I am strongly thinking about an RL, but I can't stand the glossy wood trim; I vastly prefer a lower-key, matte-style finish like in the Inifiti M35. Are there any aftermarket options like this -- some kind of weird JDM kit or something? Alternately, does anyone know if it would be possible to refinish the existing wood?

 

the way the wood trim is installed, especially in the door side panels would make it a very difficult task to remove and change, or to refinish the wood. (my car has the plastic wood, but don't tell anyone)

 

I believe someone bought an aftermarket kit on eBay for the RL. I'll have to dig around and look for the link later...

BTW, welcome to AZ!

 

From memory, even in the RLs with real wood, the door panels may not have wood on it. I think 05 and 06 wood was standard. I think somewhere in 07 or 08, wood became standard only on the CMBS equipped models, and everything else was plastic wood.

Someone have time to search the archives?

 

I would avoid Ebay wood kits with a passion, tried them in the past, they fade quickly, and the sides are not finished and so it gives a tacked on look.

I believe just the surface area is wood and not the entire piece so refinishing would not a viable option IMO.

 

The door panel trim is plastic on all RL versions. The "grain" pattern is different for the base and Tech/CMBS versions but its all plastic. The real wood on the Tech/CMBS versions across the front dash is really just the thinnest veneer and then poly coated over a plastic shell.