How to Expertly Restore a Scratched Ford F-150 Dashboard
The dashboard on a work truck like the Ford F-150 can receive a lot of wear and tear, making it look aged. Even if the truck never sees a day of hard use, the dash can still lose its original luster. Leaving many wondering how to expertly restore their scratched Ford F-150 dashboard. For them, ColorBond LVP can be the answer.
The Ford F-150 is the lightest-duty member of the Ford F-series full-size truck family, which was originally introduced for the 1948 model year. The F-series line replaced a car-based Ford truck line that was introduced in 1942. The lightest-duty truck of the line was designated as the F-1, which carried on until the 1953 model year when the name was changed to F-100. The F-100 designation was used for six generations of F-Series trucks until its discontinuation in 1983. During that time the F-150 was launched as a 1975 model and was positioned above the F-100 and below the F-250. As compared to the F-100, the F-150 offered a higher towing capacity, and a modern appearance. Also providing motivation for Ford to design this new model was the F-150’s heavier duty suspension, which put it in a different vehicle class, and allowed Ford to take advantage of the classes’ less stringent emissions standards.
The dashboards used in the F-150 started off as a painted metal shell with a vinyl covered foam pad mounted on the top. This design continued until the 1980 model year, when a plastic shell with modern styling replaced the metal unit. As with the metal dash, it incorporated a top mounted foam and vinyl dash pad. Over the years Ford moved from molding the plastic dash shell in color-keyed plastic to using black plastic which was then painted the appropriate color. With age, many of the dashes molded with colored plastic have faded or changed to in hue, while painted dashes often have become scratched. This is where ColorBond LVP comes in to restore the OEM look of the dashboard.
ColorBond LVP is a paint designed for leather, vinyl, and plastic. It bonds with the surface to provide a durable finish that looks fantastic and has an OEM appearance. One of the main reasons ColorBond is great for restoring a scratched F-150 dashboard is that it is available in Ford OEM correct colors. ColorBond LVP is easy to use, whether you are renewing faded truck interior plastic or painting the dash to repair scratches. Check out these F-150 dashboard restoration projects performed by ColorBond customers.
Ford F-150 Dashboard Restorations
The dashboard of Chris Hollerback’s 1995 F-150 had received a lot of wear, tear and exposure to the sun causing it to become cracked, scratched and faded. He decided to restore the F-150 dashboard by repairing and smoothing over the crack, and then recovering the dash pad with vinyl. He wanted to color match the vinyl to the OEM interior color, but in the case of Chris’ truck there wasn’t an exact ColorBond LVP color match available. So, he chose a Ford OEM color that he liked more. Other interior components were also scratched and faded. So, he used the paint to also paint panels, A-pillar covers, kick panels and the bezel that surrounds the 2-DIN stereo and rear camera he had installed to modernize the truck. Chris also used ColorBond in Ford Black to refinish the trim strip in the dash and the vents. The complete project was covered in an earlier blog post which you can see here.
Check out this F-150 dash. The paint was peeling and ColorBond LVP in the correct Ford OEM color was used to make it the dash look like new.
The Perfect Choice
ColorBond LVP is the perfect choice to restore a scratched F-150 dashboard as well as renew faded truck interior plastic.
