Well. I think the normal here is to be inconsistent! My bud was told for years that the better the core you sent in, the better one you got back. Seems like I remember an article in a magazine where they detailed the rebuilding process of a dash. I remember that they only dug out the cracked and loose parts, fill it with foam and then put on the skin. The guy I talked to the other day said that they take it down to bare steel. I would be afraid that the old foam would still have a tendency to turn loose and cause problems as well. I can say that all the dashes I have seen rebuilt by them do look good.