My experience with 4 way stretch vinyl is that it is heavier than "regular" 2 way stretch,making it harder to work with. It also presents a problem when tucking edges under and securing them as it get pretty bulky. The brand I used was naugahyde. I didn't see any mention of a brand name on this ebay ad. The original material was un backed and was very thin. Probably on the order of .010". I'm guessing the 4 way naugahyde I used was more on the order of .060" - .080".
I like the approach in the link that Dave posted because you attack it little by little. With vacuum forming it's kind of a one shot deal. If it doesn't come out right your back to square one. You have to start over with a new piece of vinyl and probably have to re-foam the dash piece because the adhesive used to bond the vinyl to the foam will tear away the top layer of foam when you pull away the vinyl.
Paul L.
On Tuesday, January 27, 2015 at 7:14:53 AM UTC-6, Paul L. http://1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/ml-le wrote:
Has anyone re-done their own dash pads? I priced getting just the small eyebrow pad on my 63 Ply. done and the cost was $365! I'm cheap and like to do things myself when I can. I have quite a bit of experience doing custom upholstery with naugahyde and experience doing thermo-forming with plastic. The biggest problem I'm having is what material to use. The original seems to be a plastic without any backing, which is different than vinyl upholstery fabric. If I could find the right material it would be easy to make a vacuum table to do the job. Any suggestiions?
Paul L.