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Project: Dyeing dove grey interior to imola red & black

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#1 ·
So lately, I have been toying with the idea of changing my interior color from dove grey to Black and Imola Red combination. I was trying to decide between the cinnamon and imola but with my car being TIAG, I do not think cinnamon would work out. I know this will be a long process and I have gathered information from reading other members' threads about dyeing their interiors to different colors. I spoke with Khristie from leatherique and tried to get as much information about dyeing the interior and making sure that the dye colors that they are about to send me will match the OEM BMW color since I read somewhere about this guy who was going to do an imola red dye but then decided to go with cinnamon instead since he was told that the red dye that he wanted did not have enough red pigments due to goverment EPA restriction stuff. I asked Khristie about that and she told me that what they meant was that they could not match the deep red interiors that some other cars have but luckily for us, they have the exact BMW OEM Imola red color. So long story short, I decided to go ahead and do this dreadful project. It will take time and I will try my best to be as detailed as possible updating you guys.


I purchased the KIT #4 (48 oz of dye, 32 oz Rejuvinator Oil, 32 oz Prestine Clean and 32 oz Prepping Agent) and 1/2 oz of Crack Filler with the Imola Red Custom Color)
and also a quart of BMW OEM Black Matt finish for the plastic pieces etc.

Acrylic brushes from a hobby store...
Air brush kit and a small compressor from home depot...



I plan to start taking out the door panels and front/rear seats this saturday and start prepping them.

WISH ME LUCK!
 
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#114 ·
Updates:

My in-laws are leaving today so most likely I will be able to start the front seats this week. I also got photos from Mike at coby wheel for the alcantara steering wheel and the shift boot that I ordered from him which are shipping out today...









 
#118 ·
mine dims automatically too...

Found the answer!
Cars built from 2001 - 2003 have ovals, where as all cars 2004+ have the square mirrors. One of the small part quirks of the E46. also square mirrors have bmw assist and oval ones do not.
 
#120 ·
Updates:

I was at BMW Tulley this morning to pick up my A pillars that I ordered and saw an E46 M3 with Imola red interior that was being serviced. I wanted to compare my dye job from the real OEM Imola interior. After looking at the Imola Interior that the E46 M3 had, I realized that my rear seats that I dyed were the same color but a little shiny rather than a matte color that the OEM Imola interior had. So when I got home from work tonight, I took the rear seats out again and decided to mask them and sand them down with 400 grit to take out a thin layer of the dye that I had applied. I back tracked a bit from what I did and realized that I applied thick coats to the seats and kinda rushed them a bit compared to the door panels. The door panels were perfect and has the exact color and sheen compared with the OEM Imola interior that I saw. I just finished sanding all the pieces for the rear seat and will apply very light coats and set the spray to super fine setting to achieve the same sheen and color with the interior that I saw earlier. I want this done right and to look exactly OEM! :)

MASKED THE REAR BACK RESTS AGAIN!






COMPARING HOW SHINY THE FIRST DYE JOB THAT I DID TO THE SANDED ONE WHICH LOOKS MORE OEM ( Left one sanded down and right one the previous work that I did)

BEFORE


AFTER BOTH BACK RESTS ARE SANDED



REAR SEAT SANDED DOWN






 
#123 · (Edited)
Wow, nice project. I thought about doing this same thing. I kinda was turned off as I did a set of Corvette Seats, and they turned out beautiful. Then I started noticing that the black was rubbing off on my shirts. Anyway. Project looks great and I must applaud you on the attention to details.





I eventually got sick of shirts getting ruined and had them reupholestried.


Let us know how they are in a month. I hope to hear they are still great, because I am tired of searching for a nice imola interior.
 
#126 ·
Wow, nice project. I thought about doing this same thing. I kinda was turned off as I did a set of Corvette Seats, and they turned out beautiful. Then I started noticing that the black was rubbing off on my shirts. Anyway. Project looks great and I must applaud you on the attention to details.

Let us know how they are in a month. I hope to hear they are still great, because I am tired of searching for a nice imola interior.
Thanks! I will for sure update you guys on the condition of the dye after some time...

Holy crap...just the amount of time you are spending on your car (and the ability to return the car's guts to their proper position) is to be commended...here's hoping that it has a nice long life....
Thanks! It will have a long life for sure!:thumbsup:
 
#125 ·
Updates:

Just finished swapping my OEM steering wheel components to my newly alcantara wrapped steering wheel by COBY WHEEL. I am very pleased with the customer service of Mike @ COBY and the wrap. It took me about 30 minutes to take out the steering wheel, transfer the parts to the other core and install it back on the car. I will apply the finishing coat to the rear seats tomorrow as well as swap the **** boot to the alcantara one too. Hopefully I will have enough time to disassemble the front seats and be able to apply the Leatherique rejuvenator and leave it for 2 days until monday night.
I will take better photos tomorrow during daytime!

COBY WHEEL ALCANTARA WRAPPED STEERING WHEEL AND SHIFT BOOT












STARTING TO SWAP THE PARTS TO THE OTHER STEERING WHEEL




ALL DONE!!!
















 
#133 ·
I think that's how the OEM carbon trims are done that's why we just do the bottom half...

wow this is great i def wanna do this!
:thumbsup:

Dude... seriously!!!? You did an awesome job. A + on effort, work, and results!! Oh yeah... have you stabbed it? With a knife or some other sharp object? Just to see if it fails and peels? :lmao:
thanks.

lol funny guy this guy
+1!

To the OP: I have not read every single page of this thread. But I did do a bit of research when I followed that guys link to why one step processes are bad.
I think what you did so far is fine...not use the 400 grit but used scotch brite instead. The Leaherique paint has the benefit of an exact Imola match so I would use that too.
Now, here is the best idea of all. Go the the UK site of the Furniture Clinic and buy their matte clear finish. Evidently that gets rid of the tendency for the Leatherique paint to be too glossy. But most importantly it extends the durability of your job by THREE times!!! You just cant ignore that. Plus it is the proper way to do it. BMW applies a clear coat evidently.

I think you need to email the Furniture Clinic to get just the clear coat in a matte finsh. I highly urge that you do this since you have done such a great job so far. Three coats of the clear will make your job last WAY beyond two years. They say that with out the clear coat you can see significant wear in just two years. The clear will extend the wear to 7 years and possibly beyond.

To anyone thinking of doing this job I would defintely email the Furniture Clinic first. They DO offer custom colors and specialize in re coloring auto interiors. They even have a complete kit for that. Nobody knows leather like the Brits. Even if the place is owned by a Jamaican LOL.

I think I would try talking to them first. not to discredit what the OP has done. It will likely be fine too as long as he uses the furniture Clinic's clear coat.
Gotcha! Thanks for the info. I'll try to ask contact furniture clinic next week and see what they have to say.
 
#131 ·
Updates:

Today, the weather was nice... It was about 70's so I decided to just dye the rear seats outside the house to see it better and have an even spray with the help of the day light... The pieces came out great and better vs the previous coat that I did. It's not soooopah shiny and very close to the OEM Imola interior that I saw at the dealership. I was also able to install the alcantara shift knob that matches the steering wheel.. I stored the rear seat pieces inside my SUV so that the heat can get to it during the day to let it dry (like an oven LOL!) until Tuesday then install them in the car. I will try to get to the front seats tomorrow or Monday. ALMOST THERE!!!


The rear seat pieces that were re-sprayed. ( They came out great!!!)





















ALCANTARA STEERING WHEEL AND SHIFT BOOT










 
#132 · (Edited)
To the OP: I have not read every single page of this thread. But I did do a bit of research when I followed that guys link to why one step processes are bad.
I think what you did so far is fine...not use the 400 grit but used scotch brite instead. The Leaherique paint has the benefit of an exact Imola match so I would use that too.
Now, here is the best idea of all. Go the the UK site of the Furniture Clinic and buy their matte clear finish. Evidently that gets rid of the tendency for the Leatherique paint to be too glossy. But most importantly it extends the durability of your job by THREE times!!! You just cant ignore that. Plus it is the proper way to do it. BMW applies a clear coat evidently.

I think you need to email the Furniture Clinic to get just the clear coat in a matte finsh. I highly urge that you do this since you have done such a great job so far. Three coats of the clear will make your job last WAY beyond two years. They say that with out the clear coat you can see significant wear in just two years. The clear will extend the wear to 7 years and possibly beyond.

To anyone thinking of doing this job I would defintely email the Furniture Clinic first. They DO offer custom colors and specialize in re coloring auto interiors. They even have a complete kit for that. Nobody knows leather like the Brits. Even if the place is owned by a Jamaican LOL.

I think I would try talking to them first. not to discredit what the OP has done. It will likely be fine too as long as he uses the furniture Clinic's clear coat.
 
#134 · (Edited)
Updates:

Last night, I started working on the driver side front seat. I got a little frustrated trying to take pieces apart but thanks to deadlysyns and LSBE46M3 for posting the DIY threads, I was able to disassemble it. The back rest was able to move up to give me about an inch or two space from the lower seat part to work with the dye. I applied the rejuvenator and will leave it for about a day. I will work on the front passenger seat tonight and apply the rejuvenator and hopefully by tuesday night, I can start cleaning it and be able to apply the prep agent to get both seats ready for dyeing. I plan to finish the dye on the front seats early next week. Again, thanks guys for all the help!


THE PART THAT GAVE ME HELL LAST NIGHT
I got confused on which bolt I needed to take out since they all seemed to be connected to both the seat and the back rest.



I called LSBE46M3 (Kevin) this morning and asked him if he can remember how he took his seat apart and the rest was history! Thanks again Kev! I only needed to take out this one bolt on each side and the back rest slid up and gave me enough working space! It was hidden underneath the leather cover! We are back in business! WOOT!!!




PLASTIC PIECES AND BUTTONS TAKEN OUT




SEAT REJUVENATED










ENOUGH SPACE BETWEEN THE BACK REST AND THE SEAT TO WORK ON THE DYE!
 
#135 ·
Updates:

I was finally able to apply the pristine clean to wipe the driver seat down. I also started to scuff the leather with scotch brite pads and the leatherique prep agent. All the parts of the seat that will not be dyed were masked with tape and saran wrap. The headrests were applied with the leatherique rejuvenator and stored in a plastic bag until thursday night. I plan to work on the passenger seat and disassemble it tomorrow night and apply the leatherique rejuvenator and have it also masked and ready before saturday. I will start to apply the dye on both seats and the headrests on Saturday since it is supposed to be warm that day! Possibly 2 to 3 coats of dye with sanding in between.


DRIVER SEAT WIPED WITH PRISTINE CLEAN AND DRIED WITH THE HAIR DRYER






AFTER APPLYING THE PREP AGENT AND SCUFFING THE SEAT WITH SCOTCH BRITE PADS






SEAT MASKED AND READY FOR DYE!!!






 
#139 ·
Thanks! :thumbsup:

Brian, your project is looking good bro!!! When you get that matte clear on your seats is going to look perfect!!! :drool
I'll get that later on... I think this looks great already Charlie! Thank you and I hope that you are enjoying that warm weather there!!!
 
#138 · (Edited)
Updates:

Tonight after work, the rear seats that I re-dyed were installed. My wife and I sat on the rear seat after I installed them and just looked at the interior of the car. She said she likes it a lot better than the grey one that we originally had in the car. I was also able to work on the passenger seat. Disassembled the plastic pieces and applied Leatherique rejuvenator. So far, everything is on schedule. I plan to finish prepping up the headrests and the 2 front seats by friday night so that they could be dyed Saturday!

I promise I will take better photos during the day for you guys to see the color and texture better!

ASSEMBLED THE REAR CENTER ARM REST TO THE SEAT







REAR SEATS COMPLETE AND INSTALLED!













PASSENGER SEAT WITH THE LEATHERIQUE REJUVENATOR APPLIED






 
#145 ·
TOOK BETTER PHOTOS OF THE REAR SEAT INSTALLED THIS MORNING
(Still hard to capture the true color since the car is in the garage and the battery is disconnected) I guess I'll take photos of the whole interior when they are all installed and take the car out of the garage to get proper lighting.















 
#149 ·
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