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323i pleather/ leatherette

Hi All,

First post. Just bought a '99 323i and too my dissappoinment I found out it really does not have leather seats. (could have fooled me, wait, actually it did fool me)

I really like everthing else about the car. Great value for the price.

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the 323i has a feeling of quality evidenced by precise controlaction and high-grade materials. And although the seats are not leather andthere is no genuine wood trim, the interior is not austere as on last year's318i sedan. In fact the standard "leatherette" (that's German for vinyl)seating was comfortable and fooled most passengers who thought it was thereal thing. The 10-way adjustment allows the sport seats to fit a variety ofhuman body types.

I do have the sport package. What is best way to get real leather interior by replacing skins?

1) harvest the skins from a wrecked e46 and .... Will standard e46 seat covers fit 323i e46 sport seats?

2) Buy aftermarket leather upholstry? Anyone have a high quality source?

3) Keep pretending my Pleather is real leather.

Thanks in advance

Bob Presutti

Reply to
skidog
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  1. Everything I've ever heard about the fake leather interiors talks about how great it is, and how much better it looks over the long haul than the real thing. Not as nice during the summer but still not bad. epbrown

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2003 BMW 325i Black/Black 2003 BMW Z4 Black/Black
Reply to
E Brown

The leatherette is okay, but I prefer the leather, it softens up nicely after a bit and is really durable, more so than the leatherette (especially is sub zero temps) Anyway, I swapped the seats in an e36 318is for some e36 M3 seats, found the seats on ebay, cost about $350 and an hour to put em in. I would assume the e46 would be similar, just find a nice interior package (front and rear) and spend an afternoon replacing. Skins would be a huge PITA and they most likely would not be as strait as stock, aftermarket leather would also be hugely expensive. IMHO your best bet is to just get replacements off ebay, you can probably find the dash pieces there too.. Good luck!!

Reply to
Corey Shuman

I am thinking about getting the stock seats off of ebay but the shipping is a killer.

Anyone know is power seat skins of 2004 330i will fit manual sport seats off

323i?

Thanks Bob Presutti

Reply to
skidog

Shipping actually shouldnt be too bad. FedEX is pretty cheap, or if you are really cheap and have a greyhound station you can ship via greyhound. I shipped 2 front e36 m3 lux seats for $67 via fed ex, also some LR Discovery seats (which are considerably heavier than the bimmer seats) for $82 from Utah to Florida. Just keep an eye out for a good seller that will work with you.

Reply to
Corey Shuman

Wow, I and many others are just the opposite. I'm on my second BMW; the first had the leatherette and the current one leather. I much preferred the leatherette to the real stuff. The leatherette was durable as can be and looked great, while the leather is wearing very badly, even though I do take care of it.

FYI, my car is a 2000. If yours is a 1999, unless it had an owner who absolutely babied it, original leather could be looking rough by now.

Reply to
RP

Thanks,

It's a '99 323i so it is Letherette. I guess I'll just 'ride it out' for a while and see if I still have the need/want for real leather.

Reply to
skidog

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