Cracked Wood Trim on Shifter & Dash

My wood grain trim on my 98 on the shifter on the console is cracking, can I get a replacement on line or from the dealer.

sure can, you can look on ebay and just get a full dash kit

Not really, unless you're willing to pay a fortune for it. You can't get only the wood trim piece itself, it's molded onto a larger piece that runs from the front to the back of the center console and includes the lid covering the cupholder area. I found one online from a salvage yard, they wanted $125. Who knows if it was the right shade of brown or not, or what condition it was in?

I can find the part number if you want to buy new, but again you need to find the color code for your wood and you'll pay out the ass for it. I don't know where the color code is.

I had the same problem and opted for the dash kit install. Read about my experiences here (<-- this slightly lighter grey text is a link, click on it) and choose wisely. Dash kits are basically a cheesy stick-on overlay that IMO don't look very good because of large gaps around the edges where they don't fully cover the underlying part. It might not bother you, it bothered me enough that I pulled every single piece I put an overlay on and painted it to match the overlay. Big job! The finished result looks killer but only because of the extra effort I put into it.

Mine cracked this winter I have peeled up most of it. I am saving for a full dash kit.

Has anyone installed a dash kit and pulled off the trim around the radio? I am having a problem with the look of sticking one trim on top of another (espescially in the middle of the dash.)

do a search man jack did it

I painted over my old wood trim first, click the invisible link in my previous post (there's an arrow pointing at it so you can see it). I looked at taking the wood trim off, but you'd have to cut it off with an X-acto razor saw blade or similiar tool, then sand down the plastic pegs. And then, you're new piece would be too small to fully cover the area the original plood covered.

I see what you mean about the size. I may make the decision based on the actual Dask Kit when I get. it.

Does anyone have the wood trim that goes on the center console around the shifter for sale? I am looking for the 97+ trim that is actual wood (lighter in color than the plastic ones). For whatever reason the PO put a cracked plastic one in my 97 and it doesnt match the dash, which annoys me! Thanks.

FYI, the wood is faux in Rivieras, it's a glossy wood-like plastic coating over metal. I know what you're looking for, just don't get discouraged if you don't find one made of actual wood - they don't exist!

Well as long as it matches I doesn't really matter what its made of. Looked pretty real to me, so I guess their trick worked.

Mines cracked and missing a piece also. I

I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with it yet. Remove it completely, fill in the cracks and gaps then paint it glossy black, color match the exterior of the car or thinking of something else.

I'm not a fan of the wood trim.

[quote=\"AA\"]FYI, the wood is faux in Rivieras, it\'s a glossy wood-like plastic coating over metal. I know what you\'re looking for, just don\'t get discouraged if you don\'t find one made of actual wood - they don\'t exist![/quote]

Ummm - no.

The original Rivs did have genuine wood trim, IIRC it was made by Yamaha in a plant down south (north carolina) that they got when they purchased one or another American piano maker (I think Baldwin). There\'s another post on this site with full details, I think if you search for Yamaha or piano you might find it. Very thin wood veneer on a metal plate, top-coated with polyurethane.

However, for various reasons many of the trims have been replaced or covered over, and I think the rosewood-looking applique set in the \'89 MY Rivs was fake.

In my Riv, there is a fake wood applique applied over the real one - that is, there are 2 layers of applique around the shifter. The wood on dash and door panels is also fake. At one edge of the now-covered shifter applique - it looks like PO or someone attempted to get purchase on (pry from underneath) the original applique to pry or pull it off, and the splinters were obvious. They are hidden by the console sides, found out by disassembling console after a spill that made the plastic shifter gate sticky. (I don't want to have to do that again it was time-consuming)

Seems to me that since the pieces are custom-cut anyway you ought to be able to get a trim piece from Sherwood (http://www.sherwooddash.com/) - use the \'contact us\' off the menu at top to find a distributor.

That said - maybe Ed Morad would have one from a Riv he\'s scrapping, he\'s usually got more than one in the yard. [url]moradpartscompany.com[/url] is the site I think.

They appear to be part of the \"plate assembly\" but you\'d have to verify that with a parts counter person. As it happens today I had access to old parts fiches and looked some up at lunchtime - Some of the P/N are available from monsterpartsonline.com - 25654456 (red \'97), 25654457 (neutral, 97), 25656427 (blue, \'99), 25656428 (green, \'99) are among the ones that show. the whole shooting match includes the little rubber bumpers, cupholder liners, transmission indicator assembly, coinholder and screws; they run $280 to $350 each on Monster depending on which one (color) you order - I assume they are NOS from a private (non-GM) parts jobber.

By the way for those of you with beat up console lids, Monster shows some of those too, they are about $110.- each. 12538079 is one of the part nums, I think that\'s a blue \'99 one. Some of the older ones are a bit cheaper.

Albertj

He has a '97. They didn't use real wood in the '97s; the dash and console pieces are a laminate. Your '98 is also fake wood, or at least mine is.

I was going by this site: http://rivowners.org/features/evolution/evpt96_99.html

It says they had real wood inserts. The top layer on my dash was starting to peel, I figured it was varnish or something.

Going by that info, you would believe '96 and up had real wood. The question is, why would they switch to faux wood by '98? Doesn't make sense to me.

AA wrote:

He has a '97. They didn't use real wood in the '97s; the dash and console pieces are a laminate. Your '98 is also fake wood, or at least mine is.

I edited the post to try to explain what's in mine. Below I'll comment on real vs fake.

Over dinner a few years ago a GM research person told me there was an ongoing discussion about using real versus fake wood appliques in the cars. Fake wood is consistent in color, gloss and dimensions, real is usually not. One thing that busted the argument was the Sherwood stuff. Another was competition--for instance Audi's real wood inlays. I remember when we had an Audi, I had to partly disassemble the console and show my spouse the rough side of the wood - you can just make it out next to the metal - and the price for a replacement part so she'd be a bit more careful around it.

So now - in the high line cars (caddy, buick) they will use a combination of real and fake wood. In lower line (Chevy) the factory wood's almost always fake.

Why?

The fake stuff is actually much more practical for cars and looks very convincing. That said - people with very good visual acuity can often tell the difference though, especially in bright sunlight, without having to disassemble stuff. What gives it away is that on many parts you can see the lithograph dot pattern without too much trouble, especially in bright sunlight.

I was thinking about pulling my fake wood and installing real, but just could not convince myself that that was any sort of prioritiy. The thing I don't want to do is to fight with gettign the old ones off. IF they used the 3M adhesives you can pretty much forget it... that stuff STICKS.

I might re-think that though, I got a good steering wheel from the pick-n-pull and given enough sheckels fall my way I plan to sent that sucker to Texas for the wood-n-leather treatment. At that point I'd get new dash wood to match and use a wire to cut the foam they use to interface between the applique and the dash.

What's in my car now looks like the Sherwood simulated 'cherry rosewood.' I would like the real walnut burl with steering wheel to match.

Albertj

So how do we really know if they used real wood in the '96 and '97 Rivieras? I need a little more than that article from the ROA. You're right, the faux wood does look convincing. I thought it was real until someone enlightened me a few years ago. You can't see the litho dot pattern because it wasn't printed. They used some other process to get the effect.

Now I am curious what the console in my car is from. It has the cassette holder (which I think was gone by 97) and the dark wood grain that looks like plastic.

albertj wrote:

At that point I'd get new dash wood to match and use a wire to cut the foam they use to interface between the applique and the dash.

What's in my car now looks like the Sherwood simulated 'cherry rosewood.' I would like the real walnut burl with steering wheel to match.

Albertj

I think that would look great Albert. My first post on rivperformance was in regards to finding a steering wheel with wood and leather that matches my interior. I would love to see one in a Riv. By the way I heard dental floss can saw off badges utilizing 3M tape with very little clean up.

I have the Sherwood dash kit installed in my car. The Real Rosewood color was very close to the original wood grain shifter surround. You can order the shifter piece by itself. When I ordered my kit from www.carid.com, I asked if you could order the pieces separate in case I messed up installing one. They said yes. I have a page that I got with the kit that has part numbers for the various pieces. The kit part # was 0614. The shifter surround was 0236-02



This is a close up of the stock shifter surround



This is the kit surround over the stock piece.

BMD wrote:

albertj wrote:

At that point I'd get new dash wood to match and use a wire to cut the foam they use to interface between the applique and the dash.

What's in my car now looks like the Sherwood simulated 'cherry rosewood.' I would like the real walnut burl with steering wheel to match.

Albertj

I think that would look great Albert. My first post on rivperformance was in regards to finding a steering wheel with wood and leather that matches my interior. I would love to see one in a Riv. By the way I heard dental floss can saw off badges utilizing 3M tape with very little clean up.

OK, dental floss I got. Now to find those sheckels.

Albertj

My Dash Kit Is Cracked What Can I Do About It Was Like This Went I Bought It Please Speak On It

A professional woodworker might try to inject some clear epoxy resin into the crack and then buff to a shine. It's similar to how a windshield repair is done. Maybe check with a local auto restorer or furniture builder.

Yeah,it would have to be sanded down and restained,simple enough,and clearcoated.you have to find out from the manufacture of the kit,the type of clear coat they used.it looks like a urethane,I know its flexible so it might be.once youve determined that,you can then go about reapplying the clear until its built up enough.
another way to do it is to actually cut straight through the crack,relieving the tension,it looks like it has buckled outwards,and glue down what has come unglued,and fill the void with wood colored epoxy and then clear.this would be easier. you have to find a "wood restorer" or "furniture touch up" company in your area.they can fix it. if you haven't done this work before,it can get messy quickly.
its gonna suc when you have to leave them the car for a day or so...a good restorer can have it done in a couple hours.....
oh..and btw,good restores can charge alot.finding one who is reasonable is harder. call the manufacture for recomendations...

Mine was in about the same condition when I bought it. We completely dismantled the dash, door panels, console, etc. and removed the woodgrain (much easier said than done) and installed a new kit. I have not posted pics yet, but plan to do so soon. If you like the woodgrain, I suggest following AA's advice.