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Styling 500 Leather Dashboard (Fitted) Photos - MARMITE MODIFICATION

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Styling 500 Leather Dashboard (Fitted) Photos - MARMITE MODIFICATION

The Twins said:
Very nice job! Looks nice quality leather.
Love the way the 500 badge looks on it.
Maxi is right though, if only Fiat used nicer materials overall.
As bgunn mentioned, imagine it fully leather wrapped!
Have you thought about doing the door panel?
Will look out for more mods from you.
Click to expand...

Have to agree is shows off the poor dash and door panels badly!. At least the doors have the black leather armpads to match.


Mercky said:
That looks very well and nicely fitted too! Although if I was a betting man I'd reckon you'll have the original back on after a month or two when the novelty wears off!!
Click to expand...

You are most probably right. Novelty may well wear off, at the moment I am finding it makes the car very dark inside after having the bright yellow panel before, maybe as summer moves in for its brief 2 week stay I may go back to the brighter look, but at the moment this makes the car a bit warmer and cosier inside on the dull morning.

Thanks for all the comments guys, I was expecting some real negatives and was pleasantly surprised, as for the quality of fit, its just a good job I didn't let Richard anywhere near it otherwise it would have looked like a Blue Peter Meets Frankenstien Project!!!!! The fitting is fiddly but as long as you don't rush it, there were no major problems that could not be solved.

Will keep updated if/when I get bored again and change it.
 
I like that a lot.

When I bought my 500 (3 years ago now :eek: ) I thought of getting the dash covered in red leather to match the seats. A friends of mine did a mock up in Photoshop and it looked awfull, so I never bothered.

In that black leather (and I can get it with red stitching) it looks brilliant.

I will order one once I get paid, then I just need to find a replacement dash panel in case I botch the fitting.......

There is a second reason why I want to do this which is the sctratches on my dash from when I removed the radio to repair the air vents (one of the louvres had popped out of it's holder when I removed my Sat Nav holder) and thanks to this I also have to replace my central air vent at some point as well. Do you think Fiat paid out extra for research into unbelivably soft plastic for those? :p

Hopefully I can make as good a job of it when I do mine as you have done with yours.
 
Sure you will be fine with it,

All I can say is

TAKE YOUR TIME, Work out from the centre, line up the 3 Button Holes in the centre and work from those, I started at one end at first and got into trouble by the middle, so had to reposition.

Glue is important, Contact Adhesive, you have to coat both parts but don't get the fast drying stuff, I used a tin from B&Q it was £8 but had a long curing time giving you time to reposition if things did not line up first.

Once it is all dried you can then go around with a scalpel or box cutter and trim off the leather overhang from the back as if you do not remove this the panel will not slide fully back into place.

Good Luck, don't forget to post a photo of the result.

Fariniac said:
I like that a lot.

When I bought my 500 (3 years ago now :eek: ) I thought of getting the dash covered in red leather to match the seats. A friends of mine did a mock up in Photoshop and it looked awfull, so I never bothered.

In that black leather (and I can get it with red stitching) it looks brilliant.

I will order one once I get paid, then I just need to find a replacement dash panel in case I botch the fitting.......

There is a second reason why I want to do this which is the sctratches on my dash from when I removed the radio to repair the air vents (one of the louvres had popped out of it's holder when I removed my Sat Nav holder) and thanks to this I also have to replace my central air vent at some point as well. Do you think Fiat paid out extra for research into unbelivably soft plastic for those? :p

Hopefully I can make as good a job of it when I do mine as you have done with yours.
Click to expand...
 
Has anyone now fitted the leather speedo cowl from the same company? In theory it seems like a tasteful addition.
 
maxcat280 said:
Has anyone now fitted the leather speedo cowl from the same company? In theory it seems like a tasteful addition.
Click to expand...

I have still not bothered, the initial test fit put me off with part of the letters on the cowl for menu etc being covered it just looked wrong, maybe it has improved now but I have still not bothered to try a new one.

Still using my leather dash instead of the yellow one though, (Must give it a clean it shows dust a lot when dirty!)
 
Been looking at these myself and i must say you did a great job. BMW MINI sell this as an option for £400 for the cooper s works (looked into buying it when i had my mini).

but for what you paid you must be well chuffed.
 
Marco77 said:
Been looking at these myself and i must say you did a great job. BMW MINI sell this as an option for £400 for the cooper s works (looked into buying it when i had my mini).

but for what you paid you must be well chuffed.
Click to expand...

Cheers, yes I must admit I am still happy with the result, it was a bit stressful fitting, I made the mistake of starting at one end rather than in the middle, but one I resolved that it was OK. Price all depends on being able to pick up a donor dash panel at a decent price as I didn't fancy wrecking my own one!

As was said at the time I sort of thought the fad would wear off after a month and I would go back to the yellow one, but no its still on and I still like it :)
 
if you didnt have any leather in the car then a leather dash would be out of place but you do have half leather seats so its a good mix.
 
flashyphotos said:
Cheers, yes I must admit I am still happy with the result, it was a bit stressful fitting, I made the mistake of starting at one end rather than in the middle, but one I resolved that it was OK. Price all depends on being able to pick up a donor dash panel at a decent price as I didn't fancy wrecking my own one!

As was said at the time I sort of thought the fad would wear off after a month and I would go back to the yellow one, but no its still on and I still like it :)
Click to expand...

Don't know how I missed this thread but you did a great job. Enjoyed the pictures ! The yellow stitching was a nice touch.
 
I really like this a lot, especially the yellow contrast stitching..(y)
My only concern is; what about the airbag? Does it not come through the dash when activated? Hopefully you will never need to find out, but it could still be an issue....:confused:
 
Benny the Bee said:
I really like this a lot, especially the yellow contrast stitching..(y)
My only concern is; what about the airbag? Does it not come through the dash when activated? Hopefully you will never need to find out, but it could still be an issue....:confused:
Click to expand...

The airbag doesn't come through that part of the dash
 
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