B & I Dash Trim Kit Review

[splais]

I recently decided to try a dash trim kit in my 2010 Camry Hybrid. After checking several web sites I went with B & I primarily because they were the most customer oriented. I couldn’t even get straight answers out of one major company. My Camry has the two-tone brown/grey and light beige interior and Barcelona Red body. I opted for the Dark Burlwood 2D kit number WD662D, 42 pieces. Couple of after-the-fact observations. If I had it to do over again I think I would choose the next lighter shade. In sun light the dark burlwood looks great, but in any kind of shadow it looks rather dark, almost black. Second observation – these kits are not near as easy to install as indicated. I would not call it exactly difficult, but you need to be very careful or you will ruin a piece. I was only going to use a few pieces but ended up using the whole kit. I have to admit that when I was all done it looked pretty sharp. Here are my grades for the kit: fit A-; ease of install C; Overall appearance improvement B
Most of the pieces fit perfectly, a couple were slightly off. The overall look is a bit better than stock to me; but it looks like what it is a stick-on trim kit. I am happy with the look.
A couple of comments on installation. The instructions make it sould like all you got to do is peal and stick, wam bam thank you mam, all done. It’s not quite that easy. If you gently law a piece down and have to move it be very careful or you will bend/warp/ruin the piece. On almost all the pieces Ileft the backing on and just exposed a small strip to stick down until aligned and then peel the rest of the backing off. The hardest pieces to install were the piece on top of the glove box that needed to slip under an overhang; and the door handle pieces that folded at about a 90 degree angle. The only way I could get those to install properly was to peel all the backing off and hold it kind of folded over so the center section in the bend could installed first.
If you email/PM me I can send you pics of final product.

[ukrkoz]

well, if it looks good to you - amen! i have done my research, and weeks of it, before i bought an upscale kit for around $500+.
fortunately, first thing i did, was to take steering wheel piece out of the box, and simply lay it on the wheel, around buttons. then i packed it all back and returned. last thing i would have done to MY car was to put stickers on.

so far, i found that unless you replace the panels, it will be nothing more than stickers look. so, it's either OEM Toyota parts for gear shifter, storage compartment cover, and central console cup holders cover, or stickers.

there's a company that does make truly molded REPLACEMENT parts for upscale cars, but none for Toyotas.

also, hate to be bearer of bad news. glue on pieces are known to fade in son, and fast. also, known to be virtually impossible to remove, without ruining underlying panels.

[splais]

funny you should mention that. After looking at this kit for a good while I decided it just didn't look all that good. Overkill. Some of the pieces fit well and look like original equipment, but some just look like stuck-on trim. I went back to my original intent and used a minimalist approach. Removed most pieces, kept the door pieces, glove box trim and a few center console pieces. Looks much better.

[Joe B]

Originally Posted by splais

funny you should mention that. After looking at this kit for a good while I decided it just didn't look all that good. Overkill. Some of the pieces fit well and look like original equipment, but some just look like stuck-on trim. I went back to my original intent and used a minimalist approach. Removed most pieces, kept the door pieces, glove box trim and a few center console pieces. Looks much better.

The right and left end of dash A/C air vent pieces look like stuck on trim.