Hey everyone the dashboard on my 05 tl finally start cracking a couple months ago. What started with a small dent became a long crack from top to bottom and a second one is starting to appear. Does anyone have a solution to prevent additionnal cracking or fix it without having to go to the stealership? Ive tried googling and watching videos but all i see is people complaining about it or hiding it with a dashboard cover. Thanks

 

yeah you can stop it by buying another used dash and replace.

 

Theres no other options in term or repairing the crack or preventing more cracks from appearing since its already cracked?

 

You can stop the crack by drilling little hole in the end of crack. Then you can wait for other ones to appear, as I did.
Now I have ordered dash cover.

 

what are you!? like a magician or something!?
crack wizard!!

the dash is made up of plastic and other materials. it's made to breathe and flex to combat hot and cold temps. it's also made to crack open in case of airbag deployment.
so, unless you can figure out the materials that it is made out of...and stop it from flexing from the swings of temperature your car faces...you wont prevent cracks.

you have options in making it less ugly tho.
- dashmat ( there are some factory looking leather ones available)
- full dash replacement
- or just rock the cracks!!

 

My base TL has a crack going down airbag side and the dash mat does not look that bad in person. I can't justify paying $2100 for a new dash knowing eventually they WILL crack again.

 

which dash mat did you use?

 

If my car becomes any more valueless I was thinking about sticker bombing the entire dash.

 

Cover King.

 

+1 get a dash cover and call it a day. I don't even notice my cover anymore and oddly enough I really like the way looks. I got the Dash Topper cover in Sedona Suede from Auto Anything for like $64 after coupon.

 

^Darktower Do you have any pics to share?

Or anyone else?

 

^ Hey Tim, sure thing I'll take a picture of it tonight and post it up.

 

Here is the ebay generic one came with my Base TL and it does not look that bad in person tho. I will be taking a photo on my Type S later.

 

Took them real quick this AM. Here's mine:

 

Okay, SOLD! I am super paranoid about mine cracking and killing my re-sale value. Yours looks really good DarkTower. The other advantage of the dash cover for me is less reflaction of the dash from my speakers. I am working on a SQ build in my car, so this would help control some sound wave reflection off the dash.

One question, does the cover have holes where the factory tweeters are located? I plan on using the factor tweeter locations and fabbing something up to beam my tweeters at me.

 

On the cover king mat you have option for them to cut out the twitters and center speaker which it is now on my Type S.

 

Thanks man. No, there are no pre-existing holes on the material for the tweeters. However, years back when Rockstar and a few others had these dash mats, they were able to cut the tweeter holes themselves with no issues and it looked great. Though I believe they all had aftermarket tweeters. I just installed over the speakers and it sounds fine, no issues whatsoever. Pics and original link below.




https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-p...-827508/page2/

 

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-p...-04-tl-688828/

 

Both types pictured Look better then my cracked dash..

DarkTower19,
Is that the Black Sedona cover Dash Topper offers,, or the Charcoal one??

 

Black

 

so sorry for the long due pics but here its for my Type S cover. NOTE my Type S dash does not crack yet and I just buy the mat just to block out some of the sun heat.

 

Is there a noticeable sound different with cut out dash-topper vs non cut out?

 

I found an unmolested crackless dash for $238 and change from my local JY and then I purchased a coverlay fro $180 thats made for ABS plastic which will not break or get beat up from the sun. This IMHO is the best way in the long run if your anal like I am of how my car looks

 

By my ear? no I did not notice any sound difference between the two, I got the pre-cut because the 07-08 has auto headlight feature where the other full cover constantly cover the sensor.

 

I checked Dashtopper, they don't have precut, only CoverKing has precut. Am I missing something with the selections?

 

What happens if you wreck and the passenger side airbag deploys with those covers on? Do you end up eating the dash cover??? Asking the real questions.

 

There seems to be a flap on the passenger side so that it would get out of the way

 

which glue did u use to hold it down??

 

I used industrial strength velcro from Home Depot.

 

thank u. I will go look for it at home depot later

 

you might want to reconsider about using what glue to hold it down in case of the airbag deploy they need to be out of the way so the airbag can do it job. This is why I bought Cover King product since they have the cut on the passenger side.

 

Just wanted to say thanks for the pics... that looks great, and made up my mind on the cover.

Since getting the car, I've been paranoid about my 08 Type-S cracking, but seemed like it was holding up. Then as the story always goes... thought it would never happen to me, until about 3 months ago when a small crack appeared near the airbag, which quickly turned into a long crack. Looking closely at the rest of the dash, I also saw a tiny crack near the center speaker, and a bit of cracking in the groove around the top of the gauge cluster.

So, I needed to do something about it, or get rid of the car... I ended up grabbing the black Sedona Suede Dash Topper. The fit was great (edges/curves lined up with the dash, holes lined up with the sensors, etc). The first thing I did was carefully cut the tag off the front, then just needed a way to keep it in place. I ended up using double-sided carpet tape, like: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Roberts-...-550/100658266 . It's really sticky and strong, but also really thin, so it doesn't make the topper noticeably thicker.

For installation, I put a line of tape on the dash at the front edge of the topper and attached the front first (since that what matters most for appearance). Then made sure the sensor holes were still lined up, and started adding more strips of tape and attaching it a little bit at a time, making sure to put a line on the top of the gauge cluster to make sure the top seam was held down, as well as a line on all edges/grooves. Then eventually I put a few pieces around the sensors to make sure it won't move and cover them, and then a few strips at the back to make sure it doesn't flap when the defroster is running. The entire installation took about an hour.

A couple weeks in, I'm really happy with this. It looks good, and the weather has been great so I've been driving with the windows/sunroof open, and it doesn't flap in the wind or anything. Attached are a couple pics.

DogP