I had the classic Fourth Gen disintegrating dash problem.



When I first got the car I touched one of the louvers and it fell off. More fragile than the average eggshell. I quit touching it.

After I got through fixing some mechanical issues I got to replacing the dash. I chose to get the full replacement rather than the dash cap. Given how brittle the existing dash was that seems to have been the correct choice.

The dash I got was from eBay. There are multiple sellers, they all cost about $200, but I figure they are all the same thing.


The dash pad showed up in a simple cardboard box. Despite that, it seems to have survived the shipping quite well. There are no instructions or anything else with it, just the pad in a plastic bag inside the box.

The pad looks to be a tiny bit thinner, but overall about the same quality as original. The black color is deeper, but I think that may be the original just fading. The foam padding is not as dense and does not have the plastic film on it like the original, but given that this is a completely interior piece and there is no moisture to guard against, I don't see how that matters.

The pad comes with the spring clips and with Velcro stickers.


The white dots are the paper backing for the Velcro.

The thing about that is that the Velcro it comes with is pretty much useless. The original pad does have Velcro, but it is a different type, much coarser than the household grade Velcro dots on the replacement pad.

The OE velcro is on these plastic buttons held to the pad with copper snaps. The replacement pad has the correct mounts for these molded in. You can get at them by peeling off the cheap Velcro. It's really easy to do because the molding is cross-shaped and there is almost nothing for the Velcro sticker to stick to.



This is the front and back of this button on the OE pad. There are two sizes - the big ones for the edge near the glass and the small ones for next to the vent.



This also shows another important thing about the replacement pad. It does not come with the mounting for the security LED and the light sensor. It's this goofy plastic cup. It goes onto the four little pins you can see around the two holes and then the pins are melted to hold it on.

Fortunately my holder only had a small crack and I could reuse it on the new pad. I have no idea if it can be bought separately.

The original Velcro pads can be just pried out. The brittle plastic breaks and they come out easy. You have to press them in pretty hard, so make sure the new pad is on something solid so that you don't break it. You need a punch to push on the copper pin, your thumb is too soft.

In order to get the new pad in you have to take out the A-pillar plastic. This is really easy if you have T-tops - take out two screws up top and unsnap it.

With those out you should be able to pick out the last shards of the old pad. Make sure you get all the clips and pads out - there is a good chance they will break off and stay in place when you are getting the dash pieces out. Once you do that and transfer over the velcro and the light holder you can get the new pad in. It can take a couple of tries, but there is almost no force required if you get it in right. Then, you just have to make sure you get all the spring clips in, and once that is done press around for the velcro to connect.

Reinstall the A-pillar plastic and you are done.



I think this is about as good a result as you can hope for. Definitely better than the cracked mess I had before.

 

check rpo code for interior color, that will tell you correct color for pad. thought black on mine ended up being charcoal if I remember right.

 

RPO says "light neutral", which definitely doesn't describe any of the dash.

But maybe the dash wasn't original? Who knows...

Black works reasonably well with what I got.