M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS
DISCUSSION => Interior => Topic started by: bmwman91 on August 26, 2009, 12:46:49 AM
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As much as I love black vinyl seating, particularly in a vehicle without air conditioning, I decided that maybe I would take a break from my masochistic tendencies & try something different. Besides, it was getting a little old always having to take my GF's Civic everywhere due to her lack of interest in back-sweat.
So, I ordered up a full set of black micro-suede upholstery from Kevin Chinn at http://creativeoptions.info/ and set out to install it. This was my first experience with upholstery, and I will start by saying that you need to be in good physical condition to do it. I do a fair amount of rock climbing, so I have a fair amount of hand strength & dexterity...and I needed it. Getting this stuff hooked tight is a lot of work.
The total working time was about 4 days...2 for the rear stuff, and 2 for the fronts. Head rests, the arm rest & the hard sport seat covers took about 2 hours, combined. The necessary tools & consumables included:
- a SHARP awl
- 4mm Allen wrench
- T25 Torx wrench
- sharp sewing/upholstery scissors
- hog ring pliers
- ~250 hog rings
- zip ties
- assorted flat & phillips screwdrivers
- 17mm socket + wrench
- a hammer
- big pliers
- needle-nosed pliers
- heavy wire cutters
- some very strong spray adhesive (I recommend the canned stuff from RAAMAudio). Just about ANYTHING else will fail to hold the pleather onto the seat backs.
- curved upholstery sewing needle & nylon thread (for "oopses")
Without further ado, here is the adventure.
I began with the head rests. These seemed like the easiest parts to start with. They turned out to be more work than I had anticipated...when you think of needing upholstery to be tight, it is tighter than you think. I accidentally tore a small flap on one head rest tugging, but luckily it was out of sight, and I fixed it up with an upholstery needle & black nylon thread. You also need to try to get it on as straight as possible the first time around, it is a pain to reposition the foam inside the cover. Anyway, here are some pics of the dis/reassembly.
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw001.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw002.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw003.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw004.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw005.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw006.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw007.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw008.jpg)
My next project was the rear seats. In retrospect, I probably should have done this last as I feel that it was the hardest part. Again...it needs to be tight. Being that the rear seats use the largest pieces of upholstery, they require the most brute force, and some practice with fitting the stuff & tightening it on the fronts would have been useful. While the fronts are more complicated, they are easier since the need less strength to do. I did the seat bottom with zip ties simply because I got impatient waiting for my eBay hog ring pliers & hog rings. I COULD go back & replace them with rings, but there really is no functional difference. Should they ever get brittle & break, I will swap them then, but that will probably be sometime after 2020!
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw009.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw010.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw011.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw012.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw013.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw014.jpg)
As with all of the sitting surfaces, there are pleats on the back side that are fastened to metal wires in the foam cushions. I opted to poke holes in the pleats & secure them with zip ties.
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw015.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw016.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw017.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw018.jpg)
The arm rest was a pain in the rear. I found that turning the cover inside-out and rolling it on worked pretty well. It is really tempting to make an off-color comparison to another activity that this is similar to, but I have said enough already.
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw019.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw020.jpg)
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I continued with the rear seat back. This was, by far, the most difficult part. If you own one without an arm rest, this will be considerably simpler. I swapped in a fancy one, so I got to pay the price when I did this. You will notice that the upholstery is fastened with a combination of hog rings, and metal spikes. Getting the little seat belt cubbies out was tough as well, and I busted one of the little plastic pegs on one. Getting them out seemed to be easiest by hammering a small flat blade screwdriver through form the back, bending the little locking metal tabs the opposite way.
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw021.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw022.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw023.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw025.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw026.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw027.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw028.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw029.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw030.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw031.jpg)
Finally, I moved on to the front seats. You can see how to disassemble them most of the way in an article on my site at http://bmw.e30tuner.com . The most difficult part here was recovering the backs. Bubbles & creases are easy to get. Just take these slowly, and carefully look at how it is put together. Disassembly is pretty easy once you see how it all fits.
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw034.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw035.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw036.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw037.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw038.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw039.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw040.jpg)
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw041.jpg)
And of course, the done deal.
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw032.jpg)
These are incredibly comfortable, and I did not suffer form any swamp-back on my most recent long drive through a very hot place. This stuff is breathable, which is a nice improvement over the vinyl trash.
(http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/images/my318is/pic/upholstery/bmw033.jpg)
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Awesome. I'm having a hard time deciding what fabric I want to use. I had originally thought I'd go with the stock black vinyl but I'm loving the cloth on my seats now so I dunno. I think durability is really my top priority which is why I was thinking vinyl. Great job on the seats they look good.
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Has anyone ever seen a back seat that is foam but has the armrest?
I was thinking the foam had better support?
My original was foam but I swapped for the back armrest too (love it, even tho I rarely sit back there) as its STELLAR!
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Awesome. I'm having a hard time deciding what fabric I want to use. I had originally thought I'd go with the stock black vinyl but I'm loving the cloth on my seats now so I dunno. I think durability is really my top priority which is why I was thinking vinyl. Great job on the seats they look good.
Vinyl might be a little more durable, but that stuff is super uncomfortable. I don't get sweaty on the microfiber, and it holds me in place very nicely in he corners. NO regrets here!
Has anyone ever seen a back seat that is foam but has the armrest?
I was thinking the foam had better support?
My original was foam but I swapped for the back armrest too (love it, even tho I rarely sit back there) as its STELLAR!
I wondered the same thing too. I do not believe there was a foam seat back with the arm rest...which is unfortunate. The steel frame one is heavy as hell, not quite as comfy, and dies not fit exactly the same (leaves a small gap between it & the seat bottom).
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I'm pretty sure the seat I swapped into my es from a 90 ix was foam. I don't remember it being any heavier than a normal seat back. It was the ski-pass style armrest. Then again I have a bad memory...
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Beautiful work.
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Mate that looks awesome Just wish I had the bottle to do it my self
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Damn - excellent, well written tech thread (w/ excellent pics) as to how to do some reupholstery!!!
If you don't mind me asking, how much did it cost for just the upholstery? Did you have to give him any specs, or is he well versed w/E30's so that the upholstery is spot on?
I too cannot stand the vinyl - even on "warm" days, those seats just trap the heat and it takes quite some time for it to dissipate... even when using A/C. My vehicle being a vert that is all black exterior just cooks out in the sun, even w/ the windows down partially, the vinyl still traps the heat.
I'm interested in getting upholstery like yours - looks awesome!
Is there any fabric protector on it already that would protect it from any accidental spills?
Thx for the info and write up!
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The cost was $900, shipped, and including 2 extra head rest covers. He only needs to know if the fronts are sport or regular, coupe/sedan/cabrio & whether or not you have an arm rest. You have the options of leather, standard cloth, vinyl & micro-suede (which I went with). Micro-suede is a breathable synthetic woven material, that feels like a mix of suede leather & microfiber cloth. It has the neat two-tone appearance thing going...brush it one way & it is light, the other way is dark.
You also have the option of having it perforated for extra breathability, but I passed on this since the black cloth would show the white foam through the holes. As far as I know, there is no protection on it...maybe you could apply some Scotch Guard or water-repellent if concerned. The stitching is very good, it looks like it was done on an industrial sewing machine. I think you can request different stitching patterns. I made sure to ask for double-row stitching mimicking the OEM leather interior's.
Kevin has been doing this for a while now, and he has a lot of forum-rep on BF & r3v. The lead time was a little over 2 months I think, so you have to be patient. He took half the $ as a deposit at first, and the other half of the $ just before shipping. There's a link to his (outdated) site in my first post.