MyE28.com DEV

BimmerDan wrote:I'm no expert on leather, but when I ordered for my door cards the "hide" came in irregular shapes. Would bonded leather be a regular shape with square edges?

That's curious. The "hides" I purchased have rounded corners... but, appear to have been cut with scissors. I wouldn't exactly call them irregular shapes. Did yours look like an actual natural animal hide? If so... who knows, maybe they sent me what they term "faux leather" on the site.

I wonder if it's possible they just used the faux stuff instead of the real by mistake...I'm not defending them, but it may be worth asking to see if they'll own up to it.

I just got mine in today and promptly opened the package terrified of what I might find. The material looks like leather to me. But then again I have no idea what bonded leather looks like. Does bonded leather have a fabric backing? These don't.

demetk wrote:I just got mine in today and promptly opened the package terrified of what I might find. The material looks like leather to me. But then again I have no idea what bonded leather looks like. Does bonded leather have a fabric backing? These don't.

It's definitely bonded leather. Faux leather is what has a fabric backing. Perhaps I'm being too critical? To me "real leather" and "genuine leather" would mean just that. Not, a remanufactured leather backing with a man-made polyurethane layer on the exterior. I poured an entire glass of water on the surface, and it just rolled off. Real leather would absorb liquid. I'm actually not even entirely opposed to the use of bonded leather if it's durable enough to last a decade or so. I highly doubt this stuff will maintain a nice appearance for more than a couple years.

found this video if anyone is interested.. It's pretty good. It's for E30 sport seats but they are very similar to e28 sport seats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUuhdw4ZEcY

Sparkeysf wrote:

demetk wrote:I just got mine in today and promptly opened the package terrified of what I might find. The material looks like leather to me. But then again I have no idea what bonded leather looks like. Does bonded leather have a fabric backing? These don't.

It's definitely bonded leather. Faux leather is what has a fabric backing. Perhaps I'm being too critical? To me "real leather" and "genuine leather" would mean just that. Not, a remanufactured leather backing with a man-made polyurethane layer on the exterior. I poured an entire glass of water on the surface, and it just rolled off. Real leather would absorb liquid. I'm actually not even entirely opposed to the use of bonded leather if it's durable enough to last a decade or so. I highly doubt this stuff will maintain a nice appearance for more than a couple years.

Anyone know how to tell the difference, visually, between bonded leather and real leather? Sparkeysf seems to know, but the pic looked like the real thing to me.

Old thread, came across it when doing research on this company, as im interested in doing a low budget restore on one of my cars. These are assuredly bonded leather, which DOES fit the "legal" definition of real leather. That said, for a project car/weekend car as most of your cars are (as is mine) these should be good for durability. Daily driven? Nah. However, those saying they "could have got vinyl instead" and gotten better durability... no. Vinyl is no more than a rubberized plastic placed on a cloth backing. Very low quality. Also- those "dissapointed" in these covers are a bit deluded as to the cost of this stuff. I did upholstery for several years, and a half hide of quality leather costs more than these covers, completed cost. Expecting something for nothing will almost always lead to dissapointment.

I beg to differ with you Cgw1984 . Good quality vinyl upholstery, such as was originally used on most 528e's, will last 20 or 30 years under average conditions, longer than good leather. I'm sure there's cheap stuff that won't last a year too, just like cheap bonded leather. Quality of the above item? Haven't used it or seen it in person, and I have no idea.

I just installed mine, taking my time over a 2 month period. The frames were broken on the bolsters, which needed a reinforcement bracket fabricated and welded.
Before:

Comparison/After:


I can do a tutorial if anyone is interested. It's not nearly as difficult as I imagined.

Interesting, looks good. There was someone else recently who went with Lseat and it looks very good. Partway down this page, viewtopic.php?f=2&t=69254&start=5150 I can't figure out how to link to a single post. However it being bonded leather is disappointing as I've had really lousy luck with it on office chairs, which might get more seat time, but still a far easier life than in a car. I was expecting to use them for a couple of my projects to be named later but now I'm not so sure. On the other hand, it does look good...

Do, please, keep us posted.

Mike W. wrote: Mar 28, 2021 12:37 AM Interesting, looks good. There was someone else recently who went with Lseat and it looks very good. Partway down this page, viewtopic.php?f=2&t=69254&start=5150 I can't figure out how to link to a single post. However it being bonded leather is disappointing as I've had really lousy luck with it on office chairs, which might get more seat time, but still a far easier life than in a car. I was expecting to use them for a couple of my projects to be named later but now I'm not so sure. On the other hand, it does look good...

Do, please, keep us posted.

Oh I was the person that used Lseat kit that you linked to. Though I don't know what types of leather are which, this leather is nothing similar to the leather of office chairs that peel all over- experienced everything with those crappy leather chairs. Heres a closer up picture of the seats/grain. Lseat kit is relatively very popular among the e30 groups like r3v really do like them and suggest them to people.

mnnguy wrote: Mar 28, 2021 8:59 PM

Mike W. wrote: Mar 28, 2021 12:37 AM Interesting, looks good. There was someone else recently who went with Lseat and it looks very good. Partway down this page, viewtopic.php?f=2&t=69254&start=5150 I can't figure out how to link to a single post. However it being bonded leather is disappointing as I've had really lousy luck with it on office chairs, which might get more seat time, but still a far easier life than in a car. I was expecting to use them for a couple of my projects to be named later but now I'm not so sure. On the other hand, it does look good...

Do, please, keep us posted.

Oh I was the person that used Lseat kit that you linked to. Though I don't know what types of leather are which, this leather is nothing similar to the leather of office chairs that peel all over- experienced everything with those crappy leather chairs. Heres a closer up picture of the seats/grain. Lseat kit is relatively very popular among the e30 groups like r3v really do like them and suggest them to people.

Good to hear, and please keep us posted on how they hold up. I know a little about leather, but not a whole lot.

Wow. Just wow. This thread is making me realize that I'm going to have to go to a real upholsterer for my E28 and my E39. To me, that kit looks absolutely awful. Not a straight line in the entire setup. I must be extra OCD.

Oh, and perhaps the vinyl you find at your local home center is crap. But "leatherette", the vinyl that BMW used in the 1980s is utterly the most bulletproof material they EVER used in cars, way better than leather and certainly better than cloth. I have no idea what it was made of, but in any color, it was amazingly strong. Even 35+ years later.

From here they look damn good!

Good onya...

garageboy wrote: Mar 29, 2021 3:08 AM Wow. Just wow. This thread is making me realize that I'm going to have to go to a real upholsterer for my E28 and my E39. To me, that kit looks absolutely awful. Not a straight line in the entire setup. I must be extra OCD.

I wonder how much is the kit and how much is the installation?

Oh, and perhaps the vinyl you find at your local home center is crap. But "leatherette", the vinyl that BMW used in the 1980s is utterly the most bulletproof material they EVER used in cars, way better than leather and certainly better than cloth. I have no idea what it was made of, but in any color, it was amazingly strong. Even 35+ years later.

I've had pretty good luck buying from Amazon. Like probably 5 out of 6 have been good vinyl, but one was really crappy and started cracking and breaking after 6 months or so. In contrast to a outdoor cover I made that's starting to get hard after 5(?) years outdoors in the sun. Which seems ok to me. Marine vinyl seems to be generally good stuff, but I'm no expert.

Incredibly disappointed in Lseat's customer service. Prior to ordering my seat covers, I asked for a swatch/sample of their leather color choices. I selected the color that was very close to my oem seats and ordered the covers. I paid for a custom logo and asked them to contact me before they manufactured the seats so I could give them the location, size, and color of the logo. They never contacted me even after I called and left a couple of voice mails. The covers arrived in several weeks with the logo on the headrest (not my preference), and more importantly, in the wrong color! I had ordered a medium gray and the seats they sent me were in a light gray (that exactly matched the light grey on the color sample). I submitted a return request and the customer service agent I dealt with (via email only) was very short in their communication and was adamant they sent me the medium grey seat covers (they call it Dove Gray). I sent them pictures of my current seats next to the color sample and the new seat covers next to the color sample, and the new seat covers next to the current seats...the differences in color were blatantly obvious. The agent continued to deny they made a mistake. To top it all off they are charging me 20% to restock the wrong seat covers they sent me plus $29 extra shipping. I will never order anything from Lseat again and I'm going to do my very best to make sure everyone knows the kind of business this is.

I just received my order from lseat.com. I abhor the pearlbeige interior in my car so I opted to do brown leather seats and black interior everywhere else (except headliner which may be future project). Inspired by Riley Stairs e28. I picked up 2 sets of electric sport seats at a good price of which I am using to build one good set (broken frames and missing parts, etc).

That shot from the last guy's upholstery job is terrible but I don't think that's because of the lseat kit. I received mine and the stitching is straight everywhere I've looked so far. Also, the seat foam does shrink over time so you may need to 'fluff' it back up using a fabric steamer or add new foam on top or even replace it with new foam. The leather can be shrunken down as well using a steamer to get a tighter fit.

I have reupholstered a few interiors using kits from multiple suppliers and it's definitely up to the installer to make it work right.

My e30 sport seat reupholstery diy is on r3vlimited. This was German Vinyl in oem silver from zoomzoomzoom-ing on ebay. I certainly learned a lot from this one, including the need to pull the fabric real tight on install. Looks great 7 years later except a crack in the driver bolster (should've used leather instead of vinyl but I was poor). I used leatherseats.com to upholster a family members Chrysler 300C and it turned out fantastic. Beautiful quality and fit. They get compliments on it all the time.

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/ ... lstery-diy

The best kit I've used so far was the one from leatherseats.com based out of Oklahoma City but it's about $1k for just the front seat (e30 sport seat only) and no rear e28 seat yet. Maybe they are in need of a pattern before they can make new ones. I have a black donor skin I might send them so there will be other alternative suppliers.

Also, saddened to hear of poor customer service. If you are trying to match exactly oem color then it is difficult unless the supplied material is dyed by the same company, etc. I was doing a color change in mine so it didn't bother me. I actually had great responses from their customer service going back months as I wanted to initially have the centers done in tweed before opting on all leather. I am also having them make armrest covers for e34 comfort seats which I am adding to my sport seats. They are free for me as I supplied a new pattern for them they didn't have. lseat just received them so we'll see how long it takes to get them made and shipped back to me.

I think I said this originally, you need to call them or email them with an order number. After that, they were far more responsive...
I imagine they get a lot of tire kickers and do not want to deal with it.

My seats are still in the same shape as when I installed them, with the exception of some pipping wear. If I did it again I would have not had pipping, but I wanted it to look like the original seats.