[ethanjoon]

Originally Posted by KKevin

How are the seats holding up?

Holding up very well. It's been a month and a half and about 500 miles and they feel good. The driver seat feels a a tad better now than the passenger seat. Feels broken in. Feels good.

Originally Posted by ky0u

Beautiful. Reminds me a lot of the Pacific leather option on the old e30s

Thanks. I recently drove a 1984 E24 633csi with Pacific Blue (I believe) leather, and they did remind me of each other. My Tobago Blue is a little bit lighter in color, which I like.

Originally Posted by whyzee125

This is pretty sweet and turned out great! I think you should definitely do the door panel inserts too

Thank you. I know, I still haven't gotten around to the door panel. I've been putting it off just because I'm too lazy to research how to remove the door cards.

[Ali-E90]

This looks great, and certainly a unique but great looking colour for the interior!

If I go this route, I'll prob still stick to red, but I'd be lying if I said the blue isn't in the running now too!!

And would love to know in 6-12 months how it's holding up after normal wear and use.

Thanks for sharing!!

[ethanjoon]

Originally Posted by Ali-323i

This looks great, and certainly a unique but great looking colour for the interior!

If I go this route, I'll prob still stick to red, but I'd be lying if I said the blue isn't in the running now too!!

And would love to know in 6-12 months how it's holding up after normal wear and use.

Thanks for sharing!!

Thank you.

Red is cool, but the only reason I didn't go with that color is because Coral Red is offered from the factory, and I kind of wanted a non-factory / totally unique look. It might potentially lower my future resale value, but I have no plans to sell this car.

If I may make a suggestion, perhaps Modena (like on the E39 M5) or a dark green would be cool Dark green is the next color I'll do. The options are truly limitless.

[BB_cuda]

Originally Posted by ethanjoon

Holding up very well. It's been a month and a half and about 500 miles and they feel good. The driver seat feels a a tad better now than the passenger seat. Feels broken in. Feels good.



Thanks. I recently drove a 1984 E24 633csi with Pacific Blue (I believe) leather, and they did remind me of each other. My Tobago Blue is a little bit lighter in color, which I like.



Thank you. I know, I still haven't gotten around to the door panel. I've been putting it off just because I'm too lazy to research how to remove the door cards.

Door card removal is so easy. The wood trim has to come off a specific way. Front edge first on front. There are screws holding card to door structure under where wood trim goes. Then pop along bottom of card with plastic trim tool. You likely will break some of the plastic snaps (I call them Christmas trees).
After this, the card lifts up. You’ll need to disconnect some electric switches and the puddle light when card is free. Getting card off is easy. Taking the card apart is more work.

[ethanjoon]

Originally Posted by BB_cuda

Door card removal is so easy. The wood trim has to come off a specific way. Front edge first on front. There are screws holding card to door structure under where wood trim goes. Then pop along bottom of card with plastic trim tool. You likely will break some of the plastic snaps (I call them Christmas trees).
After this, the card lifts up. You’ll need to disconnect some electric switches and the puddle light when card is free. Getting card off is easy. Taking the card apart is more work.

Thanks for the explanation, I'll give it a try once I decide what to do with the interior trim (I'm thinking of going brushed aluminum). I'd rather not remove and install the trim more than I need to because I know the clips are delicate. My second concern is the rear card (not really a door card since it's a coupe, rather I'm referring to the extension of the door card that goes towards the rear of the car). Removing the rear card seemed a bit daunting the first time I looked into it, but I'll have to look into it again when I find more time. I'm currently working on my 1984 733i, which is taking precedence as it's not yet as roadworthy as the 335.

[ethanjoon]

It's been a few months later and the leather is holding up superbly well. It's been holding up perfectly well against the elements (water, dirt, etc). I'm happy with it all. If there's interest in more pictures, let me know and I'll post some more.

[IllSic_Design]

Yeah I'd like to see periodic updates to the thread on how the interior is holding up, maybe every 6 months to a year. No one ever seems to keep these threads updated on how its holding up. Maybe how long and how many miles since the treatment when you update

[KKevin]

Great update, have any pics of the seats from outside- looking at the seats?

[ethanjoon]

It's been a while and I haven't posted any new photos here. For anyone still interested, below shows how the seats currently look. These pictures are taken approximately 11 months and 1000 miles after application. The seats keep looking better and better as they wear. I should be taking some better pics soon, but regardless I'll keep updating within the next 11 months or sooner.

[IllSic_Design]

Looks great man, nice work!

[INTMD8]

Looks awesome! I may have missed it but what gloss did you order? I would guess Satin?

[ethanjoon]

Originally Posted by IllSic_Design

Looks great man, nice work!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by INTMD8

Looks awesome! I may have missed it but what gloss did you order? I would guess Satin?

Good question. I believe it was Satin. The guys at Leather World Tech were pretty knowledgeable. I remember they recommended which finish I should go with for an OEM BMW look, and I went with it. 99% sure it was satin. I believe there were 3 options and I went with the middle one.

[INTMD8]

^ Thanks! Going to give this a try.

[ethanjoon]

Originally Posted by INTMD8

^ Thanks! Going to give this a try.

Post pics what color?

[INTMD8]

Starting with Oyster.

Will be changing to EL650 Mocha


A bit more work than I anticipated.

Also, seems impossible to separate the center leather inserts from the door panels. (I think bonded)

[ethanjoon]

Originally Posted by INTMD8

Starting with Oyster.

Will be changing to EL650 Mocha


A bit more work than I anticipated.

Also, seems impossible to separate the center leather inserts from the door panels. (I think bonded)
[/IMG]

Very nice, that'll look good. Did you also use Leather World Tech? Let me know how it turns out. The oyster seats are looking dirty, so I would make sure to clean them with rubbing alcohol and then scuff them thoroughly with the cleaning agent provided.

I didn't do my door cards, so I'm not sure about removal. I would lay some tape down on the edges and use a fine-tip paint brush to dab the edges.

That Guards Red 993 looks awesome btw

[INTMD8]

I did order everything from leather world tech based on your results.

Yes certainly will do several stages of cleaning.

After round 1 of cleaning, several different types of masking tape have very little adhesion on the surrounding vinyl.

I think I can slide poster board under the door panel inserts but concerned about it pulling away cleanly afterwords.

[ethanjoon]

Originally Posted by INTMD8

I did order everything from leather world tech based on your results.

Yes certainly will do several stages of cleaning.

After round 1 of cleaning, several different types of masking tape have very little adhesion on the surrounding vinyl.

I think I can slide poster board under the door panel inserts but concerned about it pulling away cleanly afterwards.

I couldn't get any painters tape to stick either. I used a very fine tip paintbrush to go around the trim for the first ~4 coats. But I got tired of doing that and used the sponge the rest of the way, and got some blue on my trim due to being lazy. I don't mind it much though. Acetone or mineral spirits would probably remove most of it; alternatively, some trim paint (using a fine tip paint brush) would also cover it up and blend in nicely. About pulling the poster board cleanly afterwards.. it could be risky. If the seats are prepped and the dye is applied correctly, then the dye should not behave like Plastidip where it will pull off with the cardboard. This is dye, and if you prep the leather well and do extremely light coats (if I remember correctly I did 10-12 very light coats), the dye will essentially seep/bond into the leather. If you lay it on too thick though, then you run the risk of runs, build ups, and peeling (like Plastidip). Still, to mitigate the risk of peeling (in the event it does get laid on too thick), then perhaps you can pull out the cardboard in between each coat.

Btw, another tip is to lightly scuff/"sand" the leather with the pad in between coats -- right before applying a fresh coat, I would scuff and then wipe down with a microfiber towel. That's something I learned when staining wood, and I think it was one of the factors that gave me a factory-looking finish. I used the supplied pad to scuff in between coats, but you can also use steel wool (I assume grade 000 or finer, which is what I use in between coats of wood staining). Just make sure to allow ample time to dry before attempting to scuff, and don't go too hard. Good luck.

[INTMD8]

I appreciate the insight.

Have to admit I would be reluctant to scuff between coats.

I feel like if I applied the next light coat within the adhesion window I may do more harm than good trying to scuff it?

Roughly how much time between coats?

Thanks!