My 2005 XJ8 has suddenly, over the last two months, developed cracks in the finish of the wood interior trim. I have two radial cracks around the shifter knob, about seven at the upper section of the shifter trim, one vertically across the entire face of the panel above globe box and one on driver's door trim.

I wood work as a hobby so wondered if I should refinish my self or just replace. Do replacement trim pieces tend to blend well with original. Right now the cracks appear to be fine, hair line and show no sign of widening.

 

I'm in the process of replacing some of my dash parts for my '99XK8 for the very same reason. I did track down a guy who repairs them but it's pretty damn expensive and he recommends you do all of it as the process makes the pieces darker.

If you take a piece off you'll see that the 'wood' is a very thin piece like a slice of laminate that is formed over an aluminum backing plate that forms the shape. While I haven't tried to separate them I think it would very difficult at best and probably the wood would come apart in the process.

There are pieces that show up on eBay frequently but be careful because there were a couple of different shades used. The other thing, if you look closely at how your particular pieces come together how the pieces match grain to grain for example. In some cases it looks as if they used the same piece of wood all the way across and just split it at the seams. If you buy of eBay do so according to the color you have and as close a grain or knot match as you feel you need.