[KevinH1990]

The leather gauge hood that I installed as part of my 996 gauge installation was starting to show it's age. The leather had shrunk from sun exposure and it was pulling away from the substrate:


I checked with local upholstery shops and an on-line service, and found that recovering the gauge hood would be costly: Porsche 996 and 986 Boxster leather gauge cluster

I found a replacement on line for around $175 including shipping.





Although the replacement had the advantage of having a wood grain gauge surround that would match my steering wheel, shift knob and e-brake, it had the obvious problem of being gray instead of black like the rest of my interior.

I had some black dye left over from a seat project from another car, so I decided to take a chance and dye the gray surround to match my interior.

I tried to remove the wood trim, but I became concerned about breaking the surround when it didn't come apart easily after removing the screws that held it in place. I decided to use masking tape to protect it.



Covering the grey required 4 light coats of black dye. The first coat only partially hid the grey.



Eventually, the slow build up of light coats hid the grey.



I'm pleased with the results: