Dash Pad, Dashboard, Dash Cover, Dash Cap

[uieluck]

Here's a dumb question,,

What's the difference between a dash pad and a dash?

I see dash pads out there like this:

Dash Pad

for $80-$130 buckos....

But when I see an oem. original dash they go for $330-$500

Most of us have dashes like this:

So, if you already have a dash, like 'below' can't you just replace the cracked black cap/pad/cover etc?

Sorry,, there's gonna be a lot of hands to the face on this one.

 

[]2eDeYe]

The dash caps don't extend all the way down to the bottom of the original dash pad. The stop pretty much under the glove box door so they leave a step across the bottom. They are a thin cover basically

 

The more expensive ones are the entire molded dash pad.

[uieluck]

2eDeYe' date='01 June 2011 - 04:07 PM' timestamp='1306969623' post='486366']

The dash caps don't extend all the way down to the bottom of the original dash pad. The stop pretty much under the glove box door so they leave a step across the bottom. They are a thin cover basically

 

The more expensive ones are the entire molded dash pad.

 

Thanks for the clarification.. Thanks.

[Wicked Saint]

In my 510 my dash pad was trashed, I bought a cap for $90 and it looks pretty decent but be careful if you go this route. You have to shave down any raised area in your current pad then glue the pad in place. I didn't get mine quite right because it had warped pretty bad after 37 years of direct California sun. Because of that 1 corner popped up and doesn't sit right. Other than that a cap looks great.

[uieluck]

In my 510 my dash pad was trashed, I bought a cap for $90 and it looks pretty decent but be careful if you go this route. You have to shave down any raised area in your current pad then glue the pad in place. I didn't get mine quite right because it had warped pretty bad after 37 years of direct California sun. Because of that 1 corner popped up and doesn't sit right. Other than that a cap looks great.

 

Well I would think you take the old one off? Don't you? Or are you saying you just lay the new dash pad over the dash portion of the dashboard? Now I'm confused again.

[dat521gatherer]

two piece dash boards are referred as the top being the vinyl dash cap and the bottom being the metal dash pan.

[Wicked Saint]

The dash pad is is oem metal pan with foam and vinyl that bolts to the dash frame. This is is how it comes originaly. The dash cap is a plastic overlay that is glued over the original. That is why there is a large discrepancy in price. Think of the dash cap like a crown on a tooth.

[Wicked Saint]

 

Ok, so I thought this might better explain. For perspective this is from my 510 by the glovebox area. At the top we have the cap. just below that on the left we have original dash pad that the cap is glued to. That nut holds down the original pad to the dash frame (as you can see I am missing a large section from my original pad. At the bottom is the glovebox section of the dash. Between the glovebox and the nut you can see the shiny blak metal. That is the dash frame. Basicaly the frame is the structure that it all bolts to which as a whole makes "the dash". Hope this helps.