Umm, not on your Jaguar it isn't.

On very early cars (1950s / 60s), it is a Shellac derivative (French Polish) but on the modern cars it is polyester.

But all the advice on how to care for the clear finish has been great so far.

 

If it's a nitro finish were talking about try guitar polish. Martin is what I use on all my nitro finished guitars.

 

But it's not a nitro finish. . . ?

 

I second the Scott's Liquid Gold. Great stuff!

 

Great info, off to buy some liquid gold

 

Have not posted in years, but wood is something I know a little about. No it is not Nitrocellulose, that (or a modified version) was last used in the early 70's. With the intoduction of the S2 XJ6/12, Polyester has been used. A good quality car polish and microfiber cloth is all you need to maintain the shine.

 

I understand that the wood is protected with an overcoat, but isn't most of our household wood as well? I'm going to try Weiman Furniture Wipes, what my furniture restorer recommends, on a small, less visible part to see how it works. What I love about this stuff is that it is in Kleenex-sized disposable wipes that can get into small areas without worrying about overspray or dealing with repeatedly spraying a cloth. I will then use a microfiber towel to wipe off the excess.

 

You won't hurt it a bit is my opinion. But penetrating oils of any kind are pretty irrelevant to polyester/polyurethane coatings. As far as your question, household wood is traditionally not typically thus coated with the standout exception of hardwood flooring which generally has two or three coats of polyurethane for the sake of durability.

That said, most of my furniture (and wood trim) is very old and more recently polyurethane 'varnishes' have largely replaced older finishes (wax, shellac, lacquer) on furniture and even stained (not painted) household woodwork.

If you haven't seen authentic French Polish (mentioned upthread) on antique furniture, you haven't yet lived! But I'm old-fashioned, I love the smell of linseed oil too

 

Believe it or not - I use Armor All Gel- rub it in with microfiber towel. I let it dry and buff it out with clean micofiber- looks great

 

I use a good caranuba wax. Looks great.

 

what is sure to cause trouble at 125.000 on my 2005 jaguarxj8l

 

This might be helpful:


How To: Polishing Wood Trim - Chemical Guys Car Care BMW E39 Porter Cable

 

I have not had my 2004 XKR all that long, but my father was a long time Martin and Gibson guitar owner and was always fastidious in the maintenance of his guitars. After his passing I found several spray cans if Martin's guitar polish and put them away to save. After reading articles here on maintaining my Jaguar I recalled the guitar polish and figured if it was good enough for Martin it would be good for Jaguar too. It works great with no smell and gives the wood a fantastic finish. I really noticed the difference when I used it on the wood around the power controls in the doors. They had not been as well maintained and were not as nice as the rest of the wood. After using the guitar polish on them it brought both the shine and depth back to them. I plan on keeping using the guitar polish, but am still concerned as I doubt there is any UV protection in it. I just finished waxing the car with the Chemical Guys Lave Luminous Glow Infusion Wax which is supposed to have a UV protection in it. I am going to check with them and maybe test it on wood first. I know it works wonders on the paint. My XKR is quartz metallic and had a great shine when I bought it. however after using the Lava wax the paint became much deeper and had a larger change of color under different light and angles.

 

I use Lysol all purpose cleaner! Works really well to keep the wood clean, and shiny!

 

My personal favourite is bees wax. Used it for years now and always enjoyed the shine and smell when done.

 

My father was a stickler for taking care of his Gibson guitars. So I always use their guitar way. If it worked so well for him all those years. Keeping them so good they were worth 30 times what he originally paid for them, it is good enough and safe enough for me.

 

Multiple coats of Pinnacle Souveran Wax will make it look wet and glossy.

 

Individuals all have their own theories about the best products to use on the wood (just as with leather care) but reading this thread is alternately amusing and frightening: Armorall? Silicone should not be used anywhere except on rubber trim. Lysol cleaner? Unless your Jaguar does double duty as a bathroom...
The beautiful wood in our Jaguars (and it is wood, and Jaguars all have real leather unlike the Mercedes whose "Artico Leather" is vinyl...) is, as others have said, protected by an impermeable coating so using a furniture polish designed to "feed" the wood is an exercise in futility and in many cases simply leads to an initial shine that turns cloudy and greasy.
Think of it this way: the wood has a clear coat on it exactly as the exterior paint does! So, how do you protect the paint from UV damage and at the same time give it a brilliant shine? You WAX it, and the better the wax (always carnauba) the better and deeper the shine. If the wood has not been properly cared for, then just as paint in the same situation, it needs to be polished first. Polish and wax are not the same thing. Polish removes a thin layer of the finish, eliminating scratches. Wax coats the finish and in the case of the best carnauba waxes (Victoria Wax is my choice) the wax fills in the inevitable microscratches. The finish will be impeccable, deep, shiney, smooth, UV resistant and will need nothing more than an occasional light wipe with a good microfibre cloth. Credentials for saying this? Restoration of more than 20 Jaguars from the 60's to the 2000's.
WAX, wax, wax...and you can do it as often as you like; if it is a good wax (not a wax with cleaning abrasive in it) then the more coats you put on, the deeper the finish.