STIG

Do i have fake wood or real wood in my IS350? I am not really sure but it sure does look good and makes my car more luxorious. I dont think i wil ever buy a lexus w/o wood trim. just my thought. But then if i would have bought 330i, i would have opt for alumium trim cz the wood trim in 3 series are kinda ugly, just like the picture you've posted above.

LexFather

Fake **** are nice, and great for some people but I am a real hooters kinda guy.
THe same way I like my wood inside cars.

Every Lexus has had real wood, Lexus did the research, luxury car owners notice the difference. You don't see Benzs and BMWs with fake wood. Helll you can get marble in Benzes.

mmarshall

Not every Lexus. 2001-2005 IS300s did not have standard wood trim. My 2001 yellow IS300 didn't have any wood trim, real or otherwise. It was available as an option with other paint colors, just not the yellow. For some reason the Lexus marketers figured it either didn't go with yellow or that people with yellow cars didn't want it.

Gojirra99

What he means is when they do use wood trim in Lexus cars, they always use real wood in every Lexus.

Och

iTrader: (3)

I hear what you're saying, but then again, I personally don't see it as such a big
deal, as long as it looks nice and last. For instance, in my old GS300, I replaced
the cracked trims with fake wood, and honestly I would much rather prefer if the
wood was fake to begin with, this way it would be more durable and I wouldnt have
to spend a fortune on new trim. So far I haven't had a problem in the new gs430,
and I hope it stays this way.



Another thing, while it doesn't apply to all, but some real wood
can be fugly. For instance, in old Mercedes, the real wood looked
horrific, just look at the picture below.




For instance, I think that the fake stuff in the TSX on
the picture below is way better looking




However it is true that some fake wood can look like total
crap, for instance the MDX in this picture




And below is a picture of my old 94 GS300. The only original real wood trim is
on the ashtray, everything above is fake trim that I applied, and the piece of on
the center console is fake, I replaced the real cracked thim with that.




And below is my new GS430, gorgeous stuff, and I pray to god it
doesnt crack. On the other hand, I somehow doubt it's real wood,
but honestly, if it looks like that, I don't care.

whoster

the bottom pics of your GS430 looks like they're using real wood.

being a mad guitar guy, i once planned to custom build an acoustic or an electric guitar using fine veneers (not fake overlays, just real thin cut wood). As proven to us by guitarmakers for centuries...bending wood when you have the right tools and know-how isn't all that hard.

and frankly, a lot of fake wood-wannabe trim has whirls and patterns that are way too unrealistic to be found in woods. Probably the only woods i've seen without a regular pattern/grain is Birds-Eye Maple which is just a "Regular" piece of maple log cut in a unique direction. even the wavy bands found in Flame Maple have a regular and constant pattern. Most "wood" trim kits seem to not realize this--which in turn makes complete hash of the interior once applied.

and (sorry i don't remember the name) stated that the wood trims are sandy and all are stained---rosewood is actually that dark red/brown/purplish color by nature. Pretty much all woods in the Rosewood family used in "trim and finishing" carry their natural colors(rosewood, brazillian rosewood, ovangkol, cocobolo).

Gojirra99

Yes, i realize that some wood have different shades, some with red hues on tan etc., so I should not have said all, but my point to mmarshall really is most of what people think as "color that looks like real wood " are not necessarily their natural color at all, it's the color of the stain that they are looking at, just that the most common colors of most wood furniture /trims we see are medium to slightly dark brown. (I also left out the the rosewood he mentioned on the M35 when quoting him.}
For example mahogany wood funiture from asia, they are traditionally stained almost black, which is the "normal "color, there are people who likes them and people who don't. My bedposts are american mahogany stained brown unlike the asian types I have, I don't think there's any particular color shade that wood "should look like", it's all a matter of taste.

Och

iTrader: (3)

I had a few sheets of real wood veneer left over from a job, so I laminated it to some of my cabinets, and I have to say that it scratches easily and more prone to cracking. Plastic laminate is much more durable.

picus

If I'm not mistaken the rosewood in the M is sealed with a clear product, not a stain. The company that supplies it also makes speakers, and their speakers are not stained, just sealed.

Gojirra99

Haha, I guess I have seen too much of people making furnitures staining wood from the more common tan color to different shades.
I' ve done some research & found out that some trees can produce wood of very dark & rare colors, I always thought that even though some wood can have different color hues, they are basically tan to medium brownish & people use stains to enhance it or even change it to a totally different color. But here are some natural color wood colors, some of which doesn't look natural if I were't told about it CLICK HERE

Never thought natural wood can look so evenly reddish without some enhancement, or did they ? :


This is one type of rosewood, purple in color, but I bet it doesn't look real for most people if they weren't told because of the color. I guess the wood grain looks real enough, but I would have guessed it was enhanced with stain to look that way:


This is bird's eye maple & looks like the golden bird's eye maple on my SC430, I' ve heard a couple people in the SC430 forum commented before it doesn't look natural because of the light color & the burl walnut alternative looks more like what wood trims should look like. I'd be interested to know whether they used stain to enhance it a little or just use seal/laquer on it though, it looks brighter & more honey blonde on the car , or is it just because it's polished ?:

picus

Natural bird's eye maple grain and color looks like this:



I couldn't see your pic of it. You can find veneers of it with a more traditional ring grain but most folks go for the little eye-lets.

Here is some clear sealed rosewood (this is the same supplier as the folks who supply Lexus and Infiniti, if I'm not mistaken)



Here's a thread with a lot of cool wood veneers.

http://av123forum.com/showthread.php...r&pagenumber=4