Which construction adhesive for bonding vinyl?

[joegreen]

I am going to recover my old cracked dashboard with a new piece of marine vinyl. This is on an old yard truck so perfection is not key. My main goal is covering the spray foam i used to fill the cracks in the dash. I was looking into the 3m super 77 and 90 high strength spray adhesives but i dont really like the way it is sprayed out and the 90 is kind of pricey. I want something that is a little creamier that can be spread on with a brush. I looked into some quart size containers of brush on adhesive but they also were to expensive for my intended purpose. I then remembered reading about people using construction adhesive to glue on hood pads and whatnot and I know home depot has a ton of different cheap construction adhesive tubes for $3 or so. I figure I will get a couple tubes and a brush and use that as my adhesive. My question is for people who are familiar with these adhesives. I have never used them before and obviously they all have different applications. I assume I would want one that does not turn into a complete rock once it cures. The liquid nails says bond remains flexible. I was also looking at a quart of vinyl tile floor adhesive. What are your thoughts?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Loctite...-Duty-Construction-Adhesive-1964642/205761776
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Liquid-...-Latex-Construction-Adhesive-LN-704/100659439
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Loctite...n-Adhesive-1390595/202020473#product-overview
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Roberts-1-Qt-Vinyl-Composition-Tile-Floor-Adhesive-2057-0/100208688

 

[joegreen]

I also found some of this stuff. https://www.lowes.com/pd/TEC-Skill-...VFBtlCh08cwTwEAQYAiABEgLAnfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[nthach]

The upholstery shops seem to use a lot of DAP Weldwood contact cement sprayed on with spray guns. It’s very flammable when it’s wet but it’s the pro’s choice. It’s a neoprene-based adhesive

Liquid Nails and the such, due to the stoddard solvent and other slow evaporating solvents and latex/urethane resin will cause the vinyl to buckle and wrinkle.

 

[Oro_O]

Liquid Nails and the such, due to the stoddard solvent and other slow evaporating solvents and latex/urethane resin will cause the vinyl to buckle and wrinkle.

Exactly, those gun adhesives are just not right for that. Multiple reasons. Also agree contact cement would be great but it's not going to brush evenly that large and area, or be DIY sprayable.

Honestly, 3M 90 is really good and if you spray it right, at the right temperature (outdoors right now will not work in NY), it's what you want.

It is tacky long enough to spread it if you need, and you are careful. It may in fact be $15/can at HD, but if you clean that nozzle that can will last you years as you will use a tiny, tiny fraction of it to do a dash cover.

The floor adhesive is not spreadable with a brush, it's spreadable with a trowel. I have some of that and also some marine vinyl in the garage right now; I am re-doing a small boat interior this winter. If I wanted to lay the marine vinyl down on a dash I'd use a sprayable product and not a mud like the floor adhesive.

If the adhesive doesn't spread out super-smooth and fully, which the gun and floor adhesive won't, the vinyl is going to buckle wherever there is a gap in adhesion underneath in the sun. You need to lay it down super smooth and even which the gun or trowel adhesives are not going to do.

 

[joegreen]

Ok. Y’all convinced me to not cheap out and use the right stuff. Also i have a nice roller I’ll be using over the vinyl to help push it into the adhesive and keep it smooth.

 

[Oro_O]

Ok. Y’all convinced me to not cheap out and use the right stuff. Also i have a nice roller I’ll be using over the vinyl to help push it into the adhesive and keep it smooth.

I totally get where you are coming from because it makes me blanche to pay $10 for a can of 77 or $14/15 for 90. (HD usually has the lower prices), but really it hits a need.

there may be some other brands that are just as good, but from what I can see they are no cheaper:

https://www.harborfreight.com/24-oz...vMR4D1L2Tu0mRjSzYQ800id-kacpbsxBoCMk0QAvD_BwE

https://www.autozone.com/sealants-g...-fabric-carpet-adhesive-spray-16oz/130215_0_0

 

[JHZR2]

I would say 3M 90 is a good place to start, though that DAP Weldwood sounds interesting...

 

[joegreen]

I ended up buying dap weldwood original contact cement

 

[joegreen]

Ok, so it took many many hours of gluing, rolling, and waiting but the vinyl covering is basically done. I still have to poke some screw holes and add trim pieces and let everything cure. Overall I think it came out 85-90% good. This was my first time ever doing something like this. I started off by cutting off the raised cracked vinyl and grinding the cracks bigger with my Dremel. Then I was able to fill the bigger cracks with the spray foam. I made a big mistake and that was applying the vinyl starting at the windshield side of the dash. Because the window is curved the dash is curved and this caused the vinyl to want to curve the further I got towards the seat side of the dash. Also because of the way that the instrument cluster molding sticks out I didn't realize that I wouldn't be able to stretch the vinyl completely to the curvature of the dash in one section. This meant that I had to cut the vinyl out in the really curvy section and section in a piece. . That is definitely the biggest blemish. I think I should have started gluing the vinyl down at the really curvy section in the middle then worked my way out to the edges. Also you can kind of see the outline of where the foam filler is because when I used the roller I believe it compressed the foam a little and the foam stayed compressed. Here are some pictures of the dash before, during, and after. I also glued in an aluminum plate behind where the center speaker would be as reinforcement as that was the weakest part of the dash. There was never a speaker behind there and there never will be so blocking it off is fine. with me.