Anyone do a complete rehab of an interior?

[Dexm]

Just curious if anyone of you have done so and have before & after pictures.

I know there are few fanatical people on here (I'm sort of like this) that like to keep everything sorted, but I'm slowly gathering either new (when available) parts and materials (e.g. headliner) to do a complete restore. First the interior. Maybe it's because I basically drove the car almost from the time it was new off the lot. And want to travel back in time 20 years.

I'm not sure how I arrived out this sort of compulsion. I figured, yeah, I'll buy a new wood piece for the shift surround. A couple months later in comes in from Germany. Same with the new leather for the shifter and the e-brake. (Though I had to get those from the Polish company that makes from OEM patterns). Then it was many little plastic pieces from BMW Germany (in the seats, front and rear) which have faded over the past 20 years (the silber grau hell turns to almost a faded taupe in the California sun -- but yes, I should garage). So I got those. And then I figure, well in for a few hundred, in for a thousand. It's a strange compulsion.

What I'd really love to restore though (besides an old Porsche or Jag one of these days) is an E28 -- esp. a South African model.

[ss109]

SEM makes a plastic dye in colors Silbergrau and Silbergrauhell. It's a hell of a lot less expensive than buying all of the plastic parts and looks as good. It has been holding up for years on my car.

[5mall5nail5]

I've had my interior out and redyed/replaced a ton of it

[sweet e36 pimp]

I've done a few interiors. I changed my e36 from tan to black, and you cannot tell the difference between oem black/ dyed black at all. I used the VHT penetrating color dye. Stuff works awesome and is quite durable.

[95Olympic525i]

For some seat prep and dyeing info

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1702911

[GLTHFJ60]

I'm in the middle of replacing my interior completely. Already done the seats and dash, going to move to the door panels next. The dash is by far the most difficult step in the process.

[gcb]

everytime i have to remove something from the interior i take the parts in the house and wash them with water and soap... that makes a huge difference on my tan interior.

can't only fix the slightly srinked dashboard and the peeling door panels this way :(

[gcb]

everytime i have to remove something from the interior i take the parts in the house and wash them with water and soap... that makes a huge difference on my tan interior.

can't only fix the slightly srinked dashboard and the peeling door panels this way :(

[Dexm]

everytime i have to remove something from the interior i take the parts in the house and wash them with water and soap... that makes a huge difference on my tan interior.

can't only fix the slightly srinked dashboard and the peeling door panels this way :(

I do a thorough washing too. I wonder if the tan is less likely to "fade" than the silbergrau hell?


SEM makes a plastic dye in colors Silbergrau and Silbergrauhell. It's a hell of a lot less expensive than buying all of the plastic parts and looks as good. It has been holding up for years on my car.

Thanks for the tip. As to parts, there were a few little things (like the "plugs" in the seats where the seat memory goes.) I don't have that option so it's just blank. But replacements on these faded things were only a few buck each from getbmwparts.com -- granted they had to be ordered from Germany and took 4 weeks but they look good.

[moroza]

Nothing in my interior is original except the cargo area and the rear seats (and not for long). It's a lot of work with fussy brittle plastic parts. Practice on some junkyard cars and have access to spares.

The worst is pulling the front carpets, but unless you're dyeing them there's not much of a need.

[Dexm]

The worst is pulling the front carpets, but unless you're dyeing them there's not much of a need.


Mine aren't bad (really nice actually), so thankfully, no need. But I think I'd like to pull both front seats and really steam clean the carpets all the same.

I've also got the silber grau/silber graun hell combo. (upper area is dark grey and the lower areas light). I've been considering doing the new leather shift/ebrake boots in the darker grey (lighter gray is stock). I'm not sure how good it'll look, but might be worth a try.

[desertpir8]

I'll be doing a complete rework/replacement of my interior soon. Have a full set of silbergrau sport seats with rear buckets that will be going in along with black dash and other goodies for a totally unique color scheme. I'll be doing some redye work on the seats and door panels, as well as recovering headliner, pillars, and package shelf. It'll all be covered in detail in my build thread.

[Tward]

Thats next on my list everything is coming out and getting redone.

[E34Kevin]

I've been wanting to look in to doing this as well, my headliners sagging too much now and everything could use a good cleaning and fixing.

ss109, do you know where we can find that particular dye? the silbergrau, or is it listed as a different color?

[desertpir8]

I've been wanting to look in to doing this as well, my headliners sagging too much now and everything could use a good cleaning and fixing.

ss109, do you know where we can find that particular dye? the silbergrau, or is it listed as a different color?

I'll be getting mine from Leatherique. Will be giving them a call soon to see if they have the silbergrau color dye on hand.

[WhoNew]

They also have cinnamon !! (hint hint)