Interior Wood Trim Refinishing

[CaneDVM]

Has anyone out there ever attempted to refinish the wood trim strips? Specifically stripping and re-clearing? I presume that they are sprayed in clear lacquer given the propensity to crack and craze, but does anyone know for sure what the finish is?

[ross1]

Yes, well a friend did, with bad results which I witnessed.
The wood veneer is PAPER thin buried under a ton of finish which is very hard. IF you could successfully remove the clear finish without going through the veneer there would be no reason it couldn't be refinished.
My friend's attempt was on the flat surface of the shift console and even being very careful he burned through the veneer trying to get the finish off. Attempting to do so on the contoured surfaces of the dash and door trim pieces would seem an exercise in futility.
Perhaps, with the patience of a saint, it could be done but I can only imagine how difficult.

Lots of folks have successfully wrapped them in vinyl.

[The Chauffeur]

Not my video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DuFkZOOssM

[CaneDVM]

Ross, that was my concern as well, seeing how thin that veneer is over the metal core. Assumed that sanding would be borderline impossible, and hence my hope that it was lacquer...

But now I see that it's a polyester coating, thanks to The Chauffeur's link. Another hobby of mine in the past was building Fender style electric guitars and finishing them in "hand rubbed" nitro lacquer. Before sourcing new custom bare wood bodies and necks, I started out with refinishing actual Fenders, and short of the Custom Shop guitars they all had this nasty thick polyester coating. Heat gun worked like a charm to remove it, so I'm going to give it a shot on some crappy spare trim pieces when I get a chance and report back.

Would really love to eliminate the cracks on this graphite birdseye maple set I'm incorporating into the full interior swap on my M5

[Avec]

It seems that someone a couple years ago someone did a complete write up on refinishing the wood in an E38. Turned out really nicely, search that forum

[GregT53]

Ross, that was my concern as well, seeing how thin that veneer is over the metal core. Assumed that sanding would be borderline impossible, and hence my hope that it was lacquer...

But now I see that it's a polyester coating, thanks to The Chauffeur's link. Another hobby of mine in the past was building Fender style electric guitars and finishing them in "hand rubbed" nitro lacquer. Before sourcing new custom bare wood bodies and necks, I started out with refinishing actual Fenders, and short of the Custom Shop guitars they all had this nasty thick polyester coating. Heat gun worked like a charm to remove it, so I'm going to give it a shot on some crappy spare trim pieces when I get a chance and report back.

Would really love to eliminate the cracks on this graphite birdseye maple set I'm incorporating into the full interior swap on my M5

I’d be very interested in your results. I have one piece of birds eye trim with a crack and I see it every time I open my door. It cracked two winters ago in extreme cold after surviving over twenty years intact.

Also have read that the paper thin veneer is exceptionally temperamental to deal with. Another refining option is 3M Dinoc, but that means reworking everything and tossing originality. Plus, I have yet to see an acceptable replacement in Dinoc. It’s nice stuff; inexpensive and easy to use, but their idea of birds eye is far from what’s in these cars.

[moroza]

I'd try instead to source scraps of birdseye maple or burled walnut or quilted koa or cocobolo or kingwood or whatever, and bend/cut/file/sand them down to be glue-on solid replicas, than fuss with veneer that has to go over rounded corners. That said, I've never worked with it. Maybe ask guitar wood suppliers (Warmoth is a big one but there are countless others) for pieces too small to be of use for guitars, and probably get them for quite cheap. I can see trimmings from a fretboard blank working well for the glovebox piece, for instance. The shift surround would be pricier, but a lot easier to work.

[GregT53]

Interesting video. At least it’s known that heat can remove the lacquer. Wonder if a heat gun will do the trick rather than an iron. What I don’t understand is how the thin veneer is not damaged by that screwdriver. If I attempted it I would use something like a plastic coated playing card that would be softer and could conform to the radius of the piece. What could be used to replicate the original “plasticoat” finish. I got several pieces with cracks I collected over the years so I might get to work this weekend on removing the finish. If someone has a finish recommendation I’ll get it and give it a shot.

[shogun]

Water transfer printing works well, a member of the German 7-Forum bought some Highline tables with a lot of cracked veneer from me and remade them nicely, he also made wood cup holders with water transfer printing and now remade his steering wheel wood, here pics, starts from post 14, table pics from post 47 http://www.7-forum.com/forum/showthread.html?t=220531
Looks easy, but I assume actually it is not that easy.

Edit: moved a copy of this thread to the E32 forum, as that is an interesting subject

[kce1900]

At a vintage BMW meeting I talked to an E9 driver about the wood trims in his car, and he had them restored by a company in California. Their web sites shows some of the work they have done on BMWs. Scroll all the way to the bottom, they mention an E31 there. They ended up refinishing the trims in black because they couldn't get the varnish off without ruining the veneer.