The car I just bought (NC 2010) has a wood effect dash panel and handbrake which I’m keen to get rid of. I already have an original leather handbrake sleeve, and ordered a silver dash panel from eBay but it has a very noticeable scratch on it which id through to the black plastic below.
So I was thinking of either trying to spray paint it after sanding scratch, or even wrap it in alcantara. Has anyone done something different with this panel? I was wondering what it would look like painted the same colour as the car body (in my case dark blue). It is called a “decoration panel” after all…
Is that only the launch NC1? I’ve never seen an NC2 or 3 with a body colour dash, I would be interested to see what it looks like. 99% seem to be satin silver or piano black.
My 2007 NC had a wood-effect dash and (different style) wood gear knob and handbrake. I changed the handbrake to stock leather (used from eBay) and got a Momo gear knob. Currently, I left the dash to see how I liked it after time. I think I’ll keep it now
Wrapping film is so cheap and pretty easy to do. Did the gear lever surround on my ND. Cost me under a tenner for the wrap and I’ve got enough left to do at least half a dozen more.
The handbrake lever cover just slides off. The OEM one is like a fake leather cover, can be very tight fitting, twist and slide off towards the dash. Being as yours is now wooden let’s hope it’s just been slide over job and not glued too.
Just changed it now, the wood part came off easy but the tail part of the oem cover had been cut off and glued to the gaitor. Managed to change it anyway and no longer looks like a 70s Rover! (Apart from the dash panel)
Hmm, … ! light-bulb moment !
How reflective is alcantara?
I’ve been considering some form of non-reflective covering for binnacle and dash-top (but not forgetting the passenger airbag).
Both my old Vauxhalls had utterly stupid (perhaps even dangerous?) light coloured dash tops making it difficult to see past their highlights reflected off the windscreen, so I tagged thin black felt (easily reshaped to fit) on each for perfect visibility, especially at night.
My Mazdas have “black” dash-tops but they are shiny (if not exactly glossy), and thus still a pain. Both dash-cams have polarised filters so they do not see any reflections, but I can’t drive everywhere in my polarised shades!
The black felt wanted to fly off the Niseko dash when the lid was hid so I gave up on that idea at the time.
But, hmm, I’m thinking again…
What can look good, and not a rushed bodge like the felt did?
I was thinking of either this or having it sprayed body colour, but that does blend in well and looks classy. Did you use the self adhesive alcantara? Wasn’t it difficult getting it to bend around inside the vent holes without creasing?
Yes, I bought a roll of self-adhesive ‘alcantara’ online which meant the general installation was quite straightforward. There was a little give in it too so it could be stretched to fit over the ends and sides etc…
However, the hardest part was the vents. I didn’t find an easy way to do them so it was a little bit messy/fiddly. Luckily, the vents pop out so they can hide some of the untidiness when you put them back in.
… ! light-bulb moment !