Some questions about interior trim

[Guts1200]

Hey guys, I have a few questions about the interior trim pieces.

1. Has anyone ever refinished their wood veneer in piano black? Here's a link, it's at the bottom of the page:

http://www.maderaconcepts.com/NewSit..._vehicles.html

2. About how much is a used set of wood veneer worth? I've done some searching and I can't find any good comps for a used set. If I don't go with the piano black, I want to put in OEM black plastic and sell my wood.

3. My seats don't lean back all the way and I want to fix them. I remember seeing on here that someone was producing just the gears needed so I don't have to buy the entire assembly? I've tried finding it again but no luck...

Thank you!!

[mbarrett635]

If you don't go with piano black finish, give me a holler. I'm definitely interested in your wood trim.

[dukegrad98]

My $.02: proceed with caution... Our '16 Range Rover has piano black accents, and they are probably my least favorite part about an otherwise excellent interior. Even if you like the look (and to be fair, I do not), piano black finish can reflect light / glare badly and can show fingerprints and scratches easily. Like some of the chrome interior trim bits that periodically flash-blind me in my pickup truck, I find these reflective finishes more annoying and distracting than pleasing. Opinions being like belly buttons and all...

Cheers, John

[Guts1200]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I like Piano Black. I'm in love with the espresso wood floor thing people do now-a-days. That being said, I don't really like wood in cars. I would prefer something like aluminum but it would have to be real, not a wrap. I also like how the plastic trim sits deeper and is not as thick. I think the plastic being more economical will put it over the edge for me.

[rjbaren]

You must be young. My mechanic, Young, likes the aluminum finish too. WOW, you got a BMW and you want to make the interior look like a Camry?

[TxGR8White]

The best "timeless" finish in these cars is the matte black. The wood veneer looks nice until it chips and cracks, which happens at this age. I know of a number of owners that got rid of their wood trim in lieu of new black trim ( my choice as well).

[clubE31]

keep the wood.... it's rare (even if you replace it)

[Guts1200]

Rjbaren - I think aluminum/metal finish can look very contemporary and classy... for example, Pagani or Spyker.

I do think I'm going to do the matte black. The wood being rare is why I want to sell it I just spent 10k on getting everything mechanical up to snuff and could use the extra money...

Anyone know where to get those seat gears so I don't have to buy the entire assembly?

[cartoonz]

OK...
I've known Jeff & Tony at Madera Concepts for almost 40yrs... Tony passed away, unfortunately, but Jeff is still there at the helm. We all worked together at Clenet Coachworks back in the 70's... Jeff & Tony learned from the few remaining old world coachbuilder wood crafters still left at the time... me, I cut up brand new Mercury Cougars and stretched the frames to use for the Clenets. Strange cars, they were a conglomeration of a lot of different cars but the end result was really quite stunning... Anyway, Jeff & Tony went on after that to form Madera and have been THE go-to guys for interior wood for decades. Some of you likely have BMW E9 coupes at home too... if you need new wood, Jeff still makes the full set (from the template he created when I had him do a set for me 25-30yrs ago).

Anyway, I took some CSI door wood into them to just seal it up where it was de-laminating a wee bit. I got him to do what I wanted, and it was perfect - but only because we go back so far and it still cost me a small fortune. "fixing" the CSI wood on the consoles and such is pretty much impossible because it is paper thin, even I couldn't talk Jeff into doing one of those (and I understand why). So that's out.

That said, I asked him about the "Piano Black" option and he showed me... personally, I'm not usually a big fan of piano black but I have to tell you - it was freakin beautiful. So, if you like that option - Madera Concepts has the solution for you. ...and it looks like it would survive a nuclear bomb blast, so compared to the wood it is way more durable. And no, before you ask, there is no other color/finish option other than Piano Black available from Madera.

[Guts1200]

Hmmm, you're making me want the piano black again I haven't been able to find very good pics of it installed... maybe I'll ask Madera. Do you know about how much it costs? Also, what exactly are they doing? Just painting the veneer black somehow?

[cartoonz]

I *think* what they are doing is stripping down the original finish/veneer to a point where there are no holes or holidays and then adding a thick epoxy type finish. Polished to a mirror like surface, it looks nice. I say I "think" because I really didn't ask Jeff exactly what the process was...

[Guts1200]

If anyone else is interested, here is a link to the seat gears I was talking about:

http://www.odometergears.com/product...s+E31+89-99/40