Not sure if there is/was s thread about this, but I polished the wood in my car this weekend.

When shining a bright light on the wood, was a bit surprised at the micro swirls/scratches in the wood...just from age and use.

So I polished it much like you would car paint since the wood has a pretty decent clear coat on it like your exterior paint.

I used a Lake Country orange hand pad cut into a 1" square or so. I used HD Speed all in one as the polish. And of course a bit of elbow grease!

Came out spectacular...depth is impressive. I was negligent taking before pictures...but did snap one after picture.

Easy project to do if you're bored.

 

Looks great. Inspires me to do my SC and GX.

 

I have had my dash apart a few different times for radio and a/c control upgrades. I noticed on my car both the dash, door and console wood grained trim are made of plastic. I have an '06

 

He's absolutely correct. Its all plastic. Yes, you can buff it out. But you need plastic type polishes.

Paul

 

I've read multiple times that's it's a real wood veneer on plastic. Steering wheel and shifter are more "solid" wood. Ditto my LS430.

 

Yes it is real wood glued to plastic as mentioned.

 

Nice work! I haven't heard of the pad or polish brands you used. Are they specific for polishing plastic? Before reading your post, I would have likely tackled this job with any brand of plastic polish I had on hand, like Meguiars, and a microfiber cloth.

 

Sorry to disagree, but as you can see the nav screen door is a piece of ABS (marked as such) covered with a piece of aluminum, painted or decal ed, then cleared.

 

No disagreement on the main door material. But have been told it's real wood many times...a wood veneer. "A wood veneer on composite" was the actual term used. Supposedly from the same tree. I read another story how the veneer sits on a piece of aluminum...which you seem to confirm. And yes, it's nearly paper thin.(my dad woodworks and some of his veneers are incredibly thin).

Although I think, in the end, we're splitting hairs. It's the clear coat that gets the scratches anyways.

**EDIT** Just checked the sales brochure and real wood is mentioned multiple times. Hand chosen for grain consistency too, apparently.

**EDIT 2** Apparently, Yamaha Fine Technologies has been doing the Lexus wood since the onset. The wood itself is only ~ .2mm thick (.008") The wood, aluminum and adhesive composites combined are less than 1mm thick (.04").

 

No..these are car paint polishing items. Since the wood is covered with a clearcoat (as is the exterior of the car) I used those items in the same way I remove micro swirls from the exterior. Albeit with gentle hand rubbing and not a machine.

 

It still astounds me that Lexus, that paradigm of perfection, would use a different species and colour of wood on the steering wheel and shifter than what's used on the rest of the interior. (Mine is the same, not pointing out flaws on yours.)

 

Was it just polish that you used or did you use a seal or wax over it? it does look great!

 

The item I used is an AIO (all in one). It's a cleaner, polish and sealant.

 

Picture of the process from Yamaha Fine Technologies. Impressive that all of that is less than 1mm thick when you think about it.