This project is done, at least for now. It isn’t perfect, but like outside of the car, you don’t see the imperfections unless you get close. It is a 1000% improvement over the cracks that were in the clearcoat when I bought the car. What is amazing to me is that the cracks in the veneer have vanished now that the clearcoat is ultra glossy. I don’t know why that changed, but I can’t find those lines anymore.
Refinishing was a painful process and really needs to be a progression of finer sandpaper and finally perhaps even a couple of steps of different polishing compounds. I initially tried wet sanding with 600 grit and then polishing with Meguiars which is a very fine finishing compound. The 600 grit scratches were too much work for the polishing compound. The next attempt (after a walk to Ace Hardware to get some different sandpaper) was to add a couple more coats of lacquer and then wet sand with 1500 grit befobefore polishing. That might not have been aggressive enough as rattle-can lacquer doesn’t lay on quite that smoothly, but the 1500 eventually took out the high spots without too much effort. The polishing compound took me from there to the finish, but not without a lot of elbow grease. I think 2400 grit paper after the 1500 might have been a better process, but the real problem is keeping the sandpaper and polishing rag clean as any dust spec can become a deep scratch. The finish is mostly perfect glassy finish, but I might not have put enough lacquer on as some of the wood grain still shows through as surface variations. That really makes it look a lot more like wood than the factory finish which really looks like plastic, but all of that only matters when inspecting this from a very close distance. Throughout the polishing, I was inspecting this under a light so I know I did a really nice job, even though I also know there are still surface imperfections.
There is a visible difference between what I refinished and what I didn’t. The old stuff almost looks a little milky. My work looks deep and rich. The only place it matters is that passenger outboard vent surround. I noticed that the wood grains are carefully matched at the factory and the lighter color matches the transition that happens on the glove box panel right near the edge. That vent surround piece is fundamentally lighter in color because the wood is, but I think there is a texture and clarity difference that makes it seem slightly mismatched. I might pull that vent surround back off and refinish it now that I have a good idea of what the process looks like, but I don’t feel like sanding and polishing in the near future.
Reassembly is always a time to put things together better. The glove box now closes more positively thanks to a better adjustment on the catch. The corner of the dashboard near the A-pillar is warped and that was pushing that outboard vent surround inward. I removed the vent surround and ground down the corner that was up against the warpage and that went together looking a little more level with a more even gap along the glovebox.
The cigarette lighter in the center console was still a problem from reassembly after the vinyl installation. There was nothing holding it down because all the plastic clips are broken. Initially, the thickness of the vinyl gave it an interference fit, but it kept popping up. There is a light in that assembly that is mounted on the cylindrical body of the lighter and the metal box that holds the light ends just far enough under the bezel that it made the perfect clip (picture below shows light box, picture is not mine but from internet). By pushing the bezel down and then rotating the internal assembly, the light box actually clips under the vinyl covered steel plate and holds it down on the gearshift side. The other side still has one plastic clip that seems to be providing some hold. The reason I am explaining all of this is that if I ever need to remove this again, I will know to rotate the cylinder within the bezel counterclockwise so that the light box is clear of the steel cutout and the entire assembly should lift out, perhaps with a little resistance on the upper right corner where that last somewhat functional clip sits.
