The Upholstery Forum

I have a 2004 BMW 645Ci convertible I just bought. it is in need of some serious TLC and it is a project car for me. It is black with a bone, (I'm guessing the colour), interiour. The dash needs to be either replaced or recovered. I have always wanted a black car with a red leather interiour. Is this possible with this car? Can I do it and have it looking decent?

Although I have never done anything like this before, I am a mechanic by trade and a handyman by hobby, so this isn't intimidating to me. What materials will I need and is it possible to get the seats looking good?

I have top replace the passenger side airbag, so the dash with have to accommodate this.

Many thanks for the info,
Ian

@Ian,

I think it is really best to be honest with you. Upholstery work is very patience honored with a three dimensional end result.

You could do this your self, start up costs vary maybe more depending on the amount you want to spend. I would hesitate to say that those seats would or dash would be coming out very good without practice projects first. To get a finished fit like the picture takes skill.

Use the search bar on the forum for leather seats, dash etc and it will help. There are pros on here and amateurs and everybody in between.

I did paint seats in E34 BMW before. I did lot's of research and did it all with good materials, prep work , etc.
And my seats were in better shape (no rips). Seats were taken out, partially disassembled, cleaned, etc, etc.

After that I decided I want to learn how to do upholstery.

Last sentence is my answer to your "Can I do it and have it looking decent?" question :)

How much sewing experience do you have?

You could recolor those seats with SEM color coat paint but nothing will hide the problems due to the covers being old and worn out.

Learning to recover those seats is certainly and attainable goal. It will take some practice and you will need an industrial sewing machine. Because this is a project car for you it’s a great time to learn upholstery on it!!