M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS

DISCUSSION => Interior => Topic started by: Royalratch on April 02, 2008, 09:41:46 AM

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: Royalratch on April 02, 2008, 09:41:46 AM

The story so far:

I originally had the very nice Blue tartan interior in when I first got my iS way back. Had it re-trimmed in Blue leather a year or so later (dumb!).

It was done in Cabrio style front seats and Cabrio style rear seats which looks kind of odd in a Coupe. I should have at least done them in the original vertical stitching E30 Sports Seats style. Basically, it looks nice but is not original as at the time I was a kid and didn't know better - I've now had the car for 8 years.

I have the option to get a mint condition original cloth interior and offload the leather (it's heated by the way!) and end up in profit.

What's the verdict?

Car interior now:
(http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/6574/img0246qo6.jpg)
(http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/8531/img0288df4.jpg)
(http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/201/img0287ln2.jpg)
(http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/9089/img0281hb1.jpg)



Original Interior:
(http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/8781/bfff1sw1.jpg)
(http://img354.imageshack.us/img354/3540/c1331sh7.jpg)



Random shots of the car:
(http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/6434/img0217nl8.jpg)
(http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/4333/img0228rl4.jpg)
(http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/3071/img0273ez7.jpg)
(http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/9461/img0240hw3.jpg)
(http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/641/img0223jn6.jpg)
(http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/2445/img0278nf0.jpg)
(http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/1420/img0298db2.jpg)
(http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/5523/img0296ii5.jpg)

Basically, the interior is the only non-original item and that bugs me...

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: hoevesruperd on April 02, 2008, 09:49:11 AM

i love those original seats. do it do it!

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: Royalratch on April 02, 2008, 09:52:05 AM

I know man they are sick and different, even though they are the standard seats!

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: PartsCar on April 02, 2008, 09:52:25 AM

the original seats are cool, but i like what you have now.

but if you want to keep it original, go for it.

sexy car btw.

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: boomer5 on April 02, 2008, 12:54:59 PM

IMO;cabrio's horizontal stitching looks better than the regular vertical stitching.As far as choice of fabric;Americans usually pick leather over cloth.My exception would be if the cloth were m-tech or one of the aftermarket tuner's fabric.
Either way you choose,you'll still have a great looking e30.

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: n2motorsports on April 02, 2008, 01:14:49 PM

keep the leather, there are no points for originality anymore, unless your goal is to do a full restoration using only geniune bmw parts.

btw - you're car is awesome, maybe i can check it out in october when i travel over the pond to watch my chargers play

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: txleadfoot on April 02, 2008, 01:30:24 PM

i think your leather seats look great!

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: dude8383 on April 02, 2008, 02:03:20 PM

I would stick the leather man...heated seats rock!

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: Royalratch on April 02, 2008, 03:33:03 PM

Thanks all for the nice comments.

n2motorsports, The car is original from new with no rust or damage anywhere. I'm the second owner from 55K and it has full service history (around 80% BMW) with all original BMW parts. The only thing non-standard is the interior.

I'll pick up the cloth and see how 'mint' it is. Otherwise I'm leaning toward getting a pair seat frames and foam from BMW and re-trim them in the same leather but with the correct patterns.

The cloth set is also heated.

I'll post up my M44 Touring soon which is the same colour, higher spec and has just been re-trimmed in BMW Buffalo so should look nice against the Lazer Blue.

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: Royalratch on April 02, 2008, 03:50:52 PM

And you're welcome to check it out - a 7K RPM tour round London is how to do it proper!

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: RED IS 91 on April 02, 2008, 04:03:59 PM

There's no question as far as I'm concerned  !                                                                                                                                                        Leave the leather! People pay more  money to get leather in their car .
beautiful car too;)  by the way

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: tampa e30 on April 04, 2008, 06:33:57 AM

Leather

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: 318kid on April 13, 2008, 06:44:33 PM

I love the Original Interior, I think it would look great! I'd love to have those seats in my car someday!

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: Spec 2 on April 14, 2008, 03:34:45 PM

I'd keep the leather, I think it looks great!  And I much prefer the horizontal stitching over the vertical.  I think you'd be taking a step back if you went cloth... extra money would be nice though.

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: batsbats on April 26, 2008, 11:41:07 PM

Wow, really liking the paint color.  What is it?

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: Royalratch on April 27, 2008, 05:03:28 AM

Cheers - it's Laser Metallic Blue.

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: Jimmy Lewis on April 30, 2008, 09:26:50 PM

Man as great as that leather looks, if it was my car, I would have to unload those to someone who wanted the bling and go back to original. I just love the feel of the E30 cloth seats, they seems to hold you more firm because of the coarseness of the material. The original also looks awesome to boot.

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: KenC on April 30, 2008, 11:09:19 PM

KEEP THE LEATHER!!! Looks awesome!

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: Frank Gallegos on May 01, 2008, 10:48:29 AM

Leather

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: Poor_Man's_M3 on June 01, 2008, 10:31:22 AM

remember, the horizontal stitching was also done on the M3 besides the cabrio ... so ... personally ... i'd stick with the leather ... looks like whoever did the leather did a most excellent job

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: Royalratch on June 02, 2008, 06:25:27 AM

True.

But the correct pattern for the 318iS was vertical stitching. Besides, the rear seats here were done in Cabrio style too but they are not Cabrio rears so they look odd.

I sold them for £510 ($1006).

The fabric interior deal fell through, usual eBay liars!

The guys who did this interior are doing my new one, same leather but with correct stitching. My new rear bench also has the center armrest which I didn't have before.

Got a new black roof lining ready with the correct black power sunroof panel and black visors as I'm doing the power sunroof conversion whilst I'm at it - will post pics soon as.

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: swiss318is on June 03, 2008, 04:28:32 AM

i would sell the leather ones and put in the oringinal.. i like them much more! my opinion..

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: HaNasich on June 04, 2008, 04:25:58 AM

leather seats are so much more RIGHT for that car.
the horizontal stitching looks great.
if i were u i would not thinkg twice - the leather looks 10X time better than the original ones.

PS - if u do want to get rid of the leather seats let me know, if shipping to Israel is not that expensive u might have a buyer for them...


Ron.

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: xwill112x on June 18, 2008, 09:16:04 PM

i'd sell the leathers for a ridiculous amount, and buy sparco racing seats.
:D

great looking car btw.

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: Royalratch on July 09, 2008, 11:18:29 AM

These will be done soon - will post pics!

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: Royalratch on October 04, 2008, 11:44:42 AM

Okay. An old but solid sports interior(in the bloody rare Indigo Blue) has been sourced for next to nothing and is at the trimmers.

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3112/2878028611_42fdbe8231_b.jpg)
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3012/2878028303_c19a427672_b.jpg)

Having some door builds trimmed whilst I'm there in the same blue leather. These are the most 'factory' looking ones you can get I think, by http://www.audiosport.co.uk

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3139/2878861378_3ae36837fc_b.jpg)


Of course, things will be heated up - full set of BMW Heating Elements

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3042/2878021691_978b9984ec_b.jpg)

And all new foam from BMW for the Drivers seat. Makes sense as it's cheap and the seat will feel firm and new. Nothing worse than a worn and saggy seat. The passengers is fine as is.

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3205/2878028733_0d8c7dfcc7_b.jpg)


These will be trimmed in a perfect match leather from Scotland. I have also bought all vinyl door cards
as the one's I own have fabric inserts and even the most skilled trimmer cannot match the 'stamped' vinyl
of BMW's original door card designs. They usually just stick a leather panel over it and it looks crap.


eBay special for £30!

(http://i16.ebayimg.com/06/i/001/0f/67/f7c0_1.JPG) (http://i17.ebayimg.com/06/i/001/0f/68/364b_1.JPG)

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: Royalratch on October 19, 2008, 08:20:19 AM

An amusing side-note for you guys. Check out the insanity on an enquiry for Indigo Blue door trims/panel trims  - email pasted from BMW NYC:

Quote

DEAR MR RACHID. AS PER OUR CONVERSATION, THE DOOR PANNEL IS $680.29 FOR THE LEFT (51-41-1-976-163) AND $660.84 FOR THE RIGHT(51-41-1-976-164). ALSO  REAR TRIM PANEL PART#51-43-1-976-525 LEFT AND #51-43-1-976-526 RIGHT ARE $518.67 EACH.THESE PARTS ARE NOT AVAILABLE IN OUR US WEARHOUSE BUT COULD BE  ORDER FROM GERMANY WHICH TAKES ABOUT 2 WEEKS. PAYMENT IS REQUIRED BEFORE THESE PARTS COULD BE ORDERED…………..SHOULD YOU NEED ANYMORE INFORMATION PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME @212-314-9710 OR BY E-MAIL.
 
Jing B. Liu                                                                                         SINCERELY
BMW of Manhattan, Inc.
Parts Advisor

That's a grand total of $2,378.47 (£1,375.636!) for 2 door cards and 2 rear quarter panel trims!? :mad:

I just don't understand BMW's pricing sometimes. Some things are a bargain and others are absolute insanity and there's NO GOOD REASON.

My used set I just bought pictured above really are near mint and were roughly 3.5% of the above price! LOL!

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: C.Saenz on October 19, 2008, 04:23:40 PM

sad but true. Thank God for bavauto, this forum, and local bimmer shops

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: christerk on October 19, 2008, 11:23:52 PM

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3205/2878028733_0d8c7dfcc7_b.jpg)

p/n?

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: ///m42 sport on October 20, 2008, 12:27:25 AM

^^  I was wondering the same thing.  My drivers seat to shot!

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: Royalratch on October 20, 2008, 08:43:31 AM

Items 4 and 5:

http://bmwfans.info/original/E30/2-T/318is-M42/ECE/R/M/1990/07/mg-52/ill-52_0579/

Title: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: Kilawin on October 21, 2008, 11:28:11 AM

Pelican says $88 for the 5 piece set.

Title: Re: Keep Leather or go Original.
Post by: ///m42 sport on March 17, 2013, 12:03:45 AM

just curious if the cushions and OEM vinyl seat covers are still available?  Checked bmwfans just now and couldnt come up with part number for the vinyl covers :(