E46 ZHP sedan beige and black interior swap, combo, upgrade

[stephenkirsh]

So I finally finished my two-tone interior swap/mod/upgrade. It took a lot longer than I expected. Maybe about 3 weeks working on it 2-8 hours a day. A lot of down time at the start waiting for Dremel batteries to recharge, though.

I followed this post: http://www.diymybmw.com/e46/dyeing-leather-door-inserts-for-two-tone-interior/

I mostly just Dremeled out the plastic welds that connect each panel together for the entire door card. Each one has 25-35 to cut out (front have more than rear) and the Dremel battery would get me through about 15-25 each time.

Then I would clamp the pieces together, align the plastic welds, and rebuild them with some epoxy putty.

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Once the putty was in I'd screw the pieces together.


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[az3579]

Oh man, you had me all excited... but then the pics stopped. lol
Got more?

[stephenkirsh]

A few "before" photos.

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After finishing, I didn't know which combo I liked best, so I drove around with both for about a week, even though I made up my mind pretty quick.

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And the final result!

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[stephenkirsh]

Overall I'm quite happy with it. I messed up the passenger rear door arm rest a bit... there's a slight gap there, but I doubt you'd notice it when actually sitting in the car.

Total cost was about $130. $65 for the door cards from two different cars at Pick n Pull. The rest was for screws, washers, epoxy putty.

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The black on beige door cards are available for sale if anybody wants them!

[stephenkirsh]

Oh man, you had me all excited... but then the pics stopped. lol
Got more?


you were too fast!

[BMWCurves]

Damn. That looks fantastic! Light Beige 2 leather interiors should have come that way from the factory.

[ELCID86]

Nice work.

[rguti153]

Looks real good

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[Vas]

Good job.

Personally I think a beige airbag cover would flow better. And it would match the rear.

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[az3579]

Damn. That looks fantastic! Light Beige 2 leather interiors should have come that way from the factory.
This.

Good job.

Personally I think a beige airbag cover would flow better. And it would match the rear.

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And this.

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[stephenkirsh]

Lots of people have the air bag issue, but I prefer it this way.

[joeybananaz18]

Lots of people have the air bag issue, but I prefer it this way.

Going to start work on my door cards. Did you go with the black airbag cover just for preference, or was there something else that prevented the beige for being used?

[stephenkirsh]

Going to start work on my door cards. Did you go with the black airbag cover just for preference, or was there something else that prevented the beige for being used?

Mostly preference. There’s nothing that would prevent you from doing either one.

[joeybananaz18]

Just checking. Thanks!


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[3LiterStraightSix]

Mostly preference. There’s nothing that would prevent you from doing either one.Ooo wow! What about the center console? Once you go black.... You know what they say! I think black up the middle would wrap up the look

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[stephenkirsh]

Ooo wow! What about the center console? Once you go black.... You know what they say! I think black up the middle would wrap up the look

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Ideally, yes. But I do t have the interest in sourcing the part and doing the install. I’m pretty happy with how it is.

[stephenkirsh]

Ideally, yes. But I do t have the interest in sourcing the part and doing the install. I’m pretty happy with how it is.


Well. I’ve changed my mind lol. I found a perfect condition arm rest and installed that today.

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I’ll look into center console now, too.

[joeybananaz18]

nice work. I have my black center console waiting to go in this weekend. It will look exactly like the opposite of what you've got in that pic. still need to source black doors cards.

[stephenkirsh]

Are you going to do the full dash, or just the cup holder area?

[joeybananaz18]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190120/79c264f2e7d004351c493219a03a018c.jpg

Just snapped a quick pic. When I’m done the only beige parts inside will be the leather parts of the doors, the lower dash, arm rest, and seat backs.

And I just ordered black rear door panels off eBay. Waiting to see if the seller accepts my offer on the fronts.


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[stephenkirsh]

Funny how we’re the inverse. Lookin good!

[joeybananaz18]

either is better than swimming in a sea of beige.

[stephenkirsh]

Ha, yea. I didn’t mind it when I bought the car, but once I realized the changes I could make, it didn’t take long before I started getting ideas.

[joeybananaz18]

Same here brotha. Originally I thought “oh this is going to be a little more mature than the coral red I had in my e92.” Than I thought “ok a little too mature”.


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