Removing After-Market Wooden Dashboard Trim

[Clunkfish]

My LS had been "treated" by a previous owner to a big helping of wood (ooh-er missus). An after-market kit had been used to add wood trim where there hadn't been any before - around the air vents, around the navigation screen and radio controls - but also on top of the existing wooden trim on the centre console and other places.

The after market stuff had not lasted well and was beginning to delaminate and unpeel itself, so I decided to strip it all off and return to the factory look. The first bit I attacked was round an air vent, stuck directly to the grey dashboard plastic. This came off very easily and left hardly any glue residue, which engendered a lot of false optimism that this was going to be a straightforward job.

It bloody wasn't. The piece stuck over the centre console (i.e. the big bit round the gear knob) took about 7 hours to remove. Getting the lacquer and the after-market wood itself off was not too bad, but the glue is a bit like those foam sticky fixer things and almost impossible to shift. In the end I removed the centre console piece and worked on it outside the car, using a lot of panel wipe to soften the glue enough to scrape it off a fragment at a time, using a plastic spudger. Fortunately the factory lacquer is very good quality and is unaffected by panel wipe, so I was eventually able to get all the glue off and polish up the original wooden finish to a decent shine.

I won't be attacking any other bits until my carpal tunnels have recovered and my liver has finished processing the hefty dose of solvents I got off the panel wipe!

[Chris Skelton]

Good thing your monicker isn't 'Clunkish'!

[C Mclean]

How about using a good soak of WD-40 on the sticky pads. I don't think the fumes are toxic or addictive.

[NemesisUK]

Used this to good effect - 

 

https://www.johnlewis.com/de-solv-it-sticky-stuff-remover-gel-100ml/p1866112#media-overlay_show

 

[steve2006]

Did you consider warming the wood bits up with a hairdryer before attempting removal which should soften the glue aiding removal?

[Clunkfish]

On 5/7/2017 at 4:23 PM, C Mclean said:

How about using a good soak of WD-40 on the sticky pads. I don't think the fumes are toxic or addictive.

Yes I tried that and it did soften the glue a little, but not nearly as much as panel wipe. I also tried oil, petrol and meths - none did anything much at all.

[Clunkfish]

On 5/7/2017 at 5:00 PM, steve2006 said:

Did you consider warming the wood bits up with a hairdryer before attempting removal which should soften the glue aiding removal?

Yes I did try putting a heat gun on but when the glue remnants are stuck onto the existing factory trim, it's a bit nerve-racking. I didn't want to remove the glue but also destroy the original finish. The panel wipe seemed to hit the right balance between dissolving the glue and leaving the original finish intact.

[Clunkfish]

On 5/7/2017 at 4:45 PM, NemesisUK said:

Used this to good effect - 

 

https://www.johnlewis.com/de-solv-it-sticky-stuff-remover-gel-100ml/p1866112#media-overlay_show

 

When I have the will to try the next stage of removal, I may well give this a go. If I do, I'll report back :-)

[runsgrateasanut]

As a fan of "ooh er missus wood kits" I do attempt to keep the parts from fading whenever possible.

The box of a B&Q Base Unit I find cuts up nicely to the size of the windscreen and goes in whenever the car is parked up for a long time in the Sun.  Beats those stupid tiny sunscreen things that I can only find online.

So far the colour hasn't faded and I'm happy with the look.

The kit didn't have parts to replace existing wood trim which I wouldn't have used. Pointless, unless I suppose a pattern change was the idea.

Doubt inhaling any spray stuff is a good idea. Amazed at how some people on vutube spray brake and Carb cleaner with no mask or gloves. Good luck to their lungs! Not to mention brains but then the damage is clearly done!

 

[Clunkfish]

On 5/7/2017 at 4:23 PM, C Mclean said:

How about using a good soak of WD-40 on the sticky pads. I don't think the fumes are toxic or addictive.

An update - the WD-40 method does work, so thank you C Mclean . I tried soaking a piece of trim (the surround to the switches on the driver's door that control seat memory etc.) in WD-40 in a plastic bag for a couple of days and that did make the glue very soft and relatively easy to scrape off. The plastic trim itself is unaffected. Obviously you have to be able to remove the trim to use this method so around the radio controls is still going to be a challenge, but I think all the rest of it should be OK once I've got the affected parts out of the car.

The other thing that helps is a plastic razor-blade scraper jobby like this. It is a bit easier to get under the glue with this than using plastic trim-removal spudgers.

[runsgrateasanut]

I find my old Credit Cards do this sort of job probably just as well. Can be cut into any shape you need and any size strip.

Well done for perseverance.