Changing interior?

[BCAN]

Alright guys, so I've found my replacement for my AW coupe. It's a sparkling graphite metallic 6sp coupe, beautiful, but there's one issue with preference. The only thing is that it's got leather seats with black cube rather than Alcantara seats with Silver cube, which I really want. How much of a pain would it be to switch the leather and black cube with the alcantara and the silver cube of my old car? And how much do you think a shop would charge to do it for me?

[JupiterBMW]

So, you have everything out of your old car? Or you have the whole car? Either way, I'm sure it'd be quite easy to make the swap. I know for a fact the rear seats aren't hard at all, I've had mine out. The front seats can't be more than 4 bolts to the floor, and a few electrical connectors for seatbelt indicator and power controls...

As for the cube interior trim, I've never removed it, but I wouldn't be surprised if it just pops in and out. That being said, be gentle at first and take your time.

[BCAN]

The Car is still at the shop we had put an estimate on it's repairs, all the parts are still on it. I can take whatever I want off of it as long as I have something to replace it with. That's good to hear, I wasn't sure how easy it was. I'm worried about the trim though, I don't want to put it on improperly and have it look bad or cheap, or wobble around at all. I definitely will be very gentle.

[JupiterBMW]

Yeah, other guys will respond in here with better info. I know a lot of people have removed it, and it will go back on just fine. I personally just haven't done it. I have black trim and prefer it, so I don't have a need to change.

It sucks your AW ZHP was a coupe, I need the lower headlight trim as mine has a small crack in it... Bummer! And so sad to hear of the loss of an AW ZHP... Clearly the best color for the car. :biggrin

[BCAN]

Thanks! It sucks most of all that she got totaled. They seem to be so rare! Especially manual coupes that aren't verts. I see a lot of AW autos or cabrios with all the wrong options besides the performance package, lol. Easily the best color, especially with the right mods. That car was just so perfect, from the Apex wheels and Dunlop DZ1 Star specs to the underdrive pulleys and that gorgeous sounding Magnaflow catback. I'll link the original FS ad so you can see all that was done to it.

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=860600&highlight=2004+bmw+330ci+zhp+austin

[JupiterBMW]

Wow, beautiful car. I have to admit, not a huge fan of the rims, not sure why, they just don't look right to me... Otherwise car looks immaculate. Sorry to hear its gone. But, enjoy the new car, you never know, you might like it even better!

[Hermes]

It is all fairly easy to swap. The dash and center console are easy, door trim on coupes requires pulling off the door card but if they're the same color I would just swap the entire card rather than deal with taking off and reinstalling the trim/armrest stuff. Bottom of back seat is cake, just pull up from the front. Shoulder bolsters are a bit tricky as you need to pull the seatbelt and rear window motor stuff off. I've never taken off my fold down seat backs but I'm sure it's gotta just be a few bolts. Front seats are easy to take off, just remember to disconnect the battery before dealing with that or the passenger sensor will throw codes... not sure if that made sense, somebody else will clarify.

[webster]

Thanks! It sucks most of all that she got totaled. They seem to be so rare! Especially manual coupes that aren't verts. I see a lot of AW autos or cabrios with all the wrong options besides the performance package, lol. Easily the best color, especially with the right mods. That car was just so perfect, from the Apex wheels and Dunlop DZ1 Star specs to the underdrive pulleys and that gorgeous sounding Magnaflow catback. I'll link the original FS ad so you can see all that was done to it.

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=860600&highlight=2004+bmw+330ci+zhp+austin

Shit, you bought that zhp?!?! I was so close on that one...until the seller stopped responding...damn. That makes 3 alpine white alcantara manual coupes have been totalled in the last few weeks...

[cakM3]

It is all fairly easy to swap. The dash and center console are easy, door trim on coupes requires pulling off the door card but if they're the same color I would just swap the entire card rather than deal with taking off and reinstalling the trim/armrest stuff. Bottom of back seat is cake, just pull up from the front. Shoulder bolsters are a bit tricky as you need to pull the seatbelt and rear window motor stuff off. I've never taken off my fold down seat backs but I'm sure it's gotta just be a few bolts. Front seats are easy to take off, just remember to disconnect the battery before dealing with that or the passenger sensor will throw codes... not sure if that made sense, somebody else will clarify.

+1

BCAN, the fold down seats are secured by a clip and a torx screw at the lower middle where the split is. It's very easy to take this off as I've swapped out my seats in my ///M. Once you have the screw out, the clip comes right off. Then you can take each side out by pulling the center part up a bit and swap them over to the other car :thumbsup

As JP mentioned, disconnect your battery and wait a few minutes before disconnecting your front seats or you will get an airbag deployed indication after getting everything put back together.

The interior trim is very easy to take out but since you have a coupe, if your door cards in the AW coupe are in pristine shape, just swap them over to the new car....nothing else to do there. Then you have the dash and center console to swap out. I used a flat blade screw driver, which I wrapped in either blue painter's tape or electrical tape. This way I wouldn't scratch the trim surfaces where it rests against the dash. When prying the trim piece, especially the one that is above your glove compartment, take your time and use gradual force and allow the trim piece to come out. Don't force it or you will break the plastic retainers for the studs behind them. if you have any other question feel free to PM me :thumbsup

[Hermes]

this will help getting the rear bolsters out

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4717

[BCAN]

Thanks so much guys, this is a really big help!