Has anyone installed a wood dash kit ?? If so, any suggestions as to best place to purchase- or any drawbacks for people who've had a negative experience???

 

I bought & installed the B&I kit, for 2003 coupe black/willow, kit WD455E w/o Nav plus WD455I (radio). It looks awesome (much higher quality) and easy to install (even for a gal). Contact was initially made via ebay. They offer synthetic and real wood, titanium etc. I went with med burl wood synthetic because I thought it went best with willow interior.

 

How about some pictures?

 

How is that wood? I got a sample from somewhere, and it's soft, the wood on my sedan's door handles is rather hard, the sample I got, you could make a dent with your nail, can't on the door handles!


Brilliant Silver/Graphite/Chrome Wheels '04 Sedan/5AT

 

I took 6 to show various parts, but with the camera, didn't know how to size it well and could not get the top light/control section and around steering wheel dash base with lack of light. I covered the coupe window controls, radio area, around steering dash base, console, upper roof controls, glove box, front air vents, space where Nav (isn't), rear ashtray. I did not put the pieces for auto shift controls ( have silver titanium) which looks good in contrast

 

Help: How do I post pictures? I took 6, after typed reply was able to select just 1, it took some time to upload, but wouldn't give me oppty to add more, and I can't see the one I attached neither.

 

I believe OEM is also synthetic, possibly lighter color burled wood. You would need to ensure factory match. I had no original wood.
Yes, you can put fingernail and "seem to scratch" but I believe it is just the shiny coating, because after a few seconds, I can't see mark I made. I am sure deep slashes would show, but I have had it on several months and am always putting things on console including keys and it is OK..
Perhaps there is a difference in real wood vs synthetic. I opted for synthetic because the real wood looked too red in color. This kit also comes in Carbon fiber/colors and real brushed aluminum.

 

Hmmm, the options list says: "Genuine bird's-eye maple wood trim Leather and wood shift **** Wood insert on front/rear door armrests", so, it should not be synthetic, I do know from having worked with maple before, it does not dent with a fingernail, damn, you trash saw blades cutting that stuff, LOL! It's extremely hard wood!



Brilliant Silver/Graphite/Chrome Wheels '04 Sedan/5AT

 

no, the factory one is REAL wood and yes, it is lighter colored (haha "genuine birds-eye maple"). of course, i won't take a file to my door armrests and shift **** to prove that to you.

the non-infiniti wood kits i've seen have more pieces to it (more wood than i really want in my car) and are a much darker color (and some are synthetic, from what i've read). i like the metallic look of my console and don't want wood covering that, too. some kits are just wood overkill, in my opinion. [img]/w3timages/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

PM if you want pics of factory wood. and lhb01... PM me if you still need help with those pics. [img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img]

<font color=purple>.g35girl.</font color=purple>

 

The only addition to the factory "wood" I'd consider, would (no, not wood) might be the console, nothing else, I see that's available at Japanparts.com, but has not seat heater cutouts, and damn, talk about overpriced, sheesh! And you are right, those kits are overkill on the wood look! How is the metallic console holding up BTW? LOL, you sound like a friend of mine, we were talking about it being real wood, and he said "give me a knife, we'll find out" LOL!


Brilliant Silver/Graphite/Chrome Wheels '04 Sedan/5AT

 

haha ABQ_tom... the console is holding up. *knock on birds eye maple* but, then again, i CG the thing so i'm hoping i won't see any scratches. just tell your friend to bang his head against your armrest. and have him listen for a hollow sound. [img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img]

<font color=purple>.g35girl.</font color=purple>

 

Good one G35Girl, I'll have to remember that![img]/w3timages/icons/laugh.gif[/img]


Brilliant Silver/Graphite/Chrome Wheels '04 Sedan/5AT

 

I know I'm chiming in a little late on this thread....
I had my last Infiniti I35 done with a wood kit from the dealer when I purchased it.....
The appearance was very nice....added some more "richness" to an already pretty nice interior...

Problem with my kit was over time the pcs tended to shrink and contract at different rates...this caused the seams where the joined together to slightly misalign and look less than "factory"

once or twice I noticed a few of the smaller pieces starting to lift.....and this really became a problem after the first year. I do live in the Northeast so the climatic changes are pretty severe....

I don't think I would do another dash kit...IMO it didn't meet the standards of the cars interior....I'm sure there are kits out there that probably are alot better in fit/quality than the one I had installed....but my real gripe was even though its a veneer...it still looked added on in most of the places, especially on the center console area around the radio/heat controls....thats my story and I'm sticking to it! <font color=blue>2old4this</font color=blue>

04 cpe ivory pearl/willow/5at/prem/sport wheel pkg/clear corners/Piaa's

 

Thanks for relaying your experiences with the "wood" kits, that is something I had wondered about, especially here in the Southwest, gets soooo hot in the summer sun! I will be staying away from anything like that now!


Brilliant Silver/Graphite/Chrome Wheels '04 Sedan/5AT