Over-lacquered walnut panels?

[blackflash]

V happy with my XJR overall and the interior in particular, apart from worn leather on driver' seat (not for this post) and what look like a mismatched walnut panel...

On close inspection of the centre veneer panel (the one with the clock in it) the pattern is fine but the colour is not; it looks opaque and much lighter than the panel either side.

I have similar issues on the small switch panels on both doors although there is obviously much less visible veneer on the driver's side due to size of switch panel, the passenger's looks like it's from a different car.

All other door and centre console etc panels are fine.

1) Could the above panels have been over-lacquered?
2) If so, is there anything that can be done to strip and re-lacquer and does anyone know anyone that can do it?
3) Or is my only option to replace all the veneer panels to get something more consistent? (not likely in foreseeable future!)

All the best for 2009,

Nigel

[Brakebuster]

hi BF,

i doubt its been ' over lacquered ' but more likely that its gone ' milky ' due to possible damp, this often happens on the wood trim round vents

you can strip the coating, but its not varnish or the normal things you may think of for lacquering wood, its a poly-something or other ( thats it -- polyurethane ) and is very hard , so matching the existing is quite tricky ,
but can be done
another thing to note is that the wooden veneer is laid over a cast aluminium panel that clips to the dash.....

or

you can get complete sets on ebay for your car for about £100 or so , but they are used units

but as you say, the panels may well have been replaced with different units to start with

hope this helps

BB

[joejag308]

BF...........its a case of how correct do you want your interior to be?...
During the accident damage on my car we had to decide on replacing the lacquered wood panel which had been damaged by glass splinters.
We found you cant buy the individual piece (in your centre piece ) as it comes in a full set of door and dash panels.
Don'T ask how much a full set is.....its rather a large amount.
They are all matched up in sets with no two sets being the same.
Once again i would advise you if you want a perfect match is to contact
our friends at Eurojag......if you buy a used set they usually have low mileage cars in there......but this is down to how much you want to pay to get your ideal finish.
We do have an originally expensive vehicle on our hands and while the overall value of the car drops like a stone, the prices for parts remains the same as when the car was new.
A good sprayer could possibly re lacquer the panel.....Alan Proctor would give you the advice on that one if you contact him.......Joe

[blackflash]

Thanks gents - and a happy new year to you both!

I think a complete new set is out of the question due to the poor value-for-money of replacing many panels which are absolutely fine. I have found Eurojags to be excellent, as you know, though.

The effect is indeed "milky" but I suspect they have been like this since new as (a) they're not near vents or other sources of damp and (b) each complete panel is evenly milky, not just a patch.

I'll contact Alan P to investigate refurb options further - thanks for the suggestion - what's the best way of tracking him down?

And I'll see if I can get a decent photo of the panels to put up on the board.

All the best.

[blackflash]

Here are (subject to technological capabilities of author) some pics of my "problem" veneer panels. As you can see, there is a very visible difference in the tone. Any advice welcome.
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff14 ... ure001.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff14 ... ure002.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff14 ... ure003.jpg

[Brakebuster]

i'm afraid that its ' fading ' m8,

no amount of re-lacquering will fix it, i would suggest a full replacement set

these can be got for about £90 on ebay

hope this hleps

BB

[blackflash]

Thanks BB - is this a common problem? I've never seen it before. Any idea why some panels should fade and others not?

[joejag308]

B F maybe the previous owner had some panels replaced for whatever reason,it stands to reason if you are contemplating selling the car matching the panels up exactly isnt too high on the list. Some of the things ive seen and heard of wouldnt suprise me. If you are keeping the car source a good set that meet with your expectations, although the Anthracite was the Black one with odd coloured wood work unless you got the Ivory leather........maybe thats where the change of panels came from i thought the odd coloured ones didnt look quite right compared with the mahogany ones..........Joe

[blackflash]

No, the car has a story... Original owner, from who I bought, ordered the anthracite XJR with ivory leather and was told it came with darker panels. He said he didn't want the car without proper walnut veneer, so they promised to sort it and apparently took it off the assembly line to put the present panels on. I didn't really notice the mismatch at the time as I had more important aspects of the car to consider when inspecting. I have the original order paperwork with walnut veneer on as an "extra".

The panels have not been replaced as the pattern matches like it should - you know, the "butterfly" effect you get where the next panel is effectively flipped over and the same pattern appears in reverse.

So I still suspect something in the manufacturing process, just not sure what.

I'll look on eBay but it's only a cosmetic issue and money's not exactly flowing in right now. And of course I'd need to see all the panels in the flesh before buying.

All the best,

Nigel

[Brakebuster]

hi

i dont know why this has faded, and i havnt seen an XJ8 do this before, and as you say, the panels match , so maybe its just been sat in extreme sunlight for long periods, some of the panels are more curved than other, so maybe dont catch the light so much

here is a link to a set on ebay, if you need them posting on to you, i wouldnt have any problem in doing that for you ,

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/JAGUAR-XJ8-XJ-V8- ... 240%3A1318

he wants £80 plus postage, not a bad set, but not as complete as some i have seen

replacement is as easy as it gets,

the instrument and dash sections are mounted on metal frames , and pull right off without any trouble

hope this helps

BB

[blackflash]

Thanks for this but I'd want to do the passenger door switch panel as part of the exercise. I'll keep my eye out.