Glareshield

[INA201]

Howdy, 

I pulled the glareshield out of the J today because it was rubbing on the windshield(molding came off).  I'm up for annual in a week so I was thinking of a way to try and improve its looks. It has some wavyness in the plastic and a couple of extra holes in it. Any ideas from what some of you guys may have done? Thank you guys in advance for your thoughts and ideas. 

[Guitarmaster]

Following

[kortopates]

I just got mine back from Aerocomfort. Mine was in far worse condition than yours though and came back looking great. See http://aerocomfort.com/

[DonMuncy]

+1 for Aerocomfort

[75_M20F]

12 minutes ago, kortopates said:

I just got mine back from Aerocomfort. Mine was in far worse condition than yours though and came back looking great. See http://aerocomfort.com/

How long it take to get done? What was the cost? It looks nice!

[kortopates]

4 minutes ago, Mooney_Mike said:

How long it take to get done? What was the cost? It looks nice!

It was in the shop for most of a week. They smoothed out or flattened quite a bit of warping from prior leather covering from 2003 that had shrunk quite a bit. Now they use Ultrasuede fabric that does not shrink yet has the look and feel of leather. My cost was $575 + shipping. 

[milotron]

+2 for Aerocomfort. Going to get mine done there later this year, along with side panels.

[milotron]

1 hour ago, INA201 said:

Howdy, 

I pulled the glareshield out of the J today because it was rubbing on the windshield(molding came off).  I'm up for annual in a week so I was thinking of a way to try and improve its looks. It has some wavyness in the plastic and a couple of extra holes in it. Any ideas from what some of you guys may have done? Thank you guys in advance for your thoughts and ideas. 

There is also one on Ebay that is fully recovered. I have dealt with the seller and he was very accommodating.

 

Don't forget with aerocomfort you have shipping both directions...for me, in Canada this is a non-trivial cost.

[co2bruce]

Aerocomfort did our interior and glare shield and they are the best. 

[PeytonM]

Contact Bruce Jaeger. He's got an inexpensive kit that'll take care of the center post area which routinely cracks from the repeated removal for avionics work. http://jaegeraviation.com/. It also makes it a lot easier for future removal of the glare shield.

If your glareshield needs more that that, then Aerocomfort may be a better approach. They did my yolks; outstanding outcome!

[Rmag]

As part of the refurb on my J we repaired and painted all the plastics including the glareshield.  My glareshield was cracked up behind the center post as well.  I don't know what others do to repair it, but we cut a slot in the glareshield so it would slide in place and and made a Boltaron closeout piece which attaches with Velcro and painted to match.

i decided to paint all my panels instead of covering with ultra-leather to save weight and cost.

 

Edited March 19, 2017 by Rmag

[INA201]

Man, both the Aerocomfort and Rmag's look great.  I've got the plastic repair stuff to fix cracks/holes/paint and may try that route first to see how it turns out first.  $600 for Aerocomfort certainly produces an excellent result.  Rmag, did you do anything to smooth out wavyness and ripples in the plastic or just clean it up and paint it?  

[Rmag]

Mine was in relatively decent shape because the prior owner had it hangar kept so the glareshield did not bake and warp in the sun.  Some of my other plastics had some cracks we repaired.  We use a textured finish which hides some of the imperfections. 

A paint shop or guys familiar with painting can do it. You paint the part normally and then you set the gun up to spatter paint onto the part.  Just make sure to use a flat paint for a glareshield. 

Edited March 19, 2017 by Rmag

[kortopates]

34 minutes ago, Rmag said:

Mine was in relatively decent shape because the prior owner had it hangar kept so the glareshield did not bake and warp in the sun.  Some of my other plastics had some cracks we repaired.  We use a textured finish which hides some of the imperfections. 

A paint shop or guys familiar with painting can do it. You paint the part normally and then you set the gun up to spatter paint onto the part.  Just make sure to use a flat paint for a glareshield. 

Mine has been continuously hangared as well, but here is the before picture on the back side that shows the warping damage from constant heat/UV damage from almost 15 years of high altitude flights; averaging about 175 hrs a year. On the ground away from home the plane was always covered. When I originally sent mine to Aerocomfort I was concerned I had a unrepairable glareshield and would need to purchase a very expensive new one. They performed a miracle though.

I don't have a picture of the front side but it just shows the leather shrinking up over the edges and some fading. The new Ultrasuede fabrics are supposedly shrink proof.  

Edited March 19, 2017 by kortopates

[Rmag]

Ultra leather is definitely what you want to use for wrapping any panels. It is a textile and can be stretched in all directions.  If your panel is in really bad shape it can be a good solution. 

[M20F-1968]

Has anyone tried to use 0.5 oz, very thin goat or sheep leather to cover the glareshield?  Does the leather shrink with time?

John Breda

[Rmag]

At SureFlight we have professional painters and upholsterers, so I have the capability to do whatever I wanted.  When it came to my glareshield, this was the input of one of my upholstery managers:  

"Leather might dry up and deteriorate after a long time in the sun... ultraleather would last a little longer.  Overall , it's all personal preference on what someone wants. We have used both. After seeing some glareshields after like 10 years of use, leather, vinyl, and ultraleather all started to deteriorate, change color, and crack... the sun is brutal on anything.  That's why I say just paint them with flat paint.  If it starts to look bad, just repaint and your good again.  If it needs to be fancy, just do a leather leading edge or something."

In general he said you can wrap panels with leather but leather in sun shrinks, adds a ton of weight, more expensive, and sometimes the panels are too large for leather so you would have to add seams.

Since hides are thicker, they tend to be more durable on seats.  

 

[milotron]

Several of the glareshields in this thread have additional, round vents in the top, presumably to provide relief for the electronics underneath. Was this a factory thing? My K doesn't have these.

I like the input on painting. I am reconsidering the ultraleather in favour of this.

 

As a sidebar: The glareshield ( mine at least ) is very tight between the two pillars when coming out. Do you guys project the side pillars with tape or something when removing it? I get some paint damage on the pillars during this operation. I also need to increase the cut around the center post and add the filler piece, perhaps this will make removal/replacement easier and less damaging?

[DonMuncy]

8 minutes ago, milotron said:

As a sidebar: The glareshield ( mine at least ) is very tight between the two pillars when coming out. Do you guys project the side pillars with tape or something when removing it? I get some paint damage on the pillars during this operation. I also need to increase the cut around the center post and add the filler piece, perhaps this will make removal/replacement easier and less damaging?

Yes, it is tough to get out and in. Yes, masking tape will help some. And absolutely, opening up the cut-out will make it much easier to deal with. And yes a filler piece is easy and necessary.

[LANCECASPER]

On 3/18/2017 at 5:53 PM, kortopates said:

I just got mine back from Aerocomfort. Mine was in far worse condition than yours though and came back looking great. See http://aerocomfort.com/

They do a great job - I've been happy with mine. My only gripe is that the "gases" that come off of the ultraleather mean I need to clean the inside of the windshield more often. I've had it a little over a year and it's getting better.

[kortopates]

2 hours ago, milotron said:

Several of the glareshields in this thread have additional, round vents in the top, presumably to provide relief for the electronics underneath. Was this a factory thing? My K doesn't have these.

Not sure what year the ventilation ports got added. Mooney significantly improved the midbody glareshield sometime in the early 80's, not sure if the earliest K's had it but not the earliest J. Another possibility is your OEM glareshield got replaced by an inexpensive aftermarket called the Ashby which is sold by Spruce. ( http://www.aircraftglareshield.com/Mooney_M20.htm ) if you had an old style they weren't too bad of a replacement. But frankly compared to a modern one I looked at it a downgrade and was going to stick to factory if mine wasn't repairable. But new factory replacements are quite expensive.

Edited March 20, 2017 by kortopates

[milotron]

Thanks Paul,

Mine appears to be the original from 1981. it is pretty rough, but Hector says he can repair it.

Looking at it again, I think I am beyond just paint.

[LANCECASPER]

21 minutes ago, milotron said:

Thanks Paul,

Mine appears to be the original from 1981. it is pretty rough, but Hector says he can repair it.

Looking at it again, I think I am beyond just paint.

It will come back from Hector looking much better than new

[LANCECASPER]

Here's an option also:

http://www.knots2u.net/mooney201glareshield/

[PTK]

On 3/20/2017 at 11:04 AM, milotron said:

Thanks Paul,

Mine appears to be the original from 1981. it is pretty rough, but Hector says he can repair it.

Looking at it again, I think I am beyond just paint.

Looks worst than it is. That's a very easy repair!