I put some bathtub clear caulk in there to keep it from getting worse until i can get a new one. works great to keep it small. you can get it for a few bucks at lowes or some home repair shop.

 

Thanks for the great "How-to!" I followed your instructions and recovered mine with some 3M black carbon fiber material I got off Ebay for $17. Dash looks great with the carbon fiber material. I wish Mazda had used this on the entire dash. I have lots of material left over, so I plan to also recover my instrument cluster area on the driver's side to match. The whole thing cost me $17 and about one hour to remove, cover, and reinstall.

 

I would also like to see the pics of the CF dash covers.

 

Same concept except doing the whole dash. plus degreasing it if you used armor all spray or other products. years and years of caked on product

 

I bought a roll of 3M Carbon Fiber material off eBay for $17. Rocketman's instructions for removing the airbag made pulling the dash panel easy. The recovered airbag panel looks awesome. I've got material left over, so I'm going to do the center panel and the area over the instrument cluster to match.

 

That looks pretty good except maybe you messed up around the vent. Did you also do the driver side? I'd like to see more pics when it's done.

 

I've got the hairline crack on my passenger airbag cover now as well. Has anyone tried filling this crack with something like Plasti Dip? I'd hate to drop $200-$300 to fix something that is purely cosmetic, but the crack is starting to drive me crazy.

 

Well, decided to try my own idea of using Plasti Dip to fill the crack. Attached are some before and after pictures. You can still see the crack, but it is less noticeable.

 

I'm on the verge of doing this, but I'd really like to know if anyone knows for sure, either way, if this vinyl wrapping interferes with the airbag deployment.

 

Well, now it's been almost a year. How well did this solution hold up to summer and winter?

 

I would say it would depend on the material used. But I have seen people wrap the cracked piece and it does not hold up. Not in Texas anyway.

 

Vinyl wrap wont hold up at all because of the texture. It would need to be sanded down first and then the cracks filled. I'll be wrapping my dash in suede once it warms up (got rid of my dash cover) to match all my pillars and headliner. I'll post pics when I'm finished

 

I just did the 3M carbon fiber wrap. Had to do it twice to get it right, it gets rather tricky stretching that 3M film over the corner around the vent. Don't know how long it will last in SoCal, but if I have to do it again next year then oh well, it's cheap and it's super easy thanks to Rocketman's How-To... Thanks! Great tutorial!

 

Sold my RX8 last year, but it had held up ok for a few months before I sold the car.

 

Interesting. How did you do it? I'm thinking to just tape it off, spray it thick onto the cracked area, let dry, then rub/peel off the paint around the crack?

There's a huge difference in the noticeability of mine, depending on the ambient temperature, i.e. when it's warm you wouldn't even notice it but when cold it becomes quite obvious. I'm wondering if this characteristic can be harnessed to help fix it, or if it makes it hopelessly unfixable.

Obviously, I'm a total n00b here... but I'm fearless.

 

I actually sprayed some into a cup, and then used a small detail brush to fill in the crack. I waited a minute or two, then wiped off the excess. Repeated this about 4-5 times to build up enough to fill in the crack. It was still noticeable, but not as bad.

 

timely thread bump as mine is cracked now too. do I seriously have to scrounge eBay and partout threads to replace this thing?

Where the hell do we find just the cover? FEY1-57-K5X is $391 !!!

 

I vote for a **** carpet dash treatment ...,

 

I would be very hesitant to cover the dash with anything, CF, or vinyl. Mazda purposely scored the underside of the dash to create a sure-fail point in the event of airbag deployment. This is why the dashes all crack with the outline of the airbag. I doubt anyone has actually tested this with a vinyl or CF cover but intuition would say this would definitely impede the airbag deployment. If you were wondering how important proper airbag deployment is, check out this video done by Honda:

Horrifying airbag demonstration shows how a fraction of a second is the difference between life and death - Mirror Online

The plastidip/filler method will probably be fine, but the best method to fix this is to get a new or used factory dash piece and do your best to prevent heat from cracking the new one.

 

anyone have any experience with tasca parts?

DOOR,AIR BAG | Genuine Mazda | FEY1-57-K5X

 

No....you can get online from a Mazda Dealer genuine for 30 bucks more with free shipping in US.

 

Agree..

 

not true... onlinemazdaparts charges $15 shipping which bring its total up to $405

however, i just ran a checkout test with shipping through tasca they expect me to dump $60 on shipping.

So um, onlinemazdaparts it is

 

YES it is true....

This US Mazda Dealer I have dealt with don't charge any shipping over $200 and their prices were cheaper than onlinemazdaparts..

Discount factory (OEM) Mazda parts and accessories at Park Mazda OEM Parts

 

nice... I'll save the $15 in shipping... I'm still annoyed I have to drop $400 for this stupid thing.