GoodRevs

Sorry to bump this, but this looks incredible. Is it a custom job or is it sold somewhere?

Maxx941

iTrader: (1)

I'm pretty sure it was custom. Otherwise I'd have one too

Smitty

iTrader: (1)

I'm trying to remember all the steps to how to do this. Its kind of a trial and error type thing but if you have time and a little patience it pays off. Pretty much to make a custom wood bezel you have to do the following.

- Find some wood. Easiest way to do it is go to Lowes or Home Depot and find a wood with a nice grain. Its gonna be nearly impossible to find something that will be a perfect match.

- Also remove a wood trim piece from your car and take it with you to Lowes or Home Depot and you want to buy a few small cans of wood stain. Try to match up the trim piece with the color on the car. (Note that with wood stains the longer you leave it on the wood the darker it will get)

- if you have a double din kit for the ES300 or a something that you can trace the opening of the area that's perfect. You want to trace out the shape on the wood and cut it out. (I suggest you cut it just slightly bigger then the trace out only because you're gonna sand the edges a little so they're smooth. Always safe to cut a little bigger than too small) Also cut out a few small strips of wood for you to test on.

- Use the test strips and play with different combinations of wood stain and how much time you leave it on until you can get the color almost right. Unfortunately I could not get the color exactly perfect but close enough. Once you get the color you want, do the trace out piece.

- Apply a coat of varnish for the nice shine and all done.


One other option you may have and I actually thought about this for my ES when I was working on it is finding someone who does the wood grain finishes. I think they use a dipping or a airbrushing technique to achieve the wood grain look. I was really thinking about changing all my wood to a dark almost black wood finish. But never did it. Hope it helps.


-Smitty

GoodRevs

Smitty,

I've got my wood bezel all cut and ready to go. Now I'm at the stage of staining and finishing. I'm gonna do what you recommended and take the parts to Lowes and try and find a polyurethane to match it and touch up with varnish for gloss. Do you have a particular brand/type that you found matched well with the woodtrim in our cars? Thanks

funcrusher

Double din. I dont know why anyone would choose a single din over a double din unless $$$ was an issue. I'm still trying to decide whether i want to mold my double din in or get a navigation bezel with the opening

sneakers

putting this unit in my car tomorrow, tons of features for the money.

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...WX-GT77UI.html

Limen

We've got a single din in our ES. Only because I bought the Eclipse single din DVD/Navi back when I was 16 and put it in my first car (Sabb 9-3 Viggen). And it has gone from car to car with me for a while now. But I do think it looks good, sure not as good as a doulbe din, but still nice.

JTS06Z06

I thought of something that might be the best and closest match to OEM wood yet. Thats because it is OEM wood and I found sheets of it real cheap on ebay. The OEM wood in my 00 Platinum is called Bird's Eye Maple. I typed that into ebay and found atleast 3 good auctions for very thin sheets of it. The texture of this wood looks identical to the wood in my car so I think im going to go ahead and order some of this. Then I just gotta try and match the stain as close as possible. I will be purchasing and installing my Avic-X920BT in the coming weeks and will for sure post pictures when available.

Here is a link to one of the auctions for the Bird's Eye Maple sheets that I just purchased.

Thanks,
James

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWAX:IT