After years of frustration with Infiniti Corporate regarding the deplorable dash issue with many of our 2006-2010 M's, I have found a reasonable solution that I wanted to share. Yes, I had the passenger airbag SB done, and no, the dealer would not offer anything other than "free labor" and a $2200 material charge for a new dash. No chemical has ever been put on my dash in 10 years that I owned it other than moist towels. Yes, I'm a little bitter over the whole thing, particularly since my car is garaged all day long, and has been for over 8 years (before any cracks developed). Love the car, but sadly now anti-Infiniti.
My dash is awful, with probably 20+ cracks. I recently found a company that makes a cap that fits rather well over the factory dash. I have not posted on this site before today, and have not figured out how to post pictures yet, but I will work on that and see if I can post a before and after picture. The color even matched perfectly. I have the tan seats, and the taupe/brown dash. Their "taupe gray" was a near perfect match.
The company is Coverlay Manufacturing, in Texas. You can also buy through Rockauto.com and save a few bucks. The cost was about $200, a little steep but considering alternatives, tolerable. Their customer service BTW is fantastic. The cap is roughly 2 mm thick, and fits the contour well. I'm a perfectionist, and did a little sanding and filing to improve the fit. It is glued down by supplied silicon. It is a little tricky to glue down, but what an improvement over the current situation I had. There is a raised edge around the center speaker area, but otherwise looks darn good.
I probably gained $1000 or more in resale value, and wanted to pass along to any other frustrated M35/45 owners.
Cracked dash on 2006 M35
Re: Cracked dash on 2006 M35
Welcome to the forum, sort of.
It sounds like you got a pretty good solution that will save a lot of us some money.
I know some dealerships refused to address the material cost of the dash during the airbag recall, like in your situation. Yet other owners developed cracks on the dash after the recall was done.
Either way, this will be a great option down the road.
Onto the pictures -how-to-post-pictures-on-nicoclub-compil ... 21709.html
It sounds like you got a pretty good solution that will save a lot of us some money.
I know some dealerships refused to address the material cost of the dash during the airbag recall, like in your situation. Yet other owners developed cracks on the dash after the recall was done.
Either way, this will be a great option down the road.
Onto the pictures -how-to-post-pictures-on-nicoclub-compil ... 21709.html
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CarGuy87
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Re: Cracked dash on 2006 M35
Awesome thanks for posting this. I am one of the lucky few who got a free dash replacement after they left it worse after the airbag work. It's such a nice car IMO Nissan (Infiniti) must have outsourced this to the lowest bidder or who knows.
Re: Cracked dash on 2006 M35
Thanks Ed for the picture insertion process. A bit challenging but after several attempts I at least managed to get a link that works. Sorry I could not get actual pictures posted directly.
MOD EDIT (Ilya): Images fixed
MOD EDIT (Ilya): Images fixed
Last edited by Ilya on Mon Aug 05, 2019 1:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Larz
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Re: Cracked dash on 2006 M35
I feel your pain, brother. I am one how was forced to pay for a new OEM dash. I ordered it direct instead of letting the dealer double the price, but it was still a bloody fortune. I've seen the product you bought and it really is as close to a 'factory look' as you will ever find. If I was planning on selling my car at that time, I may have bought that too. But I cannot find another car, new or used, that I actually want more than my own, so I bent over, held a good thought, and went to my happy place whilst the dealer had it's fun. I'm over the ordeal now, and I'm glad I went for the OEM dash.toys4me wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 5:15 pmAfter years of frustration with Infiniti Corporate regarding the deplorable dash issue with many of our 2006-2010 M's, I have found a reasonable solution that I wanted to share. Yes, I had the passenger airbag SB done, and no, the dealer would not offer anything other than "free labor" and a $2200 material charge for a new dash. No chemical has ever been put on my dash in 10 years that I owned it other than moist towels. Yes, I'm a little bitter over the whole thing, particularly since my car is garaged all day long, and has been for over 8 years (before any cracks developed). Love the car, but sadly now anti-Infiniti.
My dash is awful, with probably 20+ cracks. I recently found a company that makes a cap that fits rather well over the factory dash. I have not posted on this site before today, and have not figured out how to post pictures yet, but I will work on that and see if I can post a before and after picture. The color even matched perfectly. I have the tan seats, and the taupe/brown dash. Their "taupe gray" was a near perfect match.
The company is Coverlay Manufacturing, in Texas. You can also buy through Rockauto.com and save a few bucks. The cost was about $200, a little steep but considering alternatives, tolerable. Their customer service BTW is fantastic. The cap is roughly 2 mm thick, and fits the contour well. I'm a perfectionist, and did a little sanding and filing to improve the fit. It is glued down by supplied silicon. It is a little tricky to glue down, but what an improvement over the current situation I had. There is a raised edge around the center speaker area, but otherwise looks darn good.
I probably gained $1000 or more in resale value, and wanted to pass along to any other frustrated M35/45 owners.
Re: Cracked dash on 2006 M35
I have noticed that parked in the hot sun, the narrow strip between the center speaker and the defrost duct opening bows up half an inch. I'll have to figure that one out. And while I dont have a picture of the passenger side, there is a separate panel cutout for the airbag. The edges are tapered and looks factory. It should not interfere with air bag deployment....assuming it is properly located.
Re: Cracked dash on 2006 M35
That looks great. Yes I have may issues with the materials choice and build quality of the M45, it is the lowest of many infiniti I have spent time with honestly
Re: Cracked dash on 2006 M35
Just a quick follow up to the raised narrow strip area above the speakers, I removed and modified the install slightly. The old one removed easily after warming in the sun. Contrary to the instructions that I followed originally to apply silicon around all openings, I decided to only apply silicon around the center speaker area, and the driver "wing" near the pillar AC outlet due to the very skinny surface area above and below the speaker area. In my case, the cover fit very nicely without gluing down, and I wanted to control expansion of it in the sun. The other important thing was removing material on each end where it contacts the pillars. It was a snug fit before, and more room was needed when the dash heated up in the sun. So far it is now staying nice and flat against the old dash. Again, a bit of a POA, but it does look great.....again.
Re: Cracked dash on 2006 M35
i have a dash mat. and i 303 every thing. it helps
Re: Cracked dash on 2006 M35
Toys4me, Your photo looks great.
I went to Coverlay's website and there are a lot of colors. I think my interior is the same as yours. Which color did you select?
I went to Coverlay's website and there are a lot of colors. I think my interior is the same as yours. Which color did you select?
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