Woody Care

[2002ptcruiserwoody723]

I just picked up a 2002 PT with the Woody exterior. My question is what is the proper procudures to clean and maintain the faux wood laminate? In other words can I simply use regular car wash concentrate and turtle wax or are their special products?

Thanks in advance everyone

[prettybluewoody]

I'd vote for treating it the same as the rest of the car: maybe a specialist like Candyman would disagree (you might wanna hunt him up on this forum and ask), but that's worked for me for the last six years. Then again, what kind of woody do you have: contact-paper or full plastic panels?

[2002ptcruiserwoody723]

Thanks, not sure what type it is. Did Chrysler use different types of material? Or are you asking me if the wood panel is factory or aftermarket?

[prettybluewoody]

There are a couple versions of woodies out there:

1. Chrysler's OEM version, basically a vinyl wood patterned contact paper with a 3-dimensional edge trim. The vinyl is self-sticking, and the trim is attached by 3M double-sided tape. Not bad looking at all.

2. Aftermarket versions of the above (example: PT Woody), with a wider variety of faux woodgrain on the vinyl and general woody-kit shape. Depending on the brand and the installer, these range from 'not bad' to 'crap'.

3. 3-dimensional ABS woodgrain-design plastic panels (mine was from Mopar; see also California Cruisers --- more on them below). These are attached by gluing them to the car body: no holes or bolts needed.

4. California Cruisers offers the only REAL-wood woody I've seen; I haven't check prices lately, but as of about five years ago, this would cost you at least $15 thousand dollars (not counting the cost of the car!). Other than the cost, though, another drawback is the fact that California Cruisers is unfortunately well-know for lousy customer service: unless you are literally standing in thier showroom, they will totally ingore you. Phone calls? Emails? Not them!

As far as maintenance goes, I'd just wash and wax the vinyl or ABS panels the same as the rest of the car. The real-wood version should be re-varnished once a year or so.

Removing the vinyl or ABS panels will, at worst, mean a new paint job; no body holes for either of those. Due to the weight of the material, the real-wood woody IS bolted on, although I can't see anybody wanting to remove that!

[Pteazer]

PT woody .com may have something they recommend but I have allways just used the quick detailer from mothers.

[oldcoach]

2002ptcruiserwoody723

I have a 2002 Woody, and have used the same wash and wax that the paint gets. I have even clay-barred the vinyla and it looks and fells great.
Same for the spary detailers, no dif.