Plastic Wood Trim

[wowbird]

I currently have a black 03 bird wit black interior. I have found an 02 with the turqoise and black interior I love and this bird has low mileage. Problem is that it has the wood trim kit on it. Would that be hard to remove?

Thanks....

[bronzebird]

Re: Plastic Wood Trim

One word answer....YES!!

To do this take a hair dryer and slowly lift the corners and begin to heat up the two way tape that holds the dash trim to the car. Depending on how much tape was used you could get it all off but I doubt it.

You will get the trim removed easily but most likely you will have lots of the two way tape residue left and there is no way to get that off but to scrape it with fingers gently. If you try to use a tool of any sort you will scratch the surface and stuff like 'goo be gone' just isn't effective. Acetone would work but it will mar the surface of the car.

I removed a kit from my car with my fingers and the result was burned fingertips from the extreme heat required from the hair dryer. You can actually 'roll' the stuff off but be prepared to have sore fingers for a while.

Bronzebird

[jerrym3]

Re: Plastic Wood Trim

Doesn't WD-40 remove residue like this?

[bronzebird]

Re: Plastic Wood Trim

Doesn't WD-40 remove residue like this?

WD-40 (stands for Water Displacement) isn't strong enough to remove this stuff. It contains about 50% mineral spirits which is a solvent but if 100% mineral spirits didn't remove my stuff I don't think WD 40 will.

Bronzebird

[Vintage Merlot]

Re: Plastic Wood Trim

Goo Gone is one of the most popular on the market today. It has even been known to remove sticker problems from fabric after it’s gone through the washer and dryer.

Another commercial product available is called De-Solv-It. Readily available at Wal-Mart this product has been known to remove the sticker as well as the residue.

One product marketed as an adhesive remover is called Un-Du. This is a big item in the scrapbook industry and while somewhat expensive, it will completely remove the sticky residue without leaving a trace.

[My Raven]

Re: Plastic Wood Trim

As Rick stated it nearly impossible and time consuming to remove ...

If left applied for an extended period it permanently mars the finish. My friend at local Ford dealership showed me where they had tried to remove it from an 03 WW they took on trade. The owner had installed it several years ago and the car had sat with the top down in sunshine a lot.

He said if they had known what was involved they would have lowered the trade-in amount and sent the car to auction.

[Black Bird]

Re: Plastic Wood Trim

Charles

Here is another thought. Take the wooden dash kit off and install the
Marblized kit which is grey and black on the dash. It blends very well with the car and would look like OEM factory installed. Several people have this installed on their cars and there are pics of one of our TBN ers in Canada that has it installed on his 02
Turq and black interrior like yours. It looks very tasteful and orginal. You can get one of these kits on Ebay for about $100. I have installed several on tbrds including mine and they really look good. You can PM me if you want to know more about this. Lou

[Ediron]

Re: Plastic Wood Trim

My all time glue and what ever remover is Lighter fluid (benzine) .It works well on removing glue,don't know if it will do the job but worth a try.

[Leroy]

Re: Plastic Wood Trim

As I have said before, these dash kits are junk and will only devalue the car. The best thing you can do is keep it original and keep it clean. Leroy

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[V8 Cat]

Re: Plastic Wood Trim

As I have said before, these dash kits are junk and will only devalue the car. The best thing you can do is keep it original and keep it clean. Leroy
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Leroy, I agree about the dash kits - unless it's the TBird Concepts package that exactly matches the aluminum trim pattern of what is already in there (the pattern was different for different years). I would not put any other kit in there, but that is just me. The baby birds (55-57) did not have any wood looking trim. As such, I would not put the aluminum trim in my XK8 in the place of the walnut trim. I do agree that the center-stack should have had the aluminum trim from the Ford factory like the "sand package" on the Tbirds with the sand colored interior. I certainly agree with Leroy that it de-values the car. Look at the post by wowbird that started this thread about the removal of the "dash kit" that was added to his car.

[Black Bird]

Re: Plastic Wood Trim

As I have said before, these dash kits are junk and will only devalue the car. The best thing you can do is keep it original and keep it clean. Leroy
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I beg to differ with you and many others on this site will also, these kits are not junk and do not devalue our cars. Ford put a rather boring interrior on our cars in basic black because it was cheap. If the correct color is
selected that blends well with the interrior these kits can dress it up and give a rather boring black interrior a little class. If you recall the
Tbirds that were shown before production had center dash and console with alluminum color to match the alluminun strip running along the dash. But when production came out they did not include it cause cutting corners.
It is alright to be a purist and want to keep your car orginal, however
it is not appropriate to critize those that modify their birds. My bird is highly modified and I have won first place in several large car shows.
All I get is praises for the way it has been modified. And as for devaluation
I once had a dealer tell me when I brought my car in for service, that
the orginal Tbird looks like a striped down model compared to mine.
Look at Pics of Claudes car (in Canada) you will not see a more beautiful
tastefully done highly modified turq 02 bird or look at Borla Babes 02,
the kit really gave her interrior some pop.
Lou

[Ediron]

Re: Plastic Wood Trim

You make a couple of good point's Lou.I can understand Leroy's point's also.My Bird is a Merlot and if I had the normal dash I might also change to a wood.

[jerrym3]

Re: Plastic Wood Trim

Wonder how much Ford saved by keeping the dash so plain?

And by not having a red line mark on the tach?

And leaving out a whole bunch of other stuff that the sister car (Lincoln LS) has?

Who knows, maybe some additional "stuff" would have resulted in additional sales.

[Ski]

Re: Plastic Wood Trim

Wonder how much Ford saved by keeping the dash so plain?

And by not having a red line mark on the tach?

And leaving out a whole bunch of other stuff that the sister car (Lincoln LS) has?

Who knows, maybe some additional "stuff" would have resulted in additional sales.

It's hard to believe with the MSRP when new, and extra mark-up charged by many dealers at the time, Ford had to leave anything off! Disappointing to a degree, when the car was selling for a premium price, IMO.

[eboose7]

Re: Plastic Wood Trim

Here it is in a nutshell:if you are interested in preserving maximum resale value together with the originality of the design--leave the interior stock. If you want it to stand out, Leroy is right. Keep it clean and polished. The next owner does not want the car better than Ford made it--he or she wants it exactly like Ford made it!