I need my dash and window trim woodgrained. Any tips on how to or good kits to use? Who could I hire in the Los Angeles area? Thanks
Contact the Kennedy brothers, their dad is the best at wood graining dashes and garnish moldings. The boys shop is in the Pomona area.
If you want to do a near-professional job yourself, go to Grain It Technologies website. Jdee is a member here, though I haven't seen him on lately. They do it the way the old OEM factories did it, with photo engraved plates, used to apply ink to soft rollers, to transfer it to dashes, moldings, etc. They sell a kit for about half the price of getting it done by someone else. They also sell a variety of plates for different wood types and can guide you to using the correct wood grain for you car, if you like. I got a kit, and it was very easy to use, they send a DVD with it with instructions. In most cases, it looks better than a lot of hand done jobs.
check into "Hydro dipping" ,the wood grain film that is used in that process is very close looking to real wood. We have a shop in town here that offers Hydro dipping services and the process looks very nice when done. A buddy had some interior trim pieces done in woodgrain on his Denali and they looked factory.
Without question, Phill Whetstone. He's a fellow HAMBr too, his screenname is philly the greek. Check out his website and click the "Wood Grain" tab at the top. While you're at it, click all the tabs, and you'll be blown away at what Phill can do. He's in Orange County (Santa Ana). Phone# 714-241-8383
Hydro dipping is pretty sweet but I did mine before that was an option (in 1997) I pulled the stock gauge cluster and traced it onto a thin piece of wood I bought at "woodcraft" a woodworking store. cut everyting out and covere with polyeurethane. It looks really good in mine and everyone else who has seen it commented on it. I would post a pic but I don't feel like dealing with signing up for some other host website like photobucket, I've got too many passwords to keep up with already.
Woodgraining is not very difficult to do at home. You paint the surface with tan paint, then apply the darker wood grain paint with a feather or rag. It does not need to be uniform, the real wood is not. Finish with clear. There are instructions on the web and Youtube. There is a bit of a knack to it, so practice first. You will soon get the hang of it. You do not need a lot of expensive tools or paints.