DiNoc Dash

I installed some DiNoc CA-421 faux carbon fiber in my GenIII. DiNoc is a 3D textured vinyl product by 3M available in a bazillion different patterns. They have about 7 different shades of carbon fiber. After looking at some samples I choose the darkest carbon fiber. It is available many places, I got mine from Metro Restyling on eBay, the going price if you buy a few square feet looks to be about $6/sq ft. If it's much cheaper it probably isn't genuine 3M DiNoc. Some of the cheaper stuff may be good, but I haven't used any.

If you search Youtube for 3m Dinoc there is many how to videos and most of them are reasonably accurate.

Something I would add to their instructions is use a primer. 3M recommends 3M Primer 94. You can find it for under $20 shipped for 1/2 pint on eBay. 1/2 pint is enough to several car dashes because you only use it on the edges and area where the residual tension in the stretched vinyl will tend to lift the vinyl. Don't prime the whole part or it's too hard to lift the vinyl and reposition it during installation.

You should also start with a small complex piece for practice, install the piece and use your car for a couple of weeks to see if you have it figured out right. The right dash vent that I have labeled in the pictures below is a good practice piece. The inside corners tend to lift. That is the only piece I had to do twice and it looks like it is going to need some re-sticking in the inside corners.

For tools you will need a heat gun of some sort, a regular hair dryer is more than powerful enough. Also scissors and an x-acto knife or other small model work sized sharp knife. A plastic spatula with a piece of terrycloth towel wrapped over it is handy for pressing the DiNoc against the part, although I generally just rub the part firmly with a couple of fingers wrapped in terry cloth.

With the exception of the glove box cover, every piece was removed from the car so the DiNoc could be wrapped around the edges wherever practical for a more secure better finished looking installation.

There have been some good write-ups on removing dash parts so I won't cover that here.











I took the lid off the drink holder, unfortunately I trashed those pictures. The cover comes off by unscrewing the 2 Philips head screws at the hinge points. The cover is two snap together pieces that can be carefully pried apart and then snapped back together after the DiNoc is installed. This picture should help you reinstall the spring. It isn't obvious how the spring installs when you have the parts in your hand with no picture.

 

You can find a boatload of info on 3M's website. They say it sticks at -30C (-22F). They don't say it's not good below -22F, that's just their data point.

You do need to apply it at normal room temperatures. They say something like 60F to 90F.

I would use some extra care popping the interior panels off the car in -10F weather, they might be a little brittle.

 

When I was looking for a covering, I didn't see 1080 since it's pretty new to the market. Would you put together a post with some examples of DiNoc and 1080 applications that you have done and describe the differences in appearance, application and durability?

I think most of us with a serious interest in doing dash or other panel covering are familiar with DiNoc or at least it's reputation, but 1080 isn't well known. I hadn't heard of it until about a month ago and hadn't read about it on 3M's site until you mentioned it.