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Restore Natural Brown Seats..... Opinions??

4K views 24 replies 8 participants last post by  georgiev 
#1 ·
I have a good deal for a set of natural brown sports seats for my coupe. They are heated and powered, and the guy wants 800$ for them. The only problem is that they are a little older then the brand new non-sport seats that are in my car right now. My 330ci is a 2006 so the interior is real mint.

I have posted the pictures of the seats. Please let me know what you think? Can these be made to look better? In preaty sure that i can get the dirt off them, but can anything be done to the leather to make it tighter again?

Sorry for the bad phone picture. The seller will send me better pictures soon.









 
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#3 ·
Thanks for posting a good question with pictures. I agree with above you can probably get rid of most of the contamination in the leather. You can help prevent more creases from forming but it's tough to get rid of creases already in the leather. Creases are essentially the leather stretching so it's difficult to get it tight again. I'd recommend 1 - 3 coats of the Leatherique Rejuvenator Oil to make sure they are really conditioned well. This will also help force out embedded contaminates and oils they look their best. Follow up with the Prestine Clean and the seats will look clean and not glossy. If you want to protect the leather after from UV fading and other contaminates you may also want to coat it with the 303 Aerospace Protectant. I lightly spray it on a cloth and then wipe the seats down. This leaves a nice coat of protection without a glossy look or slick feel. I drive too fast at times to be sliding around.

Greg @ Detailed image
 
#6 ·
the thing is that my current seats look so good without any creases, and im not sure i want to give that up for a set of used sport seats. So my one option is to reupholster them. No!?

here is a pic of my creaseless seats that are in my car at the moment.
 
#9 ·
dude, i have the same natural brown interior on my 330ci vert, and trust me, there is 0 you can do to restore it. and that one looks BAD, i mean BADDD, mine is an 03 and its near perfect, but that one is awful. i went everywhere to try to get them to fix some minor imperfections where you lean with your back on the left side bolster, its impossible, only new seats. stick with your new ones!
 
#13 ·
More pictures

Hey Folks,

So here are some better resolution pictures of the drivers seat. Gives a clearer perspective of the condition of the seats. Tan interior doesnt do justice to them.

BTW, the passenger seat is in almost new condition.

Greg, as always, glad to hear your expert advice.
 

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#21 ·
Hey Folks,

So here are some better resolution pictures of the drivers seat. Gives a clearer perspective of the condition of the seats. Tan interior doesnt do justice to them.

BTW, the passenger seat is in almost new condition.

Greg, as always, glad to hear your expert advice.

I think my opinion is basically the same as I stated above. The seats are what they are. You can possibly clean them a little more but the creases are going to be there on the driver side. The stitching looked very solid all around and I only saw minor problems with the seat where the belt comes across the seat (standard problem on BMWs). The leather looks like it's in relatively good condition so really it just comes down to if you like the seats. It would be nice to have the sport seats especially when you're autocrossing but not a must. Again I think this just comes down to personal preference. If you have other questions please let me know.

Here is a link to Leatherique's distributor/service page if you'd like to try and contact someone in your area about work on the seats.

Greg @ Detailed Image
 
#19 ·
I think your interior looks awesome the way it is man. I understand wanting sport seats but that seems like a downgrade. You can get sport seat bottoms at the dealer for 500 I think, I would check on that, the seat backs aren't a whole lot different. Someone on the board has gotten just the sport seat bottoms and it looked great.
 
#24 ·
Hey Bro,

I think if you really want to keep the pristine look, then you'd be better off waiting for a set either on ebay or by checking out salvage yards. You can try www.car-parts.com and try to search for some around as well.

I would even say, try to snag a good set of black M3 seats. In black, their wear may not look as obvious, and for around that price, 1600-2000 bucks, you could find a very nice pair.

My thing is, since I am the one sitting in the driver seat, I dont have to worry about their look as long as they are not ripped or torn or the seams are messed up. I might just get them dyed tan to match the interior but I havent really given that a good thought.

Good Luck man
 
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