Re: Wood Trim Real of Fake?

["Scott M." <scottmo@teleport.com>]

Eric,

My 89 200TQ has/had the same problem (cloudy clear coat)
with the dash and door panel wood trim. I removed the front
dash wood trim pieces and used 600 grit wet/dry sand paper
to wet sand the clear coat and then I buffed it with some
"clear coat" polish for automotive finishes. The wet
sanding removed the majority of scratches etc. and after
buffing this process improved the clarity of the clear
coat. It did not make it perfect but was much improved. You
may want to try just using some of this clear coat polish
first to see if it improves the look enough before going
through all the work to remove the pieces from the dash,
wet sanding, buffing etc. Keep in mind that this wet
sanding/buffing etc. was a really messy job and it would be
difficult to do without removing the wood pieces from the
dash. 

Be careful when wet sanding around the edges, I went
through the clear coat in one small spot on the right edge.
I have not tried to do the door panel pieces yet but it
might be possible to do them without removing them from the
doors. I'm told that there is  finer grit sandpaper
available for wet sanding automotive finishes (1000+ grit?)
 which would be better than the 600 stuff. The only
question is whether this buffed out clear coat will once
again get cloudy over time and make this process a waste of
time.

One thing that I have been wanting to try is to obtain a
wood dash piece out of a wrecking yard car that is really
clouded up and then try chemically stripping off the clear
coat and then stain and clear coat it.  If this was
successful then I would do the existing trim on my car. I
suspect the original coating gets cloudy due to UV ray
exposure or just it could be just exposure to high temps
that occur in the summer months. The later wood trim in the
91 200TQ sure looks much better with a nice "clear" clear
coat. 

I don't really agree with B. Myers as to the wood being
"tissue paper" thin, but it is  thin veneer and should be
handled with care.

Of course there is always that "carbon fiber" look to
convert the existing dash/door panel pieces to.......

HTH
Scott M.

> It probably looks fake because the clearcoat is becoming
cloudy -- a
> common problem.  All of the pieces on my car are starting
to cloud up, but
> the ashtray door is the worst, possibly because as a
horizontal surface it
> tends to be scratched by objects placed upon it.
>  I've asked this before, but got no responses:  Anybody
know how to
> prevent or even repair the cloudiness?
>  Eric Renneisen
> '90 CQ 20V  -  my 'racing-iron  ;^)
> Chattanooga, TN