Quote:
Originally Posted by bjbstewart
has anyone had that door panel section re-done by a upholstery shop or something? I assume that you could really mess the airbag area up if you don't know what you are doing.
Bet there would be some good interest for a group buy!
|
It's something I'm looking into - not to mass produce, but for my car.
The center of the leather panel is a French seam, with visible cosmetic stitching on either side but a single line of (non-visible) stitching holding the two sides together. When the side air bag is triggered, it rips that seam apart pretty easily. Any decent upholstery shop would have no problem doing the work.
I've taken apart one of two door panel spares I purchased, and detached the leather from the center section so I have a template. The door panel disassembly involves a lot of work removing plastic welds, to detach that center insert with the leather on it. When I have some spare time, I'll be shopping around at leather suppliers here to see if I can find a decent color match for BMW's OEM Imola red leather.
I've tried dyeing the dream red leather from the spare panel (using a purchased Imola dye) and was not satisfied with the result. Don't care for the color match, sheen, or the fact that the visible thread in the stitching is dyed exactly the same color as the leather - it needs to have a bit of contrast.