M5 seat cover project-COMPLETED

[gray635]

After a good bit of time and effort, Kevin Chinn was able to complete my M5 seat recover project last Friday. Kevin took some photos and I am going to try to link them here:

Factory close up

Creative Options close up

Your seats

Seat bottoms


IT WORKED!!

Anyway, Kevin went to a great deal of trouble to find some thick thread to sew the vertical stitch and then bought a new sewing machine capable of stitching this thread. The leather was sourced from GAHH (natural, smooth grain #0231N). The color is, I think, a pretty good match for the 20 year old leather in the back seat and other parts of the original interior. Kevin also installed a new ebrake boot to match the front seats.

I should also extend a big to Phil (Philo). Phil has been doing some great work on the interior of his M5 (see his recent thread re: recovering of the center console!!) and went to a lot of trouble to ship me some thick thread as a possibility for my seats. I wound up going with the thread Kevin found, but thanks to Philo for his good assistance and willingness to help out.

The fact that Kevin is now able to use the thicker thread to sew the vertical stitch on these older seats is, I think, a big advantage. All of the other work I saw used the thinner thread which, at least to my eye, did not have the look of the original.

Anyway, what do you think about these seats?

[babisbabou]

Good job, may i ask the price of this work?

[johnnye23]

Looks very nice So whats on tap for the next upgrade ?

[RCWells]

+1 on the pricing and possiblility of having this job repeated??

[JoshInAtlanta]

Mike, looks great! Appears as if Kevin did yet another great job. You've got your car looking real good.

[B_Newman]

Looks great, Mike!

[MShimon]

Looks fantastic, I will probably be calling up Kevin to do my interior with the thicker thread as well when the time comes. Does anybody know if he can do a dash in leather?

[gray635]

Guys:

Glad ya'll like the seats. I will let Kevin quote his price to those who might be interested, but will say that it was in excess of $500 for sewing the covers and the ebrake boot and doing the installation.

My price might have been a bit high, since Kevin basically had to "tool up" to do my seats (with no assurance he would get any follow-up business as a result) and went to a lot of trouble to find the thicker thread that I wanted. Kevin used the leather I got from GAHH (cost was about $900 plus shipping from CA to GA). There are other good leather sources that are cheaper, but the sample I got from GAHH looked the closest to the original, in both color and grain.

Johnny: As far as other upgrades, I've just about taken care of everything on my list of 72 jobs, big and small, on this car At some point, I will do the timing chain/tensioner/rail job but my local tech says that, given the fairly easy life this car has lead, and the fact that there is no chain rattle at cold start-up, this should not be a problem for awhile. But it is always in the back of my mind and I am sure that I will get this done sooner rather than later. I also want to replace the SLS system with some Bilstein sports and the right springs, but the original system is still working just fine.

Other than those things, she's pretty well sorted. Now, if I could just improve on the gas mileage in this "daily driver" of mine Who else do you know that has a high-strung 20 year old M car as a daily driver? What an idiot. I should just get a Honda Civic.

[Philo]

Mike.., the seats look AWESOME ! The thread really makes the difference. Now if we can get Kevin to do the detailed center console, door skins, and recover that small plastic piece of crap between the steering wheel and the dash, this group will then have a competent resource for a complete leather restoration.

Question.., how did Kevin replace the ebrake boot without sewing it to the ebrake box cover/skin that is glued in place ??

Again.., seats look fantastic., time to move onto the rear seats now

[the artisan]

Hey guys thanks it has been awhile since I have been on here. Hope things are well with all of you. Mike told me he posted. Not sure about the dash, I might attempt it one day, working on some doors and I have done some center work here is an m6.
Kevin

I did these seats and you can kind of see the complete center console in the middle.

[gray635]

Hey Phil:

Glad you like the seats! The thicker thread does make a big difference in the factory appearance of the new covers.

As you know, we had to use an X-acto knife to separate the ebrake boot from the cover on the ebrake console - I was surprised to see that these two pieces are actually sewn together. Very meticulous work for those little old ladies in Germany!! Anyway, he just glued (said he used the same glue used on vinyl tops) the new cover to the ebrake console and it appears to be working fine.

[m-racer]

Mike/Kevin, Looks great.Tim

[Shawn D.]

Great work, Kevin! You might recall I was the guy who won the black sport seat covers at 5er Fest last year. Since I have a pearlbeige interior, I sold those and then contacted you about getting pearlbeige covers done, but with the centers being ultrasuede. Did you ever get around to figuring out how much this would be? A PM will be fine if you don't have the email from me. Thanks!

[the artisan]

Great work, Kevin! You might recall I was the guy who won the black sport seat covers at 5er Fest last year. Since I have a pearlbeige interior, I sold those and then contacted you about getting pearlbeige covers done, but with the centers being ultrasuede. Did you ever get around to figuring out how much this would be? A PM will be fine if you don't have the email from me. Thanks!

Shawn,
Sorry I never received an email from you that I recall. I know I have had email issues of and on (stupid server) anyway below is a pic of a kit a customer installed, will this color micro work for you. It is hard to match the pearl beige. Shoot me PM I will be back later in the day.
Kevin

[Shawn D.]

Great work, Kevin! You might recall I was the guy who won the black sport seat covers at 5er Fest last year. Since I have a pearlbeige interior, I sold those and then contacted you about getting pearlbeige covers done, but with the centers being ultrasuede. Did you ever get around to figuring out how much this would be? A PM will be fine if you don't have the email from me. Thanks!

Shawn,
Sorry I never received an email from you that I recall. I know I have had email issues of and on (stupid server) anyway below is a pic of a kit a customer installed, will this color micro work for you. It is hard to match the pearl beige. Shoot me PM I will be back later in the day.

Yep, we had some discussions via email not long after 5er Fest. I'll re-send our last emails on the subject when I get home.

I understand the difficulty of the match, which is why I was interested in doing only the centers in ultrasuede, as the texture will mute any mismatch. I don't expect any new material to be a perfect match to the rest anyhow.

[mkarkos]

Gray,

What kind of mileage are you getting? On my rebuild I get 20 mpg in mixed city/hgwy and on the trip to V@V I got around 23.5.

Mike

[gray635]

Mike:

My motor is stock, except for a Dinan chip. Currently at 158K, on original timing components and burns about 1/2 qt. of Castrol 20W50 between 3K oil changes. I get about 15 mpg combined city/highway. My best highway mileage is between 20 and 22 mpg running consistently 70 to 85 mph.

Not too good for a "daily driver", but she sure sounds sweet taching around 4K

[laguna30]

With 258k on mine -
I know the pain of a daily driver

I have tried several times to refraim from driving her - she respondes by not starting, demanding codes to rekindle the relationship, and overall cold bloodedness.

I like the restoration of your interior -

Is there any loss in the new leather thickness that will effect wearing out again? i.e sooner?
Could one use a stonger leather in the usual wear locations?
(is there a stronger leather? buffalo? elephant? inquiring minds want to know..)

I most likely will use a seat cover this time around ...
or do they as I have heard just wear the seats in different ways ...

It is a hell of a daily driver - Makes me smile every day
John