49 Dashboard woodgrain Hydro-Dipping

Bitburger
Bitburger Member
in "How To" - Skills, mechanical and other wise
I'm in the process of having the dashboard of my 49 Coupe woodgrained using the Hydro-Dipping process. After the woodgrain film is on the dash pieces it is finished with flat or gloss clearcoat.

Any opinions as to what the factory finish would have been closest to:  Flat or Gloss ?

Comments

  • bent metal
    bent metal Senior Contributor
    I would think neither.  It's going to be something in the middle.  When I used to paint cabinets we would order the finish coat in various gloss levels, depending on the customer's request.  Usually in 20% increments.  My guess is the original was about 60% reflectivity (or "gloss level").  However, I've seen dashes painted at full gloss that looked very nice.  I don't know what factory stock was.
  • Bitburger
    Bitburger Member
    bent metal said:
    I would think neither.  It's going to be something in the middle.  When I used to paint cabinets we would order the finish coat in various gloss levels, depending on the customer's request.  Usually in 20% increments.  My guess is the original was about 60% reflectivity (or "gloss level").  However, I've seen dashes painted at full gloss that looked very nice.  I don't know what factory stock was.
    When I removed the plastic badge from the glove compartment door I got a good look at the original woodgrain ( in the attached pic ) and I agree, not flat not glossy. Unfortunately, the guy doing the hydro dipping offers only gloss or flat so it seems that gloss would be the best option.   I guess my biggest concern is sun reflection if using high gloss on the top portion of the dash
  • superwasp
    superwasp Member
    Will the top be darker like in this example? If so, I think you're fine either way. My experience has been it's more about color than sheen that causes reflection woes. I mean, put a piece of printer paper on your dash and it'll practically blind you in some cars and that's a flat sheen. My 2c.
  • Bitburger
    Bitburger Member
    superwasp said:
    Will the top be darker like in this example? If so, I think you're fine either way. My experience has been it's more about color than sheen that causes reflection woes. I mean, put a piece of printer paper on your dash and it'll practically blind you in some cars and that's a flat sheen. My 2c.
    That is the color combo I'm planning for, and I agree with your logic re color vs sheen, good point. Since I have never used Hydro-Dipping before I am having my spare center sections dipped in a color very close to yours. If I like the results I will then remove the entire dash and have the upper and lower sections dipped in the darker color.

    There is a company called Big Brain which makes the films which I will be using. They have a very good selection of woodgrain colors and styles to choose from including straight grain and burl.  The price of the film and the labor is considerably less than paying for woodgrain painting. It's a very cool process, videos are on Youtube. 
  • superwasp
    superwasp Member
    Oh, that's just an example I lifted from the HAMB website. I have a 53, so mine is just painted green.
    Post your pics when you have them. I've seen some examples of that hydrodipped film on modern dash pieces and it looks really good. I've not seen it on a vintage dash yet. 

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