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wood dash kits anyone?

4956 Views 17 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  9373innes, 
J
I am planning on adding a wood dash kit. I know there is a fine line between looking luxurious/sophisticated and cheap/tacky so I was hoping to get some input before I choose brand and wood type. I have a 2015 grand touring hatchback with all black interior. The dash kits tend to have a ton of pieces I doubt I'll use, I'm thinking just replace all the piano black trim which I think could look quite stylish. I like the look of rosewood, blackwood, or possibly a birsdeye maple though that may be to light.

brands I'm looking at are remin and B&I

I haven't been able to find any pictures of kits specifically in Mazda 3's though besides one small one from the B&I website.

Anyone put one in their mazda? experience with either of these brands? recommendations for another brand?

THanks!
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stevenvillatoro said:
Unless it's a British/Italian sports car from decades ago OR you're over 80, my vote is a triple-underscored 'no'.

Sorry, but you asked!
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well, no actually I didn't ask. But that's cool. To each his own. My view is the styling of the car is very compatible with a tastefully (restrained) wood dash application. I'll post pics after I eventually choose and install a kit.
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Road Trip said:
However, you would be # 1 on this forum for such a mod;
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apparently. Which is a bit surprising since the styling feels very compatible with wood trim IMO. But then again this forum's participants seem to lean more in a different direction which is fine too. I'm sure you guys would hate my minimalistic chrome trim accents too :)
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stevenvillatoro said:
Sorry, I've now deleted my off-base post.
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no worries! come back when I finally get around to it and I've posted some pics. Let me know what you think.
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db1980 said:
I was thinking something similar the other day actually. The piano black looks nice, but scratches/fingerprints easily. If you found a kit that was OEM quality I'd like to see the results. I think Mazda got a lot of styling cues from BMW, and if BMW can pull it off tastefully I think it could look good in the 3's interior. I'd definitely say that the much darker or black woods would be the way to go.
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yeah, I'm thinking that long grained woods like rosewood or zebra wood will compliment the long lines of interior, especially if I only apply to the piano black trim sections. Rosewood could stand out in a nice way, or too much. I'm still searching for better picture samples to get a better visual. The "black" woods would be safer and probably look very sharp but maybe not make as much of an impression. Again, better pictures would help. The little sample chips they send you are useless. I was hoping one of the companies would be willing to send an actual piece from the kit but they don't seem willing to do that.

I think the styling cues come a lot from the Infinity crossovers too, which is why I think subtle chrome accents compliment nicely also.
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update, after much research and consideration... minimalistic custom kit ordered. I'll post pics here in a week or so after installation. You skeptics will change your tune! :)
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OK, as promised.... Kit arrived, kit installed. This was the Remin kit from CarID, but from what I can tell B&I kit would be identical. I was able to put in a custom order for just the pieces I wanted from their full kit (about 15-16 out of 61).

I'm pleased with the result. It accomplishes what I was going for. I've included a couple of exterior pics too so you can see the overall esthetic. You can spot a few of the other subtle cosmetic mods inside and out too.

What do you think? All that remains on my to-do list is window tint and probably add the chrome trim around the top of the windows to complete it.

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here are the exterior pics...

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Shack said:
I think it turned out nice. Thinking about the brushed aluminum. Has it held up well? Any quality issues?
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quality is good. The adhesion seems like it won't ever peel. My advice is go minimal. To me, anything beyond the covering the piano black trim areas could easily look cheap and tacky. I did put a couple of pieces beyond that around the CD player area. Looks good but I'm also considering removing that little bit.

Since I custom ordered the smaller kit from CarID, I would also look into two other customizations if I was to order again. One is to not have the cutout for the lettering and arrows around the volume knob beside the command wheel. It would look better that way. Also the pieces of the kit 41/42 (The long trim piece running across the dash) in the kit would look MUCH better if they were just a single piece without a seam. I was very careful to put them in place to minimize the seam but still it bothers me and seems unnecessary. With a solid finish like brushed aluminum as opposed to a wood grain it will probably stand out even more.

But overall I love the look of the trim. Feels more luxurious every time I get in the car :)
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