Marklouis

the wood grain is what pops out in the LS interior - I love my Yamaha inspired wood grain! I have to tell passengers constantly it is the real thing because the gloss is so thick and shiny they think its high polished faux designed plastic.

GLIDESUL

Different but not my type, your work looks very clean. How much did you pay for your ride?

warminwisc

Longer than 8 hours call your doctor!!!

jimxms2

was about £5k with 120k on clock and Full lex history from new with a bag full of reciepts.

Here's some slightly better pics:








Ran out of Di-noc long enough to do the door trim so I'm going to have to put in another order to get it all finished.

(BTW, the iphone camera seems to have gone to ***** since upgrading to OS5)

DNC

You come from a part of the world that produces some of the most handsome wood products I have ever seen. You will have to forgive those of us who see more plastic than wood; it makes us a little more inclined to appreciate wood.

jimxms2

A part of me wants to say that wood should be limited to Jags and Bentleys because thats the only place it seems totally at home. But now I'm the owner of an LS it's easy to see that this car also deserves it too.

Just not my cuppa tea

J.Chimpo

Looks ok, you should at least make sure the weave is all going the same direction though. The shifter area is going one way, the center stack area is going the opposite direction and the pass side dash goes the opposite of the center area.

Dutchie101

Neat finish. Im with most of the others, i love my wood. Ni Doc on the black does look good.
Not sure what you will think of this but can i suggest you make the Ni Doc "wet" not dry as it is.

You should be able to spray a few layers of clear coat over the top of it and polish to a high lustre. It will still be easily removable later on. I think "wet" would give it that bit more class.

Ps: Yep, Be sure to keep the weave direction the same all across the whole console.

jimxms2

Yeah I've been considering wet, but I might get a bodyshop to do it for me as I've never been able to get rattle cans of clear coat to work for me. They always end up with a nasty orange-peel finish.

I'm really having problems removing the door panel trim too. Does anyone have experience with this? All the other panels have come off with a little bit of leverage, but the door trim feels like it'll snap before it comes loose.

Dutchie101

This is what have re door panel removal:



Hope that helps.

Jabberwock

Jim -
Given its a black leather interior the more I look at the pics the more I like it.

Not sure the treatment would work as well with lighter colors but on the black leather interior that trim trim treatment looks really good. I bet it significantly changes the mood/feel of the interior.

jimxms2

Thanks man. Yeah I have to agree that on a grey/cream interior I don't think it would work anywhere near as well. In fact when I was selecting my LS430 I said to myself that if it had a cream interior I might try the 3M brushed aluminium to cover up the wood instead. I think that would keep the luxury look in-tact while being more youthful.

I think the carbon , to an extent, might make you subconsciously think you're in a much more sporty car and drive a bit differently. But as soon as you put your foot down, the smooth power delivery along with that "are you sure you want to nail it" 'step' that the accelerator pedal makes soon reminds you.

Dutchie101

JIm- have you used the 3M brushed ali before? whats the material like? any stretch? I like that idea

Sorry to picture jack your thread, but the brushed looks amazing!

jimxms2

Yeah it's more-or-less exactly the same to work with as the carbon stuff I used. Both are from the 'Di-noc' family and cost a fair bit for a roll big enough to use in the car, but it's really good stuff.

All you need is a hair dryer and a sharp knife. The di-noc becomes super stretchy and flexible when heated and can easily be pulled and moulded around various shapes with ease. If you get it wrong, you can just heat it up again and start over. It doesn't crease up or get stuck together.

There's little/no risk of bubbles either as the material is quite thick and 'breathes' when you heat it up, so you can easily work out any air bubbles, though I've never had any to be honest.

Dutchie101

Thanks Jim, I used to be a signwriter and applied a lot of premium ultra thin vinyl back then. I was amazed at the forgiving nature of the NiDoc, its wonderful to work with. Ive just ordered 10 feet of the brushed aluminium