kgd

Thought I would share my recent purchase and installation of a wood trim kit for the RL.

The kit came with pieces to cover the cup holder lid, the horseshoe looking piece right behind it, the piece surrounding the shifter (two pieces actually of which I installed one of them), the radio and a piece for both of the round defroster vents on the dash. I opted to not install the pieces that covered the radio and the silver part of the area around the shifter. It really changes the look of the center console.

I am generally very suspect of these types of kits, but it was advertised as being real wood. When I received the kit, to my surprise every piece was real wood. It was a very thin veneer, but none of the parts were plastic fake wood. The color and gain match was very good, much better than the Acura wood shifter I purchased from my dealer. I am debating putting the leather shifter back in.

The installation was very straight forward. It does stick to the existing pieces, but the fit was good. I did put a 1/2 inch piece of weather stripping on the back of the cup holder. (I put this inside the part where the lid folds into on the side where the cups fit in.) If you open the lid about half way you can look inside the hole there and will see what I am talking about. This kept the lid from resting on the back of the piece behind it when it is open. There is now about a 1/8 inch space between the lid and the piece behind when it is open. You don't even notice it and it does not look any different at all when the lid is closed. But it will keep the finish on the lid from being marred by the piece behind it when it is open. If you decide to order the kit you will see what I mean.

I asked about this kit here before ordering it and received a lot of comments such as “wood overload”. I was more interested in the quality as the amount of wood is always a personal preference and I did feel like the wood on the radio was a bit too much. Also, they did print “Acura” on the top of the wood piece that covers the radio and the lettering was not up to the quality of the rest of the pieces. Since I did not plan to use this piece anyway, I didn’t worry about trying to get a replacement with better quality lettering.

I will try to post a couple of pick when I get a chance. There are a couple of the same kits on eBay that I purchased that do have pictures. One of the reasons I enjoy the interior so much on the RL is the wood. I like the look much better now. I know that not everyone would be interested in this, but thought it would be worthwhile to share my experience.

Kris

Rob L

Look forward to seeing some pics. I would possibly be interested in this to get pieces for the center console area as I feel it should have been in wood.