Interior trim mismatch - is this normal?
 

Having had my PF S8 for many a long year I realised just the other day that there are actually 2 different colours of "wood" trim.

The carpet/fabric/leather/alcantara is Platinum (light silvery grey) and most of the wood is a medium brown (myrtle or maple?).
But the trim in the door handles (all 4 doors) is a grey colour but similar grain effect.

Rather poor photo attached which shows the difference on the front passenger door. The top trim strip is like the rest of the "wood" in the car but the inlay on top of the handle, around the switches and handle hole is grey. :Confused:

Is this normal?

Yes completely Normal. I've just upgraded my trim from mahogany to dark myrtle and its exactly the same +++

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1356802007

Yep, mine's a platinum trim with just 'plain' grey door inserts too.

Waking up this thread, I've only just realised that my FL S8 doesn't have "wood" trim around the window switches in any of the doors. :(

In fact it's just crappy plastic with a very soft coloured top coat, and is wearing off! Looks rubbish. :mad:

Is that normal for FL D2's or is it an "option" I'm missing?

Whatever, the answer, is there something better I can get and how easy is it to replace those switch panels? In fact would the PF ones fit?

The colour match is the biggest issue again - I bought a replacement handbrake wood trim and it looks completely different to the original, as well as not matching the other 'wood' in the car. They are allegedly the same pattern.

I was looking at buying some plain platinum ones to break up the extended leather a bit - I can't buy replacement purple surrounds even if I wanted to!

Bare in mind the handbrake trim was about £70 back in 2010/11 so lord alone knows how much the switch surrounds will be in wood. I should probably look it up in Etka!

The wood surrounds wear very well, unlike the plastic ones.... A8parts should be able to sort you a decent set at sensible money.

My last D2 I bought new plastic inserts all round and it was nudging towards 300 notes.... ouch.

Later FL D2's tended to come with plastic instead of wood, so your config isnt unusual at that age.

And it seems quite common that 'wood' door inserts don't match the rest of the wood trim. I'd heard they were from different suppliers. BTW, my door inserts are the plastic variety too (so that's 2 FEs with plastic door inserts at least). I've bought dark myrtle door inserts (that need refurbishing - still looking for someone to do that) and they're nothing like the rest of the dark myrtle trim.

And, finally, they're very easy to remove. Lower part pops off to reveal fixing screws IIRC.

That presumably explains it.
Like my old car, which was the origin of this thread. So I'm happy with that.
Mine's not an FE though, just a very late standard FL model. ;)
Good news. +++

So, no need to take the whole door panel off then. Are PF and FL the same?

Not sure if FL and PF are the same, but I have some FL ones in a box, so I could photograph the individual parts to show how thay fit if that helps

For sale? If so, what colour?

I've asked A8parts what they have, FL vs PF and how to fit them.