Has anyone installed an aftermarket woodgrain dash kit? They cost about 1/3rd the price of the OEM dash kit, and I'm wondering if the fit and finish is worth the savings. Cheers, Dave.

 

Yes they do. I personaly don't have one installed on my Runner, but we have a guy here called Jason B. (Burtman Industries) who can hook you up with some awsome kits, either wood grain or carbon fiber, ect.. Just contact him here some how and I'm sure he would be glad to get you a kit right away. He's awsome to do business with and is always willing to help here on the forum.

Also wlecome and enjoy our little comunity, you have found your way into the best toyota forum around. Ask ANY question, everyone is willing to help to the best of our knoledge(which is alot once you have this many people). Once again WELCOME.

 

For me, they are not worth it, simply because they do not look OEM at all. They go ontop of the factory plastic stuff, and you can see edges and borders everwhere, whereas the factory stuff, well, looks factory. If you look around you can find decent deals on the factory wood, (I am getting it for well under $400 for everything, including the shifter surround).

Just my opinion...

 

I have been test driving alot of 3G Runners recently. I think one of the weak points is the factory wood grain dash overlay. I've been looking at 97's mostly. I think they are Toyota factory units, because there was a Toyota symbol on it by the vents. I noticed this kit on the SR5's with the gold emblems primarily. I just looks bad to me. The carbon fiber kit from Jason B (like UKMyers has) looks better than the factory ones I've seen IMHO.

My .02.

 

I would do the carbon fiber, but its a mere personal prefrence. When I bought my 4runner, I had to special order it, and I told the dealership if it showed up with wood grain, I wouldn't accept delivery. Even the Benz I have, doesn't have a touch of wood grain.....

I think the carbon fiber looks alot better, but I do know alot of people really like the wood grain. I've seen the aftermarket, and I've seen the factory that comes on the 2001 Limited, and I think the factory looks much better.

Good Luck

 

jason b has some nice kits...go see his page..
www.burtmanindustries.com
and i'm sure jason will chime in here to inform you of the products he has...

 

Has anyone seen where you can get a woodgrain steering wheel? I like the ones that the lexus's have, like where the top and bottom is wood, but the middle (like where the horn is connected to the steering wheel) is leather. (I know it's more for luxury,and less for wheelin, but I think it looks sweet!)

 

I've seen kits that just cover the existing wheel with a partially wood cover. Not so sure how those last or how well they stay put. I'll see if I can dig up some links. There was one in here somewhere about rewrapping leather wheels, but you'd have some downtime. I think they had a way to do wood insets, too.

 

I think Jason can get you some at Burtman Industries . Jason can get you alot of stuff like that and it is of very high quality.

I have personally installed a wood kit in my dad's Trooper. It is a very good, high quality kit that looks awesome! I would totally recommend going to Jason, because that is where my dad got his. Check him out! :fireman:

 

Thanks guys.

The aftermarket Toyota™ brand "SR5" kits aren't the best quality. Those are the ones with the Toyota symbol on them. For some reason those kits tend to fade/crack over a few years and the COLOR of the grain just doesn't look as nice as what I can offer. My kits are bascially the same color that you see in the LIMITED 4runner, which is a difference color than the sr5 kits I mentioned from toyota.

My kits looks great and are of the highest quality I've seen out there. There is also a lifetime warranty that I back 100%.

My truck:



Another kit installed in a 99-00 SR5:

Gunny's 4Runner: http://www.mtco.com/~ralphie/4runner/mods.html

Real carbon is also avail - more pics on the site:



I don't sell the steering wheel rings anymore, but you can get something very similiar here: www.grantproducts.com

If anyone wants more details on pricing/install, shoot me an email from below.

 

Ok, so I am confused. There must be some add-on kit that Toyota sells also??? The kit I was referring to was what comes in the "limited's" stock. These are the entire replacement piece correct? Not just a stick on piece? ("They" I am referring to OEM Toyota limited trucks) I know Jason's are stick on, and it does look great, I just like OEM personally.


Just a little confused, sorry guys!

 

ANY wood kit you see in a SR5 is an add-on kit. The Toyota brand add-on kits aren't the best quality, as some of us were pointing out.

You are correct with the limited models. Those are FULL replacement pieces, not added on later. If you want full pieces, then the only way to do it would be to order the LIMITED pieces separate from the dealer, which would be around $400 or more like you said from Toyota.

 

Ok, thank you Jason that was my understanding, just didn't know that toyota put out their own aftermarket kit. I have a pretty good "in" at a local dealer, so I'm getting a pretty heafty discount.

 

You can also send in your current pieces and have them custom coated from Exotic Wood Dash. These are not stick on kits but they actually take any piece you send them and custom coat it in 11 different choices i.e. carbon fiber, wood, etc. There are no raised edges and it looks like they came like that from the factory. This also means that it is really unlimited with what you can have coated ... I guess every piece of plastic in your car could be done if you wanted (or if you had the money to blow).

 

WOW!!! Thanks Beowulf, they are in town too! Just so happens they're in scottsdale! I'll be calling tomorrow to see just what kind of money I can save!


Thanks again!

 

Let me know how it goes!

 

Oh yeah, I think I should mention that I don't think it will be very cheap ... I have a feeling it is around 90+ cents a square inch to have it done, but it would really look custom!

 

OH, I'll let you know..I'll be down there tomorrow to check it out. I'm sure its not cheap, but I don't want it to look cheap either!