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Dash wood trim replaced under warranty?

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PoitNarf

My dog's breath smells like dog food
Jun 7, 2016
2,889
4,337
NJ
The wood trim on the dash of my now 3 year old Model 3 is showing some major signs of wear. Lots of cracks, some small parts of it seem like the veneer is lifting up slightly. Really starting to look like crap now. Thinking about putting in a service request with Tesla to replace it but I’d want it replaced under warranty. I searched and only found one instance of someone that said Tesla replaced their wood trim under warranty after it was showing signs of premature wear. Has anyone else had Tesla replace the dash wood trim under warranty?

I was considering just wrapping it in vinyl, but the damage is significant enough that I think it would show a little bit under the wrap.
 
Just send them photos and ask….. you didn’t even post a photo of your damaged one 🤷🏻‍♂️
True. I took the photos after my post and sent them to Tesla when I scheduled a service appointment through the app. Mobile service appointment scheduled for this Thursday. If they’re not going to replace it under warranty I’ll just tell them to forget it. Here’s the photos, not so easy to capture. You can see the parts where the wood trim is cracking and in at least one case splintering off. Brushed my hand against it the other day and got a minor splinter in my finger as a result. You can probably also see that at the front edge of the wood trim it has started to delaminate and is curling up from the edge.

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My dash looks exactly like this in my 2018 LR RWD. It also looks much rougher and has less sheen than newer versions of the wood dash I've seen. It feels brittle and I've had issues with rattles coming from it that have required lots of felt tape.
 
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True. I took the photos after my post and sent them to Tesla when I scheduled a service appointment through the app. Mobile service appointment scheduled for this Thursday. If they’re not going to replace it under warranty I’ll just tell them to forget it. Here’s the photos, not so easy to capture. You can see the parts where the wood trim is cracking and in at least one case splintering off. Brushed my hand against it the other day and got a minor splinter in my finger as a result. You can probably also see that at the front edge of the wood trim it has started to delaminate and is curling up from the edge.

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Other manufacturers I know have replaced wood trim with less damage.

but wood is also a natural product that will wear/crack/change with time.
 
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I have no idea what mine looks like (wood trim) as I had it wrapped with a matte carbon fiber appearance wrap within about 10 days of taking delivery of the car. The real carbon fiber replacements didnt exist then. My current plan is to, at some point, replace this wrapped piece of wood with the real carbon fiber dash piece, but I wont do that until the wrap starts looking bad. At this point (over 2 years in) the wrap still looks brand new.

I paid a shop that specializes in this stuff to do my chrome delete, and they did a good job. all of it (door trim, etc) all still looks great.

Back on thread topic.... that certainly looks like something that should be replaced under warranty, but like you said, if they wont do it under warranty, I would either get it wrapped or buy a replacement in a material you like, if you dont love the wood.
 
If it's not a warranty replacement, I'd consider applying 2 coats of a paste wax, like Minwax paste finishing wax, in "natural". Of course, you can also use "dark", but I have no idea what that might look like.
 
My dash looks exactly like this in my 2018 LR RWD. It also looks much rougher and has less sheen than newer versions of the wood dash I've seen. It feels brittle and I've had issues with rattles coming from it that have required lots of felt tape.
Mine is a 2018 as well. I wonder if the newer wood trims have some sort of extra protective coating on them. I’m convinced that the wear that mine has is mostly due to UV exposure. However I wouldn’t be surprised if the wide temperature ranges seen in the North East are a contributing factor too.
 
I have no idea what mine looks like (wood trim) as I had it wrapped with a matte carbon fiber appearance wrap within about 10 days of taking delivery of the car. The real carbon fiber replacements didnt exist then. My current plan is to, at some point, replace this wrapped piece of wood with the real carbon fiber dash piece, but I wont do that until the wrap starts looking bad. At this point (over 2 years in) the wrap still looks brand new.

I paid a shop that specializes in this stuff to do my chrome delete, and they did a good job. all of it (door trim, etc) all still looks great.

Back on thread topic.... that certainly looks like something that should be replaced under warranty, but like you said, if they wont do it under warranty, I would either get it wrapped or buy a replacement in a material you like, if you dont love the wood.
If yours has been wrapped all that time it probably looks like new underneath.
 
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I have no idea what mine looks like (wood trim) as I had it wrapped with a matte carbon fiber appearance wrap within about 10 days of taking delivery of the car. The real carbon fiber replacements didnt exist then. My current plan is to, at some point, replace this wrapped piece of wood with the real carbon fiber dash piece, but I wont do that until the wrap starts looking bad

Do it, you won't regret it.

Tim

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The wood trim on the dash of my now 3 year old Model 3 is showing some major signs of wear. Lots of cracks, some small parts of it seem like the veneer is lifting up slightly. Really starting to look like crap now. Thinking about putting in a service request with Tesla to replace it but I’d want it replaced under warranty. I searched and only found one instance of someone that said Tesla replaced their wood trim under warranty after it was showing signs of premature wear. Has anyone else had Tesla replace the dash wood trim under warranty?

I was considering just wrapping it in vinyl, but the damage is significant enough that I think it would show a little bit under the wrap.
I put a hard cap on my M3LR. I hated the wood and felt a wrap would show the grain texture of the wood. I did mine in carbon fiber, but they come in many colors.
 
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Mine is a 2018 as well. I wonder if the newer wood trims have some sort of extra protective coating on them. I’m convinced that the wear that mine has is mostly due to UV exposure. However I wouldn’t be surprised if the wide temperature ranges seen in the North East are a contributing factor too.
Yea it’s strange because it does sort of look like what would happen with prolonged uv exposure but I live in Seattle with very little direct sun and it is garaged all the time. It’s not like I live in Vegas with intense sun beating on it 24/7 so the wear on it is kind of surprising.
 
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Well Tesla mobile service tech stopped by earlier today and replaced the trim piece / vent cover in less than 5 minutes. Probably the quickest mobile service appointment I've ever had. Everything was covered under warranty like the invoice estimate I received said. I'm glad that it's replaced but now I worry what the new piece will look like in another 2-3 years. Probably going to wrap it to protect it.
 
Well Tesla mobile service tech stopped by earlier today and replaced the trim piece / vent cover in less than 5 minutes. Probably the quickest mobile service appointment I've ever had. Everything was covered under warranty like the invoice estimate I received said. I'm glad that it's replaced but now I worry what the new piece will look like in another 2-3 years. Probably going to wrap it to protect it.
How does it look compared to your old one? They look like they've been sealed better in newer versions but that could just be because I'm used to my worn dash
 
How does it look compared to your old one? They look like they've been sealed better in newer versions but that could just be because I'm used to my worn dash
Honestly other than it obviously looking brand new, it does not appear to have any additional sealing or protection on it. I’m certain that I will see the same wear in another few years.