Ok, so in my previous post I garnered some feedback on how to remove the steering wheel on an '08 Sequoia. Several folks asked me why I was seeking to remove the wheel and I responded by indicating that I was interested in having the silver dash parts redone in a wood-look trim. I've done some research and feel like I have found an establishment that should be able to do this for me and that I am comfortable with.
The purpose of this thread is to attempt to document my process in going about with this. I recognize that by documenting the process as it takes place, as opposed to after its all nicely buttoned up; I stand to possibly end up with egg on my face if the outcome isn't as expected. That being said, I am prepared to do this for a two reasons:
1. I've always felt that the interior is lacking in these vehicles, especially for those that have paid "platinum" prices. Additionally, I've felt that some well developed wood-look trim finishing could go a long way…..especially on the sand interior. My documenting the process is so that folks can learn from it and make their own independent decisions.
2. I'm honestly so damn excited about this, that I feel like I want to share with the fellow forum members.
All that being said, he’s what I’m hoping to get done:
I plan to remove all of the silver dash trim pieces and send them to a place that uses a hydrographic printing process (a/k/a Water Transfer Printing) to cover the silver with a wood-look finish. Keep in mind there is no real wood involved; it’s an imprint of a “wood look”. The parts that will be sent off are as follows:
§ Silver Instrument Cluster cover. Plan to leave the instrument “rings” silver, i.e uncoated.
§ Silver Gear Shift surround.
§ All 4 silver trim pieces surrounding the window rocker switches on the doors.
§ Silver area of Shift knob. (still debating on this one. If the end result is overkill, I will simply replace with a full brown shift knob from the Tundra).
§ Steering wheel.
I will not be coating the silver trim on the 2nd row center console (platinum) as it is down fairly low and not obvious to the eye. I also don’t want to overwhelm the interior with this finish.
This is, without a doubt, going to be significantly more expensive than a wood dash appliqué. So, the natural question is why go through all the trouble.
1. The fit and finish will be much better since you are coating the part itself, rather than sticking something onto it.
2. The wood appliqué kits are not complete i.e. they don’t cover certain areas. Examples include, the square panel surrounding the 4 wheel drive switches. The trim piece around the gear shifter and finally, the window switch cavities.
3. By using hydrographic printing you get to sample the exact color you want, so you have a lot more options to achieve the look you want, and finally
4. There is no bulge as in the case of an appliqué. This is especially prominent on the window switch trim where it is possible to tell that something has been layered on top.
This past week I figured out how to remove all the silver parts. They are all fairly straightforward. The biggest relief is that the door panels do not have to be removed in order to remove the silver trim around the window switches. Also, the shop has told me that they have spare steering wheels in stock so I don’t have to send mine in until I receive a new one. They will charge me for a core, until I send mine back.
I just received a sample piece of the “wood trim” today. I haven’t seen it yet as it is at home, however, the wife has confirmed that it has arrived and she appears to like it. I will reserve judgment when I see it. If it is up to standard, I will post a picture here.
In any event, this is the general idea behind the project. I will post more information as it progresses. I will also post a small piece on what exactly hydrographic printing is and how the process generally works.
Last edited by VernSchillinger; 04-16-2009 at 02:43 PM.
Ok. So here is the sample that I received today. Its almost 90% of the look I want. I would like a very slight cherry tint to it. I've asked for another sample. The sample has been printed on a flexible piece of plastic and, hence, the reflection on the bottom left. You can see how the pattern includes a burl look to it, thereby simulating wood.
The hydro graphic process consists of transferring a pattern to an object using water displacement. Any material that is hard surfaced and non porous such as glass, wood, metals, fiberglass, ceramics and all types of plastics and can be submerged in water without harm can be printed.
The most important step in the hydrographic process is the preparation of the article to be printed. Cleaning, sanding and the appropriate bonder/primer are then applied and sanded smooth.
A base coat is applied to correspond with the pattern to be printed. The color of the base coat controls the hue of the pattern. Such as a brown for a woodgrain print. The contrast can also be controlled through the application of both a base coat and a finish coat.
The pattern chosen is printed on a water soluble polyvinyl film. This film is carefully laid on top of water that is contained in a special made tank for hydrographic printing.
An activating solvent is then applied by spray to the films pattern. As the film dissolves, it leaves the printed pattern floating evenly on top of the water.
The object being printed is then dipped through the pattern. The water being displaced by the object causes the pattern to wrap around and adheres the print to the object no matter how complex the shape, creating a continuous finish.
The item is then rinsed to remove any residue and then air dried.
Several coats of a catalized automotive urethane is applied. Finishes can range from flat to a glass like high gloss finish. Automotive urethane finishes meet the most demanding standards for hardness, UV resistance, chemical resistance and adhesion and are also easily maintained.
Finally the item is wet sanded, buffed and polished.
Interesting. I think it looks good, but I wouldn't chose dark wood. I have a red rock interior, and I would go for lighter color (maple I think) to go with the red/orange (like some Porsches/BMWs do).
Don't want to post pricing at this juncture as its not firm yet. Additionally, it wouldn't be fair to the vendor. Think somewhere in the $500 - $1K range for everything, including the steering wheel (which is the most labor intensive and therefore the most costly).
If everything pans out as planned, i will provide the vendor name and associated specifics (ex-pricing).
In terms of process, I'm waiting for an new sample that should be coming by the end of the week. I'm hopeful that it will be what I'm looking. This is an iterative process and, hence, is slow.
I actually think that dark wood would look really nice with a red rock interior. Would provide a great contrast. I almost ended up with a redrock interior myself, however, I could not get over the color mismatches between the leather on the seats and the other trim panels such as the lower dash panels and the storage door cover on the front doors.
I plan to take before and after pics, so folks can make their own judgements. Taste is a personal thing and I'm sure some folks will like the end results, while others will take the view of the factory silver trim being their preferred look.
That's okay, that ballpark is enough. As long as it's below 1K it's feasible, but I've find real wood options for around 600K. But that does not include the steering wheel of course.
As for the red rock interior color, due to the fact that door covers, others, have texture in it that reflects the light differently, it can be strange at first, but you get used to it quickly. At least I did, although I reckon Toyota could have done a better job there. It looks worse in pictures, specially with flash, because of the single light source exacerbates the fact that light is being reflected differently. I think the bland interior of the other options is WAY too bland, but that's my opinion only.
These are the options I've find so far for the red rock interior:
Lexus: this combo I didn't like, it has a chevy feel to it (the wood trim)...I don't know:
BMW: This one I like better, not totally though, but the lighter the wood trim, the better it gets:
(sorry, I don't mean to hijack your thread).
Do you think any of these can be done with this process? Where is this vendor located?
No problem. Don't think you are hijacking this thread at all. This thread is related to creation of a wood trim finish for the interior surfaces and, hence, is relevant.
I totally agree that the so called mis-match of the red Rock color is due to the different textures of the surface. That being said, for some reason this stands out much more with Red Rock than the sand or grey. I agree Toyota could have done a better job. Don't get me wrong, I still really like the Red Rock.....heck, I almost bought one.
I think those colors and patterns can be closely replicated using the WTP process. The easiest way is to provide the vendor with a real sample of what you're looking for. Photographs make the process a lot harder. Which is why I'm having to go back and forth with multiple samples.
The shop is located in FL. I am in NC, so I'm having to deal with the lag associated with samples going back and forth as well.
The 3 series example with the Saddle Brown interior and Dark Burl wood is also a great combo. Have seen it in person....it really pops.
Hope to have the new samples in hand by Friday. Will post updated pics then.
One more point worth mentioning is that pictures don't accurately reflect the real look as light, shutter speed, flash vs. no flash all result in dramatic differences. I'll attempt to illustrate this with the next round of pics.
Its been about a week since I posted an update. I received several samples from the vendor and finally made a selection. I'm not going to post a picture of the sample since the camera just doesn't depict the correct color -- it is similar to the original dark brown sample, but now has a slight maroon tint to it.
I started to remove the silver trim pieces to send them in to the vendor, when I decided that I want to take the project to the next level by modifying the lower dash piece i.e the one that goes around the shifter and also houses the 4WD switches.
As you know, the 4WD switches are housed within a small square trim piece that then sits within the larger lower dash silver piece that goes around the shifter. My goal was to integrate these two pieces together and make them one single piece by eliminating the seam between the pieces. I think the end result, post the hydrographic printing, will be worth the effort.
The way I went about doing this was by filling the seam with a plastic epoxy bond. Once I was able to fill the seam, I let the epoxy cure for 24 hours and then finally wet sanded it smooth, starting with coarse grit sandpaper and working down to a fine smooth finish. Here are some pictures to illustrate the process.
Products/Tools used:
Two part plastic epoxy bonding/filling material:
Raw application of the epoxy to the seam:
Final piece post curing and sanding. The epoxy is clear and, hence, the seam appears to be visible. However, when a finger is run along the where the seam used to be, it is now completely smooth and seamless. There is one minor defect on the top right corner that will have to be refilled with epoxy and sanded down.
The plan is have all the pieces off the car this weekend, bubble wrap them and mail them to the vendor early next week. After that, the turnaround time should be about 2.5 - 3 weeks.
What the heck....decided to the post a picture of the samples. The picture does not accurately reflect the color and darkness, but I figured it might at least illustrate the variability between them. My final choice is the middle sample.
To give you a sense for how the camera can change presentation, the leftmost sample in this picture is the same sample as shown in the photo in post #2 above.
I finally disassembled all the pieces from the vehicle and now need to bubble wrap them individually and send them off to the vendor. I've included a couple of pictures of the pieces, so as to be able to illustrate a "before and after", once the process is complete.
Here are all six pieces that will be treated to the hydrographic wood print process.
This is the upper instrument cluster surround piece. It was the trickiest to remove because one has to remove the lower kick panel and them unplug the two main harnesses. One also has to undo the leather piece that covers the gap between the steering column and the instrument cluster. Note that the silver trim rings are absent. I have removed them as I don't want them coated with the wood trim. I think they will provide a nice accent in their current form, against the wood background.
This is the lower instrument panel piece that goes around the shifter. This is the one I spent the most time with because I wanted to integrate the 4WD switch panel into the main panel, as I described above.
Finally, this is the drivers side window/lock switch cover. Again, the purpose is to illustrate a before and after.
I have not posted a picture of steering wheel, because I am not sending mine in. The vendor has core wheels available and will perform the work directly on one of his wheels. I will eventually send him mine, once I swap is out.
very nice, id like to see the finished product, and the price of course, but mostly im interested in seeing how the steering wheel turns out.
I'll be sure to post plenty of pics of the steering wheel, once its done. It should be interesting attempting to swap the wheel out as I have not done that before. I've found several posts with directions on how to go about doing it though.
The parts went out via UPS ground yesterday. They should be at the vendor by Wednesday or Thursday. It will take the vendor about 3 weeks to turn it around.
In the meantime, I decided to perform one more modification. Once all the silver dash pieces are covered in the wood print, there are only two areas that will continue to be in silver, and therefore, stand out. These are the trim rings that surround the 4WD control knob and the HVAC blower knob. As a result I decided to get a bit creative.
When I removed the upper instrument cluster surround, I also disconnected the 4WD control knob. As such, I decided to paint the trim ring around the knob with a flat black paint suited to plastic surfaces. This gets very tricky because the "2WD", "4H", "Push" and "4L" are all back lit. As a result, they cannot be painted over. Furthermore, the are all black in color and, hence, the silver background is needed in order for the alphabets to be clearly visible in the daytime (when they are not backlit).
I started by masking the trim ring with white masking tape and then taking a pencil and outling the area that I did not want the paint to cover. I then took an exacto knife used in hobby crafts and cut the area of tape that I wanted. The process of marking and cutting this with a knife, freehand, is extremly difficult because (i) the area is small, and (ii) I had to draw and cut at a curve due to the circular nature of the area being painted.
Once I had the area masked off, I applied two coats of the paint. Below is the end result. I acknowledge that it isn't perfect, due to the freehand nature of the task, however, from a distance of about a foot or so, one cannot perceive the minute flaws.
Let me know what you think. I think all of these little projects will come together and the benefit will become clear once everything is buttoned up.
Hydrographic Printing: Wood (Dash Trim)
Linear Mode
