live in a harsh/hot climate. When parked, I 100% of the time use a custom-fitted sunshade inside of my windshield, windows cracked slightly open (unless raining). I also have a smaller "mesh-type" sunshade that I leave sitting on my rear parcel shelf. Additionally, my windows are tinted with premium-quality UV-filtering tint. My interior leather looks really good for its 18 yrs age and I hope to delay any difficult and expensive re-covering job for as long as possible. I can never understand why so many owners seem opposed to using window shades and having their windows tinted.

 

UV blocker film is a big help. When you are driving no matter the weather you are keeping the interior temp comfortable to you. Its comfortable for the leather too.
We have been dealing with this since the Boxers started coming with leather dashes. In all those years I have seen 2 kinds of Ferraris.
Those with damaged dashes and those who use windshield covers.

 

Our car has gotten platinums in 2 national meets and the National Preservation award and it had the windshield cover each time. I remove it, they look, I put it back.

Hard to see but here in my old driveway it has the cover in place.

 

wow big job but it will be definitely worth it. My car has the same leather shrinkage that i plan or redoing as well. how long did it take to move that dash? hard to find any videos or info on the 599 dash removal. i would assume its similar to a 430.

 

I do the same thing with my 599 and 296. No sense letting that heat erode the components if you can avoid.

 

I do that same thing also and have had good luck so far. After driving and when parking back at home I also employ a shop fan to expedite the cool down. Am I paranoid? Yeah probably, but my dash looks nice for being 19yrs old and I'd certainly like to keep it that way for as long as I can!
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George- Mine took several months to finish, so do not worry too much.

They are hard to drive with the dash removed, though.