Bix49

Has anyone installed one of the real wood dash trim kits in their car. I have an SC300.. There are several kits available, From different manufacturers, I think. If you did one of these installations and were happy or unhappy with the results, considering appearance, fit, ease of installation. All those kinds of things I could use some recommendations.
Thanks,
Bix

Biddles

iTrader: (2)

I was really interested in this stuff too for a while, but I've seen it on once SC and it looks very very cheap. I believe he had one of the CarID offerings. Personally I would go with Benevento though, they aren't as popular, but if you search you can find them. They sent me free samples for four different colors I was interested in, one matches the wood grain very well. Black looked great too. Check it out.

Here's there Deluxe Kit for Auto's with Heated Seats, they also offer some rain guards for our cars.

http://www.beneventous.com/ProductDe...px?PartID=2035

I like my black interior too much to put this stuff on it, as I don't know how it would peel off if I hated it.

durps

iTrader: (8)

They look extremely cheap and tacky imo.

Murco

iTrader: (1)

My first SC400 had one installed, what a pain! They made the A/C controls hard to operate, covered the indicators so they were barely visible, and just looked chintzy. I spent hours removing the panels and had to refinish the console trim. Don't bother!!!

Bix49

I would agree with you all if you were talking about the simulated wood kits. I think the kits that use real wood are a different story. I had a '93 Q45 that committed suicide a few years ago. It had a real wood kit on it and it was beautiful. I just don't remember the brand. There were a couple of smaller ***** that became a little more difficult to use but that was only a minor inconvenience.
Biddles, I will check out that website and see what they look like. Thanks. Any other suggestions are welcome.
Bix

1WILLY1

iTrader: (9)

I love wood grain , but the ones ive seen so far look kind of cheap.

Your best bet is to go the gated shifter 97+ console swap, it can be done for $200 or less, with the ashtray, and there you go.

Chefao

Did the chain guides give out in your Q?

Matador

Just say no.

Bix49

Hey Chefao, You got it

Murco

iTrader: (1)

Mine was real wood, I still have the damn splinters to prove it! In fact, it looks like that Benevento stuff in the link above... Just avoid this stuff, and stay away from the chrome window trim too!!!

P.R.S.22

iTrader: (6)

Figured I would share my input on this subject since I definitely have experience with this one. The wood dash trim kits offered by most companies is a stick on type of application that goes over the original part. The problem I have with this (especially on the window switches) is that it makes them bulky and has a highly noticeable difference when compared to the stock wood that came in the SC.

I had a wood dash kit in my SC when I first had the car and after awhile decided to take it off and try a different approach.

Enter vinyl. Best solution in that it does not come out bulky or feeling like it is sitting on top of the original part but rather takes the shape of the original part. For the longest time I wanted a black wood trim in my interior but was not able to find a good vinyl I could be pleased with until I saw a thread by Eliteskill who found some black wood vinyl off of ebay which looked great. Here are pictures of the black wood on his SC for reference:






After personally contacting Eliteskill and finding out where exactly he got the black wood vinyl I decided to give it a shot myself. Here is the same black wood vinyl in my SC:





And here are some more recent pictures since the ones above were taken at least over a year or so ago:




What I love about this too is that you could potentially place this vinyl on even more pieces of the interior besides what I have chosen (the radio/ climate control/ shifter bezel) for instance. This material even has texture to it so it actually feels like wood instead of feeling flat like normal vinyl.

I looked at the link provided beneventous and that is basically the same one I originally had and from my own personal experience I only liked it for a very short time before taking it off.

Also keep in mind vinyl has a million different designs so there is no limit to what color or design you can have in your interior.

P.S. Unfortunately I have had a million people ask me for the link to the black wood vinyl on ebay and honestly I can't find it anymore being sold on there but there may be others extremely similar.

Shrugy

iTrader: (12)

And here are some more recent pictures since the ones above were taken at least over a year or so ago:




I really like the look of your car with the Tan/Black interior. I would LOVE to do this to my car

In the near future maybe I can find a junkyard with a black interior and start goofing around and see what I can do

Did you go from a full ALL black interior to partially tan?

SCereal

iTrader: (4)

It's funny you bring up using vinyl. I thought i was being clever when I came up with the same idea. I've got rolls of the stuff in black and cherry from my speaker building days. Parts Express still carries it and it's what I plan to do with mine eventually. I'll probably try out the Cherry first just to be different.

Joey-E

iTrader: (1)

I love that black and tan interior! More so then just all black!

jayclapp

Vinyl on top of the exquisite wood in a Lexus is heresy!