[texasjohn]

What's the consensus of the value of this on the second hand market? I see the burr walnut and brushed aluminium goes for 200 or so.

It's a bugger to maintain so I am swapping mine out for something easier to look after (bamboo) and might sell the piano black (its from an lci e90 with nav)

[nealer74]

I'll give you 50quid for it

In all seriousness, I'd say it would be more desirable - I would love to swap my brushed aluminium trim out of the e93, but scared I'd wreck something.

I have the piano black in our mini clubman and use the meguiars interior cleaner and some Mr Sheen on it to bring it up

[Alex.Devol]

Piano is hassle for those who have it, but as above is quite desirable and sells for a decent price 2nd hand, IMO it's probably best looking when not rife with scratches. I changed my centre console which took the most battering to carbon which ties in nicely with the black and doesn't look out of place, the piano dash and doors have stayed and easily polish up if they do get scratched which is rare now.
I'd suggest swapping or wrapping the centre console to something black and textured which masks scratches / smudges like brushed black aluminium or carbon.

[Alex.Devol]

You could do the steering wheel centre to match if you dont want the console trim to look lonely.

[Guvernator]

I've got piano black in mine and I wouldn't swap it for any of the other options as I think it's by far the best looking trim option, well I suppose I could be persuaded by the performance CF parts if you twisted my arm

At any rate I think your mad to want to swap them. Yes they do take a bit of looking after (mine does have one or two scratches) but I'd rather try to maintain\polish them out or at a push, replace any individual trim bits which looked too worse for wear, rather than get rid of the whole lot.

As for wood trim, as far as I am concerned wood trim belongs in the 1980's or on boats, not in a modern BMW (Sorry wood trim owners )

[texasjohn]

Originally Posted by Alex.Devol

Piano is hassle for those who have it, but as above is quite desirable and sells for a decent price 2nd hand, IMO it's probably best looking when not rife with scratches. I changed my centre console which took the most battering to carbon which ties in nicely with the black and doesn't look out of place, the piano dash and doors have stayed and easily polish up if they do get scratched which is rare now.
I'd suggest swapping or wrapping the centre console to something black and textured which masks scratches / smudges like brushed black aluminium or carbon.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

The centre console is the worst bit for scratches.

What can I use to polish it up a bit?

I have some scratch remover for paint handy but not sure if that's the best thing possibly even that is too abrasive. Otherwise I have some AG super resin polish?

I see lots of high gloss black trim being advertised as piano black on the 'bay lol!

[Alex.Devol]

As far as I know its just painted plastic same as half of your cars bodywork and so a medium abrasive shouldn't do it any harm, there is possibly a difference in clearcoat. I've used poorboys 2.5 on mine without any problems.
If there are stubborn scratches you can use a drill or dremel tool to rotary polish out pretty much any scratch that hasn't exposed the base plastic with the use of a backing plate and polishing pad, your trim will look like new and it will be a lot cheaper and less hassle than swapping it for another. I'd really recomend wrapping the centre console though, I rarely get scratches or swirls elsewhere and the interior has been much less maintenance since.

[old grey steve]

I've got the aluminium trim in my E92, which has a few light dents here and there and only last week I looked at getting some piano black trim, as I thought this would really make a difference but at £605+VAT new, I think I may well look at due to a lack of this stuff on the used market dressing up the Ali trim with some sort of vinyl wrap in the future.