New car, center console wood rough. Normal?

[Bull]

I reported this when I picked up my car in November and the SC said that all of the panels they had were the same way.

The wood on the sliding cover for the center console is much rougher than the wood trim on the dash. It feels like it got wet before the finish was applied. As a woodworker it bothers me. I know this wood is not supposed to be smooth but I would expect it to be similar to the dash wood.

Are they really all like this or should I try again?

 

[DerbyDave]

That is normal -- photo looks fine. My Mercedes and Audi had Natural Grain Ash, and it costs extra over the glossy plastic looking wood (which is real wood also, but looks fake to me). I checked my Tesla to be sure, and it is the same. Enjoy!

 

[Bull]

That is normal -- photo looks fine. My Mercedes and Audi had Natural Grain Ash, and it costs extra over the glossy plastic looking wood (which is real wood also, but looks fake to me). I checked my Tesla to be sure, and it is the same. Enjoy!

Thanks Dave. Just to be sure we are talking about the same thing, you are saying that your console cover wood is MUCH rougher than your dash wood trim? The dash trim is also rough but is how it should be.

 

[DerbyDave]

Thanks Dave. Just to be sure we are talking about the same thing, you are saying that your console cover wood is MUCH rougher than your dash wood trim? The dash trim is also rough but is how it should be.

Yes it is rougher, and it seems to have more grain, which would make it rougher. Perhaps they use pieces not as uniform for this area that may not be as suitable for dash or doors. It is just more individual character for the car to show it has some hand made imperfections. On a Tesla, sometimes there are many of these.

 

[Bull]

Ok. I'll try to live with it. Your feedback matches what the SC told me. They thought it was oddly rough but the replacements had the same issue. Maybe its a problem with the manufacturing.

 

[beatle]

Looks like the veneer is delaminating from the trim itself, perhaps from moisture as the OP suggested. Maybe it wasn't actually wet, but the humidity cycles may have worked their "magic" to do the damage. Here is another example on a piece of figured ash trim.

You can see the grain of the wood has "scratches" or a texture as you might expect from open pore wood. However that texture also appears all over the trim, not just in the grain itself. I liked the idea of open grained wood, but couldn't abide by the examples I found. I ended up buying a set of dark ash trim.