carolinarunner

ok, so my friend hit the wood grain stuff around the clock to make the clock come back on in his 99 limited, and it cracked. Ive been searching and searching for a replacement, but all i can seem to find are entire kits for 200+ or that cheap cover up stuff. Does anyone know where i can find a replacemnt JUST for the center piece around the air vents and what not for a decent price? Any input, links, etc. would be great!

Thanks,
Kyle!

drpdmazda

are you talking about the wood grain overlay, or is his model the one that has the plastic woodgrain? most places dont sell the overlay pieces individually due to the fact that the "grain" may not match, or the color may be slightly different. I ran into the same problem a few years back with a corolla. I contacted a guy that was willing to sell me just the part i needed, but he warned heavily that it will most likely not match. He was right, i ended up ordering the whole kit. If its the plastic woodgrain looking dash then you may be able to find one at a local auto recylcer.

TheDurk

What cracked, exactly?? Is it just the clear plastic overlay on the top of the wood veneer?

If so, you could try what I did with my driver's side door switch panel that delaminated. Soak the thing in water until you can pull the clear plastic overlay off the wood. Sand the wood lightly--it's REALLY thin--until smooth and uniform. Restain with whatever MinWax looks good to you. Tack on 7 or 8 coats of MinWax polyurethane and it will look BETTER than stock. Mine was a very close match to the other pieces, and I am slowly redoing all of them.

I learned to do this on a BMW 7-series e23, head over to bimmerboards and search for how-to's if you want details and pics.

Of couse, if you cracked the wood and the bottom plastic, too, then you are SOL.

tunnelmotor99

Is it the toyota overlay? The plastic overlay on mine had yellowed and cracked so I removed all of it...if you go that route just know that it is a BITCH to get off!

Marley2984

just take it off. That plastic overlay wood always looks odd after awhile anyway.