The $5000 BMW M3

Interior Leather re-dye color?

  • Black

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  • Stock color: orange-ish tan

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H

HappyWax

New member
Check out my summer project! Picked it up for exactly $5000 !



1996 BMW M3

129K

...and butt ugly.





The Good:

1. only 129k (My last M3 had 180k but ran like a champ)

2. full Milltek exhaust. I am NOT into the custom crap at all, but the exhaust is pretty high end and looks sounds close to stock

3. Its an M3 for 5 grand?!

4. wheels are original and they are in amazing condition.

5. Headlight are new so they are nice and clear (pet peeve #1)



The Bad:

1. Whoa, the leather is gross. Rips tears and actually even if it was clean the orangutan orange interior is a little much.

2. The hood is chipped up pretty bad

3. Wheel well plastics are off - because the...

suspension is lowered H& R springs

4. Dumb BMW electrics... faded instrument cluster, and console computer.

(my 15 year old VCR display is brighter...)

5. Rubber & plastic trim all over pretty rough - cracked and rotted



Note the #3 pic of the passenger seat- I steamed the plastic backing by the shoulder area. The guy was a smoker for sure.



My plan is to:

Leatherique the interior - and then by a repair and dye kit (either from them or from leather magic or leather world)



I would like to dye the door leather black - maybe the seats too (the backing of the seats is orange plastic though) What do you think guys?
 

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Well, you have two threads going, but I will post here.



Black will probably look better, but it will be some work to change the color. This is on top of the work you will have to put into it to get it repaired and prepped before spraying. That driver's bolster needs a new panel. You may want to check out Katzkin, etc. for some new leather seat covers. If you want to go the repair and refinish route then call LRT or Refinish Coatings.
 
Yeah, the pics actually make the car look better - when you see this thing in person you wonder who the hell let such a nice car go....



(You also wonder who the heck in BMW R&D came up with this interior color)
 
I'd say keep it the factory original color. If you dye the door leather and seats, the carpet, and trim pieces will look weird. I actually like the color of the interior, it would look better if the car itself was black...
 
I would leatherique the interior and see what you end-up with. Leatherique is amazing stuff. You might find that color very rewarding. Some BMW enthusiast worship that interior.



If you are doing a full restoration, I would strip the interior and start over with new carpet and wrap the seats in new leather. If you are looking for a fun beater. I would stick with leatherique and save the money for maintenance repairs (RTABs, Suspension components, Cooling system components, FLuids, and gaskets) all of which are prone to wear and tear on the E36 M3.



Great car, Fun project. I have to admit, I'm envious. Looks like alot of fun. GL



JJ
 
I'd say the leather is pretty shot, not worth re-dying... I would rewrap all seats completely with new leather, but as XRL said, the orange carpets, the orange seat "backings" and their storage "meshes" will look very weird.



I say, go with an orange/yellow/cream color of some shade, maybe a little different than original, my suggestion - Volvo S60R/Aston Matin "orange":



008.jpg




aston_martin_interior-125.jpg




I don't know about re-wrapping prices in your area, but in my area you can get the whole interior rewrapped for about $1200-1500
 
I have a friend in the exact same situation. Same color combo, same price paid, same condition. Personally, I would go for a recover and not change color. Changing color is always weird and a pain. A recover is expensive, but yours is probably to far gone to be fixed simply. If you can get someone to do a full trade for better condition black, I would go that route. My friend is opting for a track interior with race seats as the cost of rehab was high
 
Happy Wax- I too would keep the leather stock and spend the money/time/effort elsewhere.



Check the mounts for the rear end/suspension. Now. Before you drive it again ;)
 
The kid had the rear end suspension done :) - Mechanically, the only issues at the moment (...and yes, an M3 lives moment to moment) is the valve cover gasket. pretty common and a simple fix.



He handed over a book of all the recent repairs, totaling about 7 grand in the last 2 years. -tie rods, fan clutch and belts, new springs and new power steering hoses.



As all M3s go, burns a little oil (we'll see how much once I change the valve cover gasket). and the LCD screens are faded.
 
J.J. said:
I would leatherique the interior and see what you end-up with. Leatherique is amazing stuff. You might find that color very rewarding. Some BMW enthusiast worship that interior.



If you are doing a full restoration, I would strip the interior and start over with new carpet and wrap the seats in new leather. If you are looking for a fun beater. I would stick with leatherique and save the money for maintenance repairs (RTABs, Suspension components, Cooling system components, FLuids, and gaskets) all of which are prone to wear and tear on the E36 M3.



Great car, Fun project. I have to admit, I'm envious. Looks like alot of fun. GL



JJ
Click to expand...



Leatherique isn't going to repair that hole in the bolster and it is not going to fill in the cracks in the leather.



Were the seats refinished at any time? The door panel looks like it might have been sprayed.
 
Quality Leather said:
Were the seats refinished at any time? The door panel looks like it might have been sprayed.
Click to expand...



No, I took the strip of leather off of the door and from what i can tell, it is just how the wear and tear shaped up over the years.



As far as changing the color, I am going to keep it original- The more I think of it, if I went to black, it would look like a Halloween interior...





I'm not sure I want to sink $1200+ and recover the entire interior. I don't think it will ad that much to the resale.



Would you spend 6700 on a 1996 M3 with 129K and PERFECT leather or $5500 with decent, but not perfect leather. ?? Plus I would rather have the exterior rock chips touched up.
 
Is that what it costs for new covers? I thought it was around $700.



If you want to repair it and do it cheap, then take the cover off the driver seat. You can then take it to an upholsterer and get him to sew in a new panel for you. It shouldn't cost more than $100. If you are going to refinish the seats, then tell them to use any color leather and it will be even cheaper.
 
Btw, how are the rear seats looking? They often look like new compared to front ones, so you could just re-wrap the front seats and safe half the cost ;)

That's what I'm planning to do with my old '98 Volvo seats, I'll just get the bottom parts (where your butt sits :)) of front seats re-wrapped, 'couse the rest of the leather is perfect, and this'll help to save lot's of cash ;)



Or you could try finding good condition front seats from the scrapyard.

This BMW may be old, but it's M3, and you've just bought it, I think it has some value, and it would definitely be nice to have a good-looking interior in it, while you posess the car ;)
 
I would consider going with all new leather for the interior. The leather you have now seems beyond repair as dying would not help it. It's def. worth the money to go that route.
 
Happy Wax- Glad the mechanicals are OK...that's what I was really worried about.. I too think you oughta pull the seat cover off and get it repaired by some local shop.



I replaced the padding in the driver's seat of mine, and I had one bolster repaired while it was apart. Can't remember what it cost, but it wasn't much or I *would* remember.
 
XRL said:
I'd say keep it the factory original color. If you dye the door leather and seats, the carpet, and trim pieces will look weird. I actually like the color of the interior, it would look better if the car itself was black...
Click to expand...



I agree, the tan and green look good



the e36 is bullet proof, mine went 200k and wasrunning strong...

when I traded it in, the chief mechanic bought it for his son!



you got a good deal, as long as compression and leak-down are good, and little oil consumption, you're golden
 
artm3 said:
I agree, the tan and green look good



the e36 is bullet proof, mine went 200k and was running strong...

when I traded it in, the chief mechanic bought it for his son!



you got a good deal, as long as compression and leak-down are good, and little oil consumption, you're golden
Click to expand...



Yeah, my Black M3 was a 95 and it had about 180K on it- the funny thing is I had to replace the instrument cluster with one that read 70k -everyone that drove it the car said it the car ran great for 70K miles...

ha



Longevity is not the problem with BMW.
 
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