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I'm the third owner of this lovely '11 DB9 Volante 6sp (one of two worldwide), and have long admired the classy wood trim in the Gaydon vehicles. The door cards had some minor fading in the mahogany that I could live with, but the ski slope was bad. It had cracking in the clear coat, obvious fading, and the ENGINE half of the ECU bezel had its lettering destroyed. (This was from them using super glue to try and reattach that crystal half into the bezel. Don't use super glue. It outgasses a white cloud of discoloring disappointments.)
Cracked, faded mahogany and a destroyed portion of the ECU bezel. Blerg.
I inquired to the dealer in Minny and they said they can only order the factory options. I'd thought maybe they had some options under Q, or otherwise. While I think their veneers are ok, for a vehicle at this level it's quite easy to find some amazing veneers that can hit at the next level. I decided to pull the door panels and ski slope, and source raw veneer at VeneerSupplies.com. While I ordered five species that were all great, my favorite was this AAA curly fumed Etimoe, as it ties the brown from the leather to the dark colors elsewhere. I ordered a new ENGINE bezel from AMBits. The whole process of figuring everything out, sending everything to Madera Concepts and reinstalling took three months. In the meanwhile, my wife would roll her eyes at riding in our new aspirational purchase / ghetto ride. Getting it re-veneered at Madera was about $1600. The dealer was $3650 in parts alone, with unexciting options.
While the ski slope is out, I replaced the radio lens cover. It's super simple, and pops right out from the top edge (pull out radio buttons first). The plastic is stupid soft, however, as even barely owning it there are first light scratches developing. I'll try to simply not touch it, ever.
ECU bezel fixed, lovely new veneer being reinstalled.
While the door cards were off, I tinted the windows at 50% to improve UV protection without looking too tinted. Also, the window edge of the door card has this black fabric strip that had faded to a light gray. I bought a fabric dye dauber and followed up with a large chisel point industrial Sharpie to even it out.
I found this at Hobby Lobby, next to the antiquities from Iraq.
Original on left, first pass of fabric dye on right. I went over again and more with a Sharpie to black it deeper and even it out.
I think everything turned out great:
The co-pilot approves.
Final embarrassing question. These six shoulder bolts were remaining in my parts box. I don't know where they're from. Either someone is messing with me or I can't figure out where they're from. I've gone over the door card process about a dozen times, ski slope (can't be the ECU holder, as those are 4x at ~1" long) and everything is tight and quiet. I've ruled out other parallel projects: secondary cat delete / straight pipe, repairing the passenger top dash panel, and the Quick Jack purchase. Does anyone recognize these?
(image of the six T20x80mm bolts has been deleted since it turned out to not be related to the car at all.)
Cheers,
Chris
Ames, IA
Last edited by chriscmore; Jun 26, 2018 at 05:55 PM.
My radio screen is well scratched. Is it worth the effort to remove all to change it?
If yours is like mine, then yeah, it's cake. First step is to order a new one from AMBits. Then when you're ready I can help via FaceTime, etc. It's easy.
Here are the other veneer contenders. When you wipe them down with IPA you can replicate what they'll look like with clear coat. It's ok if you prefer one of these others. I liked them all. They're all AAA grade, so I'll not retype them all. I still have them if you have to have one and they're not expensive.
Figured Mozambique.
Quartersawn Zebrawood
Quartersawn Fumed Etimoe
Leopard walnut
A picture I found online for a Rapide by Q inspired me that the wood could be far more interesting. I like the curly maple in the newer '9s, but wanted the vertical striped action and interesting action like this. Like a junk food high, however, this Q styling which was shown for the Beijing auto show isn't really wood. Maybe they laid some strips together and white filled in the middle, or even (eek) an art printed laminate. Anyway, I wanted some of this "wow" factor but in a legit top-shelf veneer that you'd enjoy admiring indefinitely.
Well, there is no wood that looks like this. Both VeneerSupplies and Madera Concepts have confirmed that it's a constructed assembly, possibly using veneer strips and white filler. Trade show cars and prototypes often explore ideas that aren't necessarily grounded in much reality.
nice one
