Project: Dyeing dove grey interior to imola red & black

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!

IT HAS BEGUN!!!

Bought stuff at Walmart - $81
Bought stuff at Home Depot - $90
Bought stuff at Pepboys - $40
Air Compressor and Air brush (ordered online) - $110 will be delivered TUESDAY
Leatherique Dye kit #4 upgraded to 32oz for Imola and Black- $300 will be delivered MONDAY

MISC THINGS THAT I NEEDED... Spent around 2.5 hours running around this morning to get them.


CLEARED SOME THINGS OUT OF THE WAY IN THE BASEMENT FOR MY MAKESHIFT PAINT BOOTH



AFTER SETTING UP THE PAINT BOOTH / WORK AREA IN THE BASEMENT









CHARLIE AND BP CAME IN TO HELP! Then we went 2 rounds of bowling after! (Thanks Guys!)








CAR GUTTED... WE DECIDED TO DO THE DASH 2 WEEKENDS FROM NOW SINCE I WILL BE AWAY NEXT WEEKEND...


















LOOKED LIKE I WAS HAVING A GARAGE SALE AT MY HOUSE! (My neighbors asked me...)

SO I HAD DINNER AND CHARLIE AND BP LEFT BUT I DECIDED TO CONTINUE WORKING...


I STARTED TO DISASSEMBLE THE REAR PANELS... CLEAN THEM AND PREP THEM FOR PAINTING TOMORROW...

REAR PANELS DISASSEMBLED





CLEANED AND DEGREASED THEM WITH THIS AND USED SCOTCH BRITE PADS.
WASHED THEM WITH WATER AND THEN WIPED WITH A CLEAN TOWEL THEN USED MY WIFE'S HAIR DRYER TO DRY THEM.







LABELED ALL THE SCREWS THAT WERE TAKEN OUT IN A ZIPLOCK BAG






STARTED TO DISASSEMBLE THE PASSENGER FRONT DOOR PANEL









I will continue cleaning the front door panels tomorrow and disassemble the driver side.
I plan to start painting the vinyl part of the front and rear panels and maybe some small platic pieces will be sanded down and painted as well...

Time to rest. It was a productive day and here's how chaotic my basement looks like now!

UPDATES:

Today, I continued where I left off last night. I am trying to get as much things done so that I can concentrate in dyeing the seats and the door panel inserts. I also just bought a black carpet set so that I would not have to dye the grey carpet and have the risk of changing the texture of it. Plus I think that the real oem black carpet would look a lot better inside the car vs a dyed carpet.

FINALLY GOT ALL THE DORR PANELS CLEANED AND DISASSEMBLED. (DRYING)





AND SOME MORE SMALL PLASTIC PIECES CLEANED AND DRYING



WHILE WAITING FOR THE PIECES TO DRY, I STARTED TO RIT DYE THE REAR DECK.
I USED 2 BOTTLES OF LIQUID RIT DYE. 1 BOTTLE PER COATING.









REAR DECK AFTER FIRST COAT


THE COLOR CHANGE BEGINS!
I did 3 coats of paint and waited 15 minutes for every layer.

REAR DOOR PANEL 1ST COAT


REAR SPEAKER COVERS





ALL DOOR PANELS PAINTED
(4 spray cans used to cover all 4 panels and speaker covers)











RAN OUT OF VINYL & FABRIC SPRAY SO I WENT OUT TO GET MORE FROM AUTOZONE AND PEPBOYS



REAR DECK DIFFUSER PAINTED



INSTALLED MY REAR DECK BACK IN THE CAR



FRONT DOOR KICK PANELS





REAR SEAT BELT PLASTIC COVER

bauce hawg

subbed, can't wait to see the red

definitely sub'd, waiting to see how it turns out!

Good job so far, good luck

Originally Posted by starsky & clutch

subbed, can't wait to see the red

+1

Originally Posted by invictus

bauce hawg

Originally Posted by Starsky & Clutch

subbed, can't wait to see the red

Originally Posted by Active 2

definitely sub'd, waiting to see how it turns out!

Originally Posted by KaliVertBoy

Good job so far, good luck

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Nick_M3

+1

Ordered some more parts today from ECS Tuning.. I decided to get a brand new center console with the arm rest delete, long euro tray and rear slider compartment... plus some extra small clips that I might need for the ones that will break...

So tonight (Monday), after coming home from work, I started to tackle the front and rear arm rests. Took them apart and sanded the bottom part of it to get it ready for painting. The leatherique products got delivered today. Started to clean the parts that will be dyed Imola red and applied leatherique leather rejuvinator. All of the pieces were stored in plastic bags to let the rejuvinator soak for 3 days to lift up all the dirt. Did the first coat of paint with the front and rear arm rests. My goal for tomorrow is to deal with the front seats. Try to disassemble them and hopefully get to apply the rejuvinator to them as well.

LEATHERIQUE PRODUCTS ARRIVED



LEATHER REJUVINATOR APPLIED



















LOWER ARM REST AND SOME PLATIC PIECES SANDED DOWN



SOME PLASTIC PIECES PAINTED



LOWER ARM REST PEICES 1ST PAINT COAT





UPPER ARM REST PIECES STORED AWAY



ALL LEATHER REJUVINATED PARTS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE PLASTIC BAGS

Throw in a race seat(or stock one) and se how fast your car will be with all that weight out !!!! Subscribed

Subscribed. Can't wait to see the outcome, may even be doing this to my car when I have the time to do so (thinking Summer 2013).. So this will definitely be helpful. Looking good so far!

I do have one question for you, though - what did the guys at Leatherique say when you requested Imola Red dye? I remember a member here on E46fanatics doing his interior dyeing project in Cinnamon since Leatherique had said something about Imola Red not being to hold the dye together all too well over time for certain reasons.

I hope you're ready for the poor results of Leatherique (regardless of application style).

The leather found originally in your M3 was colored by pigmentation (painting) and then a top coat (clear coat, matte). Any product that is a one step solution is far from proper or of quality.

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=344169

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showp...1&postcount=15

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showp...5&postcount=23

Originally Posted by Ballstowalls

Throw in a race seat(or stock one) and se how fast your car will be with all that weight out !!!! Subscribed

LOL!!! I bet the car is crazy light now....

Originally Posted by filipinoise

Subscribed. Can't wait to see the outcome, may even be doing this to my car when I have the time to do so (thinking Summer 2013).. So this will definitely be helpful. Looking good so far!

I do have one question for you, though - what did the guys at Leatherique say when you requested Imola Red dye? I remember a member here on E46fanatics doing his interior dyeing project in Cinnamon since Leatherique had said something about Imola Red not being to hold the dye together all too well over time for certain reasons.

I explained that on my first post...

Originally Posted by braymond141

I hope you're ready for the poor results of Leatherique (regardless of application style).

The leather found originally in your M3 was colored by pigmentation (painting) and then a top coat (clear coat, matte). Any product that is a one step solution is far from proper or of quality.

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=344169

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showp...1&postcount=15

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showp...5&postcount=23

Thanks for the concern... If it does not hold up, I am prepared to buy the OEM Imola parts. I just thought I'd do this first and see how it comes out...

So my question is... How do you explain these? These guys had leatherique applied to their interiors and it has been more than a year now and their interior looks great still.. It might have just been the way you prepped your interior... I did not just come up with that conclusion because I personally spoke with them...

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=355995

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=805942

Originally Posted by Busabos77

So my question is... How do you explain these? These guys had leatherique applied to their interiors and it has been more than a year now and their interior looks great still.. It might have just been the way you prepped your interior... I did not just come up with that conclusion because I personally spoke with them...

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=355995

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=805942

Based on what do their interiors look great? Rarely do people accurately describe things let alone know how to. Even the LSB interior shown in this thread was deceptively nice in the first picture and then the second picture showed the true glossy finish that is Leatherique.

There were no issues with my prepping. That was clearly documented in the links I provided. Regardless, sandpapering your leather to death like most Leatherique users do is not how leather restoration is done. It is not a good product which I'm telling you from experience.

If you're happy with it... fine. But someone who is prepared to buy the OEM Imola pieces strikes me as someone with very high attention to detail and quality. Goodluck and I guess if you're not happy with it you can peel it off and do it again plastidip style.

Originally Posted by braymond141

Based on what do their interiors look great? Rarely do people accurately describe things let alone know how to. Even the LSB interior shown in this thread was deceptively nice in the first picture and then the second picture showed the true glossy finish that is Leatherique.

There were no issues with my prepping. That was clearly documented in the links I provided. Regardless, sandpapering your leather to death like most Leatherique users do is not how leather restoration is done. It is not a good product which I'm telling you from experience.

If you're happy with it... fine. But someone who is prepared to buy the OEM Imola pieces strikes me as someone with very high attention to detail and quality. Goodluck and I guess if you're not happy with it you can peel it off and do it again plastidip style.

Thanks. I will see how it holds up. Like what you said, I do not plan to sand the parts down... I will just use a scotch brite pad to prep them to not take the leather grain out. I will be documenting this and will put detailed photos and be true to everything that happens to be able to help other people who would want to go this route. I am very particular with things and believe me... If I do not like the way it looks, I will get the OEM pieces. I just wanted to try this out first since my interior is in great condition and see if it works. No one really likes the grey color so I would not get much if I sell it so I figured why not use them as test pieces for the dye. If they do work out, great. If not, then I move on to the next plan which is the real OEM Imola. Again, thank you for that great info! I really appreciate it!

Last night, I finished painting the front and rear arm rests to black. All the leather pieces that were rejuvenated were taken out from the plastic bags and sprayed with pristine clean. Wiped with a rag dipped in warm water and dried with a wiping cloth. Decided to put the cleaned pieces in the garage to let them dry. I tried to see how the dye works and used it for the arm rests inserts. I applied the dye with a cloth and did 1 coat for the front arm rest inserts and 2 coats for the rears. I plan to finish it off spraying it with HVLP spray gun with a compressor.


PRISTINE CLEANED PARTS DRYING





REAR LOWER ARM REST PIECES PAINTED



IMOLA RED DYE APPLIED...
2 LEFT PIECES (1 COAT) & 2 RIGHT PIECES (2COATS)

So far this does not look too shiny to me...