Aren't you guys talking about two different areas of the dash??
My understanding is that the "padding" only relates to the "Brow" of the dash....not the actual dash itself.
So if the dash is dressed in wood/woodgrain or whatever , it doesn't matter....because as long as the BROW of the dash...i.e. the fibreglass edge has a pad with the correct high compression padding, it should be all good.
I've got a wooden dash panel...but only needed to have the padded brow, so I borrowed this "push on" brow pad from Scotty Hampson, which might be permanent....or it might just fall off after rego.
( The colour doesn't match )
Cheers,
Warren
Cheers.