toptech33

hi. new here. has anyone attempted to refinish the wood trim on an SC while it is still installed in place? i've seen what it takes to get the dash module out and i'm not us to that. definitely more than my skill level and ability.

can i mask everything with frog tape, do a really light sanding and then apply a light stain/urethrae finish?

i'd appreciate any thoughts and assistance.

cheers!

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

Unless you're extremely talented at woodworking type stuff, I'd say, "not a chance in hell."

It takes hours of meticulous sanding. That's a thick clear coat to get through. One small hiccup and you break through the incredibly thin wood color coat. Good luck doing that without being able to rotate the wood for better access angles. Plus, you'll want to be washing away all the wet sanding grime as you go, which will make a mess in the car.

toptech33

thanks. it was worth asking tho!

mikef

iTrader: (3)

remove it first, I did mine and it came out amazing after sanding it down, its not that bad of a job, just get a good orbital sander. don't listen to people who cant do it.
for me I wrapped mine in black perforated leather

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

Huh? You're saying it's easy to sand it down, but you covered it up instead of refinishing it? If I read that right, then you entirely bypassed the difficult part.

mikef

iTrader: (3)

where did I say it's easy? it's possible with some time and patience. I just got tired of the wood look.

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

"its not that bad of a job ... don't listen to people who cant do it."

1) That's pretty darn similar to saying it's easy, and 2) that sounded like a direct response to me. In which case...

I can dig that, but you totally changed the question of the ease or difficulty in refinishing the wood. Why even sand it down if you're going to cover it up? The difficult part is how careful you have to be in sanding it down if you want to preserve the original wood look. I was very careful and very patient, and I still dug through the wood grain color coat in a couple spots. It's an extremely durable clear coat and an extremely fragile wood top coat, leaving you with a razor thin margin of error.

LEXXIUM

iTrader: (1)

^^^ yes this job isn't hard to do, once you remove the door pannel, you'd be able to acces those screws that secure the wood trim to he door, unscrew 5 or 6 Phillips head screws and trim is now in your hands!!
Don't sand the trim while it's on he car, you will ruin your door panels.
Most ppl either paint it or wrap it with a carbon vinul.
You can use a 1500 grit sand paper to lightly sand, clean it and then spay it with clear laquer or darkness of a preference and reinstall!!
It make a huge difference!!

toptech33

my 2016 mazda 6 has leather on the dash in a similar fashion to the wood on the sc300. it's white and matches the seats. amazing looking actually one of the fine details that made me fall in luv with it.

it's been years since i;ve been inside a car door. a mitsu eclipse actually. i'd hate to get half way into the sc300 and find that i'm f-ing it up. and taking apart the dash is certainly more than i could do. any thoughts on what kind of custom shop would be able to do the work?

have replaced most of the lamps with leds. unfortunately some that say they are can-bus capable really aren't, so i've had to do some resistors. that's easy work as i used to be an electronics tech. i even retrofitted the leds in the spoiler. looks fantastic. replaced trunk struts. new 18" wheels and tires. it's coming along nicely but i know when to say "i can't do that". :-)

97-SC300

iTrader: (17)

How bad is the condition of the wood trim that is needs to be sanded down?

Did you try some rubbing compound and finishing polish by hand first?

I can't imagine the coating on the finish is so hard that it needs to be sanded down first.

Try the least abrasive method first. Don't go straight to sanding, that should be a last resort.

toptech33

the wood isn't that bad. it needs a new finish, as it has gotten very dull. and comparing it to the console plastic piece, it has faded somewhat.

what kind of "rubbing compound" might i use and where do i get it? if it polished it up, i think i could live with that.

thanks folks!

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

I don't think any sort of surface polishing will work. From what I've read and seen firsthand, the cloudiness is throughout the clear coat, so you need to remove all of it if you want to restore the original wood look. Read up on classic Jaguar restoration. If you're happy changing the look, like other people have mentioned, then a light sanding is probably sufficient.

What year is your car? Now that I've switched to a '97 dash with the 1-piece wood trim, I may let my restored '93-96 3-piece trim combo go. You'd still have the trouble of getting yours out and reinstalling, of course. Like LEXXIUM said, the door card wood trims are much easier to remove.

toptech33

i have a 98, the single piece you are referring to is the main one on the dashboard, right? i'm not familiar with the differences of the different years. i was glad that my shifter is gated, as i bought a spectacular walnut shift **** that is the color the rest of the wood is supposed to be. it;s just so smooth and feels great in my hand.

on an aside, i replaced the factory rims with new 18" that look a lot like the premium rims from lexus. any idea of shat i should be able to get for the originals on craigs list? thanks!

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

Yeah. My old set wouldn't do you any good, then. '93-96 had the airbag connected to the center of the three wood trim pieces. After that, they went back to the '92 (pre-airbag) style of a single trim piece all the way across.

The '98 and '99 examples I've seen all have much clearer wood trim. I was thinking Lexus must have gotten their urethane finish or whatever it is (would have to go back through my old notes) refined to better withstand UV exposure, but maybe it's just a small sample size.

$200 if you're lucky, would be my guess. I see stock SC rims advertised all the time for that price and they stay up there forever. I can only think of two types who will be interested: 1) someone looking for a set of winter wheels, and 2) someone looking to return the car to stock.

SEIDO

iTrader: (1)

Mines wrapped in brushed-aluminum vinyl.
Took a couple hours; used a heat gun + exacto knife; didn't have to remove anything.