I thought it was the (poly?) coating that covers the veneer that is cracked....old timers...correct me if I'm wrong. And this is definitely NOT exclusive to the e53...cracked wood trim has been a malady on many BMWs for decades. There's DIYs for this on just about any BMW forum (worth it's salt). :)

My e32, e34, and e39 all had at least one piece of wood trim that had developed a crack. :(

I just covered mine in carbon fiber. looks better than wood grain

I have the piano black trim in mine. Only X I looked at that had this trim when I was looking for a X.

I agree with QSilver7. They all have crack(s) in bimmers from that era.
Dark Polar trim looks good in blk interior. I replace the Valvona trim with Technical Graphite trim in my E39 Gray interior. No more crack and look much better.

I really doubt that.
4 of my door trim strips were cracked when I got my X.Rear left door strip is intact,perfect.I had to replace a window regulator and found out that door had nothing disturbed inside,while the rest of the doors were,with insulation torn and so on.
For me,it's a pure human factor damage,although I was able to remove and place it without cracking it.

Does anyone know of a way to repair the cracked trim? I am not interested in covering it with any wrap. I did a quick google search, but didn't find a repair. Thanks.

^Maybe because it can't be done.

If the clear coating over the wood is a polyurethane coating you could strip the poly and reapply another poly coat(s). There are two type of polyurethanes on the market, oil base and water base.

I have no idea as to what type of coating was used by BMW for the wood trim. On my Lotuses the wood dash was covered with a clear lacquer finish and all the Lotuses I seen from that era had cracked dash.

Should have saved the old trim pieces from my E34, I could have experiment as to how to strip the clear coating.

You have to sand it down to the vaneer, then use exterior oil semi gloss poly. Very time consuming.

Perfect excuse to prep and paint all the wood trim :)