Hi, I noticed at the National Rally last year that a lot of Mark 1 Berkeleys had very faded interior trim, some to the point where it was almost white. I assume this is sun damage? Just wondered whether anyone had thought of a way of protecting the trim and preventing or at least postponing any fading. Im guessing this is something that affects all MX5s with the wooden type of trim.
I wondered about getting one of those foil sun protectors you put on your windscreen but not sure it would be enough. Obviously it would just be used whilst the car is parked any sun damage couldnt be avoided when your driving with the roof down
No, just those using a certain quality of trim. There are plenty of 20 year old Roadsters about, that have been exposed to lots of bright sunlight, with little apparent degradation in factory-applied wood trim (some Vspecs). The wood trim applied to UK MX5s, especially after 1993, was fitted by the franchise holders at the time, Mazda Cars Limited (which had nothing really to do with the factory, besides sell mazdas), was sourced from a variety of suppliers over here, who might have used all sorts of lacquers or varnishes (is it even real wood?). Since MCL lost the franchise, and Mazda UK took over (which is part owned by the factory), things may have changed (special editions are a lot more standardised globally now). I think though, for a while, MCL were subcontracted to do some special edition prep work, alongside Kias.
The wood trim on my Berkeley was badly faded in patches when I bought it. I waited until I’d found an acceptable replacement for it before removing it. It was a bit of a dilema, whether to keep it original but worn/faded looking, or freshen it up with an aftermarket kit.
It was a shame really because I found the original was actually a proper layer of real wood veneer with a thick layer of clear plastic bonded to it. The light patches seemed to be where the two had parted company - the wood wasn’t faded at all underneath. Same result of course, the trim need changing, but I’m not sure it was light that had damaged it.
If yours is still in good condition, maybe it was put together better than mine, and will continue to stand the test of time. Still no harm in protecting from prolonged sunlight as a precaution.
The photo below was taken with the new trim fitted. Not real wood, but it’s a similar colour to original, and has a nice fit and finish, so I was happy with it. Ray.
My trim is similarly damaged by delamination of the plastic outer layer on the centre console revealing a layer of what appears to be real wood in good condition and good colour. The plastic itself is discoloured to a yucky yellow/brown.
I am reluctant to remove the original trim entirely as replacements are a much lighter colour although they do look nice and have been toying with the idea of trying to reattach the plastic perhaps using varnish or something similar as the adhesive. If that doesn’t work I will have to replace it entirely as it looks so bad as it is and without the protection of the plastic outer it is only going to get worse.
Ray - how did you remove the existing trim it seems to be very well attached. I suppose an alternative would be to replace the centre console and radio surround with a plain one from a wreck and then apply the new trim to that.
I used a hair dryer to warm it up and gently eased it off the plastic console and facia. It was very well attached, particularly on the vertical facia, where it ripped in a couple of places as it came away. Also in some places it came off in one, whilst in others the clear plastic came away first, then I had to pull the wood layer off. I cleaned up any remaining sticky with a bit of white spirit on a cloth.
I bought my replacement trim second hand, but unused off ebay. It was actually a decent colour match for the original trim and I did consider leaving the oiginal facia trim in place (as it wasn’t too faded), but the new is quite shiny so the finsish was different and would have looked odd. I’m quite pleased with the replacement. Many I’ve seen are too pale, but this set looks quite close to original colour.
Thanks guys thats been really helpful. Ray yours looks really nice, you did a really good job of replacing it and its a good match to the original.
Fortunately the previous owner kept mine garaged out of direct sunlight for the majority of its life so im assuming this is why mines in quite good condition. Its not going to last forever though.
Mazda-mender, where did you get that cover sheet from? It looks fab. Its a shame you can’t get anything that only covers the interior trim when the cars parked though, be great if I could drive mine to work on a sunny day, leave the roof up with the windows down so it didnt get too hot and just cover the trim. I can always put seat covers on the seats to protect them.
