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How to repair holes in your dashboard with sugru + other car hacks

How to repair holes in your dashboard with sugru + other car hacks
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This is a friends 1987 2.5L Porsche 944 Turbo. A beautiful car, however, the previous owner had mounted a mobile phone holder to the dash and when he removed it, left a series of very nasty holes in the leather trim.

Always up for a challenge, I offered to repair the holes using sugru.

You will need:

1) A car

2) Soap and water

3? And obviously some sugru.

If you don't have any sugru you can buy it from us at www.sugru.com, or a bunch of other websites including Sparkfun, Thinkgeek and Holstee, and hopefully lots more stores very soon.
 
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Step 1Texture stamp

Texture stamp
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My challenge was to repair the holes so they were as invisible as possible.

I decided that to make the repair blend in with the textured leather, I would create a mould of the texture so that I could match it on my repair.

This meant that I needed to create a texture stamp before I filled the holes.

TIP: Make the texture stamp a day before you repair the holes.

TOP TIP: To make a stamp you need about half a mini pack of sugru, line up another hack before you start so you don't waste any (see Step 8).

To make the stamp, start by covering the area you want to take an impression with soapy water. This acts as a release agent so you can get the texture off the surface without sugru sticking to it.

Form the surgu into a small cone and hold the thinner end with your thumb and index finger while pressing it into the surface. This will give enough pressure to get the impression and create a handle for your stamp. Once you have an adequate impression then leave your stamp overnight to cure. Make sure you leave the stamp on a surface covered with soapy water to stop it sticking as it cures. 
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7 comments
Oct 13, 2011. 5:07 PMnickodemus says:
Oh wow, this is certainly not your average sugru hack, great work!
Oct 15, 2011. 10:44 PMDyslexicSquirrel says:
JVC kd-dv5100??? I loved that stereo...
Oct 13, 2011. 2:56 PMzazenergy says:
i love sugru! great to see what you did here.
Oct 12, 2011. 4:27 AMPhil B says:
I recently did this Instructable on replacing an ignition switch without removing the dashboard. Before I came to the solution I used, I gave some thought to making holes large enough to pass boltheads and then using something like Sugru, but I wondered about matching the color and texture. You did a very good job. Would your approach patch a hole more than a centimeter in diameter? 
Oct 13, 2011. 3:13 AMRanie-K says:
I think I'd try gluing a piece of hard plastic (I'd use a piece from an old VHS cartridge) to the back of a larger hole like you are describing before finishing with suguru (or bondo and spray-paint).

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Author:projectsugru(sugru)