mdbrown

I have a 2007 RX350 that is virtually flawless except there is a C shaped crack in the cover for the center console drink holder. The crack appears to be just in the gloss coat. I could easily change it out but that would create a mismatch in the wood. Has anyone else had this issue and fixed it? It's not a wide crack or anything, you can barely feel it but you can see it well enough.

VTsuckah

iTrader: (1)

You can treat the wood trim as you would with paint considering it has a clear coat. If you're willing to try, machine polish/compound the wood trim.

mdbrown

Are you talking about taking it down to the wood and applying a new coat of lacquer (or polyurethane or whatever this clear coat is?)

97-SC300

iTrader: (17)

I have that in my GS430 (door panel wood) and ES300 (on the steering wheel wood) since the day I owned it. In the last 7 years I've had the GS, it has never gotten any worse. Same case on the ES that I've had for over 10 years. It's a pretty common problem on many Lexus models that use real wood. I know LS430's had an issue with the wood lacquer/clearcoat finish cracking on the steering wheel and other parts.

I wouldn't pay any attention to it. There's no way you can do any kind of "quick" fix or patch job. Just like cracked clear coat in the paint job of a car (for instance if someone bumps into your bumper, the clear coat will often crack despite having flex additives. The only way you can fix it is to remove the wood piece, sand off the lacquer completely down to the bare wood, thus removing the crack, applying a new coat of stain and then reapplying the lacquer finish/ clear coat top finish. This creates a problem, because you're never going to match the rest of the pieces in the car by only refinishing and re-staining one piece. You'd have to do all the pieces using the same type of stain to have a perfect match.

For this reason, I do not think it's worth the hassle of removing all the trim and doing all this work just to fix a crack in the coating.

mdbrown

That's the direction I'm leaning. I can't see refinishing all the wood trim and that's what I'd have to do if I took this part down to the wood and refinished it. I suppose I might pick up a center console if I ever encounter one at a too good to pass up price but otherwise I think I'll just live with it...