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How To: Dye your A3 VW Dash
By Brittany King (VR6Grl)
I had always had black interiors in my previous A3's. Then I found
a killer deal on this Jetta, but it had tan interior with a brown
dash. Completely turned off by the idea of swapping dashes, I decided
to change the color of my dash. I was a little dissapointed to find
that no one had a write-up, so I tackled it this weekend. Much to my
surprise, the results were much more desireable than swapping dashes
and the process was easy.
Here's what you'll need:
2 big rolls of 3M masking Tape
A box of trash bags (get the light-duty kind, it was a pain trying to rip the black ones)
Philips Head screw driver
Flat Head screw driver
A good shop light
3-4 Cans of Emu Brillo Leather Colouring in whatever color you
choose. I bought it at a shoe shop in Meijer's. If you don't have
Meijer's, call around until you find a place with leather dye.
Now, keep in mind- YOU CANNOT UNDO THIS! You are actually changing
the color of your dash with a dye. The color I chose was a glossy
finish black.
First things first, if you haven't taken your dash apart before,
it's really easy.
Pop off the ABS panel, remove the light switch by pressing a tab
on the inside of the dash. Unplug and set aside. Pop off the A/C
control panel with a flat head. Remove the ashtray, and ECU plug cover.
Take out the 4 screws surrounding the A/C knobs and then the 2 directly
above the cupholders. Unplug all buttons and remove. Cover the A/C
knobs with a small plastic bag, and push back safely into the dash.
Unscrew the 2 screws holding in the gauge cluster surround and
remove. This is a good time to change your lightbulbs in your cluster
if they've burnt out. Cover the gauge cluster with a plastic bag and
push back inside the dash.
Remove the A-Pillar pods on either side, along with the speaker
grilles. Put aside.
Remove the plastic surround for the steering column and set aside.
Now, I chose to leave my vents in and tape around them. It's not that
i'm lazy, it's just that I doubt I'll be driving around without my
vents installed. If I'm not going to see it, I don't care that it's
not dyed.
Now for the fun part. If you don't want it dyed- TAPE IT UP! I taped
all around the edges of where I didn't want dyed. This stuff dyes
anything porous (carpet) and especially vinyl, leather, and textured
plastics.
Tape off everything that is smooth plastic!!! Otherwise it'll flake
and crack (guess how i found out, even with sanding and prep).
Tape off around your windsheild and cover the glass with a trash
bag. Make sure the bag is taught to the glass otherwise it will hang
down and you can't spray the dye up near the windshield.
Cover your seats and carpet with trash bags. This stuff loves leather
and carpet!!!
Now, decide if you want your faded, cracking steering wheel black
again. This is a perfect time to do that. I purchased a factory black
center console and such so the only area I dyed was my dash. Be sure
to tape off everything properly. If you've never done something like
this before, I would suggest having an experienced friend help you out.
Once you get to the spraying part, it's really easy. Now, I got really
concerned after my first coat because this stuff looked horrible
right after I sprayed it. In fact, I came back inside to check on dash
pricing. I was convinced it was going to be a botched job. Fortunately,
I went back downstairs and it started to look better. Let the first
coat soak in for about 30 mins or so. Then spray your second coat. Make
sure you get everything at all angles. No need to have little ledges
and crevices the old dash color!!
I found that 3 coats is sufficient coverage. This is a really simple
project, and it's really easy to do, just very time consuming with all
the taping. It took me 3 hours from start to finish (dash completely
put back together). Keep in mind that you are dying the surface you
already have. You aren't coating your dash with a new finish, this
actually soaks into your dash and dyes it all the way through.
Happy dying! (O:
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