Gojirra99

Lexus use German "Bader" leather for SC430 seats. LINK HERE

RMMGS4

iTrader: (5)

OK,
I just spent 3 minutes sanding this piece of door trim with 100 grit sandpaper.

There was a nice thick layer of clear coat over the surface. Once I sanded therough the clear coat, Bingo ! , I hit raw wood.

I continued to sand the wood surfiace for a couple more minutes to verify that it would not wear off like a simulated pattern would. If I continued to sand, I'm sure I would go right through the veneer and hit the plastic backing.

There you have it folks !

.

ChuH

Hey RMMGS4:

Thanks for confirming that real wood is used once in for all. Even though it is only a thin veneer. Did you just ruin your door trim?

Chu...

Gojirra99

Thank you !! A lot of people can sleep better now.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Much thanks RMMGS4 - way to go.

FutureGS400

I was just about to sand my center console to see if it was real wood-now I don't have to do it!

Threxx

First of all, there is NO WAY the wood in the GS is fake. Thin, sure... I'd believe that. Having thick wood is pointless as it would just add weight, plus the more wood you have, the more susceptible it's going to be to warping and such, which is probably one of the main reasons it has six mounting points. The wood on my center console area has actually warped every so slightly on the right hand side... it's not an assembly defect, the wood has actually bowed out in the center a little bit over time.

Need further proof? Press the back of your hand against the wood on your doors on a 70 degree day. They will be cool to the touch. Now go touch the fake wood trim on any other car, it will be the same temperature as the rest of its environment.

Furthermore, Lexus uses some of the best and softest leather in the industry. There really is no such thing as 100% leather in cars or even most home furniture. Why? Because its texture is too inconsistant and it wears too easily. By incorporating a mix of high quality vinyl and covering the leather with a polymer-based dye, the leather becomes much more durable, and much more consistant in color and texture.

The cheaper the leather, the stiffer the leather and the more use of vinyl. Go look at the leather in something like a Trans Am... it's almost a lie to call it leather. Go cut out a small section of a Honda Accord's leather (somewhere like where the rear seat back connects to the trunk so it'll never be missed) and then notice how much thinner it is, and look at it from a side profile and notice how there's just a very thin layer of leather, and the rest is a fibrous vinyl substance. The same test from a GS and you'll see leather that's between 2 and 3 times as thick and has no real visible lack of leather except on the very surface where the dye is.

True the seatbacks and a few other small areas aren't leather, but honestly, how important is it to have leather there? I actually prefer for the seat backs to not be leather, that way people aren't kicking leather with their dirty feet and I can stick stuff in the rear pockets without feeling guilty.

04GS300

I think some people like Bentley use 100% leather everywhere...dash, headliner, etc. But then, they're Bentley...lol

SeattleGS400

iTrader: (1)

Good discussion overall on this topic--I almost can't believe that some thought the GS wood wasn't real, but it does have really thick lacquering on it. Coming from Nissan Maximas and Acura TLs with "simulated wood" interiors to the GS's real wood interior, you can definitely tell that the GS's is real from the subtle grains upon close inspection and how it reflects light--that's something the Acura and Nissan "wood" never displayed. As a matter of fact, the Acura and Nissan "wood" looked like a sticker on plastic.

A while back I was reading some literature on the RX, and from what I gather, they cut the bits of wood interior for a single car from the same walnut sample (I would assume the same for the other series of Lexus cars). If 1 piece of the set doesn't look right, they discard the that set and start over (at least that's what they say)--but it does make sense, as the the Lexus car's interior wood pieces match up quite well. Lastly, just a tidbit of info, Lexus switched to a different manufacturer of wood (supposedly with more stringent quality standards) beginning with the '99 cars, so the '98 cars might have more variability in wood appearance.

Among other things, Ferrari (like others in this superexotic category) uses all leather as well on their dash, side panels, seats, etc. (at least in the F360 Modena I had the fortune to RIDE in, not drive. . . . Covering the whole dash with leather is quite the feat (most of us have dashes made of vinyl from a mold made from an original leather covered dash production sample)--but it sure smells nice being enveloped in all of that leather. Anyways, in that Ferrari, you could custom choose what color and shade of leather you want, what color of stitching, etc.--it's pretty cool, but of course, comes at a premium price.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

wow thanks for proving that rmmgs4, now that's really good to know

rominl

iTrader: (4)

well, in that case i know something you dont'

mmarshall

Get serious.....some of those people couldn't give you the time of day. They're basically hired as public relations people and not much else.

Hameed

Thanks Glen for proving we have wood in our cars! I can sleep now!

Know where I can source pieces of similar wood to cover the center console when I pull out the original stereo and stick in my Pioneer Premier DEX-P9? No, not a dash kit. I am not interested in the dash kits available on www.exoticwooddash.com .............

RMMGS4

iTrader: (5)

Yeah ,
I just did a blackwood conversion, so these old pieces were out just a couple of days ago. The timing couldn't of been better.

Well I'm glad it is real wood too. As far as being only a thin veneer, that's not so bad when you consider that most wood furniture is just Medium desity fiberboard over thin wood veneer too. Seldom do you see even expensive furniture that is solid wood, unless it's old / antique stuff. We shouldn't feel bad about the veneer at all.

RMMGS4

iTrader: (5)

I might be able to do something, depending on what exactly you are trying to do.

Give me a call to discuss it further. My PM box is getting full of unanswered Q's.