Took my car in for suspension work....picked it up, and the wood section on top has some nice scratches on it...too deep to rub out. Does anybody know of a place that parts out Lexus cars. I have a black and rosewood interior.

I am really unhappy about it...and the tech claims that it was like that when it got there. I wash and detail weekly. I wax that wood. Also, car has always been garaged and parked underground at work. If it were sun damage, there would be some discoloration, which there is not. If it was the dealership, I could probably get something done.

Any help appreciated

 

That's sucks maf, try speaking with the owner of the shop directly and be nice but adamant that the damage happened at the shop if you are sure it did. Otherwise, check out eBay and car-part.com which is nationwide salvage.

 

What year is your car? Cracked clearcoat on the top of the steering wheel is common on these cars especially the older models. You can sand it smooth and then one day soon it'll feel cracked again. I believe it was a flaw in the formulation of the clearcoat they used.

 

I am OCD with cars. I wash once a week, wax different panels often, and once a year clay bar, strip all wax off, etc. Undercoat is a "glass" resin coat, and I use Zymol wax on top of that. I waxed the wheel with Zymol every time I washed the car. I used spray carnauba on the rest of the wood. The scratches are right where I can feel them, so as OCD as I am, I would have noticed. I don't believe it is a flaw in the clear coat.

 

It is pretty common:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...ing-wheel.html

 

They were not there before. I know this, because I detail and wash my own car. I wax the wood every time I wash, and they weren't there the Sunday before I took the car in on Monday. Furthermore, the car has always been garaged, and my office building has underground parking. One would also think that the cracks from sun damage would include some fading and discoloration....this rosewood wheel has none. To top that, a few of the cracks are vertical with some short one horizontal. Somebody suggested that the tech may have had a glove on with a piece of metal or something on the glove that he did not know about.

No way I had cracks before. The wood on this car gets more wax than the paint.

 

Well, it seems apparent that the shop was the one who put the last touch on it till it cracked, as Lav mentioned it is a pretty common issue on our cars though.

It looks like you can go either way with it, go back to the shop, explain the same way you did here, that you know FOR SURE, it wasn't there. IF they honor your word, and plan to fix it then no harm no fault.

If not, fixing it is super easy. Just remove the steering wheel and take it to a shop where they can re-clear it (the wooden area only, of course), maybe sanded it down a little so the clear can have something to hold on to and not crack again.

But again, it is a common problem with our cars. So going after the shop wouldn't seem to be the best idea IMO. Fix it yourself, and you'll be assured it won't crack in the near future.