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1988 528i - Black & tan interior
First things first. I knew when I bought the car that the interior was going to be in rough shape so I already sorta had a game plan together. When it arrived, I was shocked to see that while there was the normal wear & tear on the bolsters of the drivers seat it really wasn't in bad condition other than being in desperate need of a good cleaning & steam/shampoo.
Monday 9/19
Driver side
Driver Seat
Driver rear
Passenger rear
All the door cards are in the same condition which is pretty great. I need to track down some plastic door handle trip trim pieces but nothing alarming.
Seats out
[img width=375 height=500]http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6162/6171470220_9d8143f9e7.jpg[/img]
More filth
Carpet gone. Again although there is a ton of cleaning that needs to be done, after pulling the carpet I was very happy to see no evidence of any structural damage, rust, fabrication or paint work.
Getting the carpet out was no easy task at first. In these cars the carpet is an entire one piece shell with about 2"-3" padded bottom help sound dampening. On top of that this one piece is placed up the fire wall, under the ac blower & held in one specific location by 2 screws under the hood that also hold heater lines in place. After browsing some forums, the most recommended process was cutting it out in areas that are never seen. :-\. So after finally getting out, I headed over to the local car wash, soaked it in Purple Power & power washed the crap out of it.
Before
After 1 day of drying :thumb
Tuesday 9/20
More fun as I spent tonight degreasing & scrubbing interior pieces.
But first lets take these Style 19 bolts
And throw them in here for some multi-tasking action. 5lb vibrating tumbler with some 40 grit media.
Some before shots before attacking with a diluted Purple Power solution & a scotch pad
After some elbow grease some great results
Oh and remember those raggedy bolts? 3 hours later and viola!
Wednesday 9/21
Carpet is coming along nicely after more drying time
After some consideration on the direction I want to go with the interior, I've decided that I'm not a fan of the tan on the interior. While carpet isn't too difficult to find, plastic & good condition vinyl trim pieces are like gold when it comes to these cars. So instead of wasting time on a unicorn hunt, I took the advice of a friend. After some research I found what I needed to proceed. It took a little prep work with a rougher scotch pad, a little self etching adhesive & some patience but I couldn't be happier with the results.
As you can see, it kept all the texture of the original trim & looks like nothing more than brand new OEM replacement pieces.
As I stated I was very pleased with the products used & the end result. But I'm certain that you HAVE to follow the prep process because I read a couple of horror stories of how this can go wrong. In any event there is no cracking or flaking in the vinyl paint & even in the creased areas where the trim stretches & flexes the paint was just as forgiving. :thumb
I even had time to clean up the daily before heading out to the local Wednesday night meet.
First things first. I knew when I bought the car that the interior was going to be in rough shape so I already sorta had a game plan together. When it arrived, I was shocked to see that while there was the normal wear & tear on the bolsters of the drivers seat it really wasn't in bad condition other than being in desperate need of a good cleaning & steam/shampoo.
Monday 9/19
Driver side
Driver Seat
Driver rear
Passenger rear
All the door cards are in the same condition which is pretty great. I need to track down some plastic door handle trip trim pieces but nothing alarming.
Seats out
[img width=375 height=500]http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6162/6171470220_9d8143f9e7.jpg[/img]
More filth
Carpet gone. Again although there is a ton of cleaning that needs to be done, after pulling the carpet I was very happy to see no evidence of any structural damage, rust, fabrication or paint work.
Getting the carpet out was no easy task at first. In these cars the carpet is an entire one piece shell with about 2"-3" padded bottom help sound dampening. On top of that this one piece is placed up the fire wall, under the ac blower & held in one specific location by 2 screws under the hood that also hold heater lines in place. After browsing some forums, the most recommended process was cutting it out in areas that are never seen. :-\. So after finally getting out, I headed over to the local car wash, soaked it in Purple Power & power washed the crap out of it.
Before
After 1 day of drying :thumb
Tuesday 9/20
More fun as I spent tonight degreasing & scrubbing interior pieces.
But first lets take these Style 19 bolts
And throw them in here for some multi-tasking action. 5lb vibrating tumbler with some 40 grit media.
Some before shots before attacking with a diluted Purple Power solution & a scotch pad
After some elbow grease some great results
Oh and remember those raggedy bolts? 3 hours later and viola!
Wednesday 9/21
Carpet is coming along nicely after more drying time
After some consideration on the direction I want to go with the interior, I've decided that I'm not a fan of the tan on the interior. While carpet isn't too difficult to find, plastic & good condition vinyl trim pieces are like gold when it comes to these cars. So instead of wasting time on a unicorn hunt, I took the advice of a friend. After some research I found what I needed to proceed. It took a little prep work with a rougher scotch pad, a little self etching adhesive & some patience but I couldn't be happier with the results.
As you can see, it kept all the texture of the original trim & looks like nothing more than brand new OEM replacement pieces.
As I stated I was very pleased with the products used & the end result. But I'm certain that you HAVE to follow the prep process because I read a couple of horror stories of how this can go wrong. In any event there is no cracking or flaking in the vinyl paint & even in the creased areas where the trim stretches & flexes the paint was just as forgiving. :thumb
I even had time to clean up the daily before heading out to the local Wednesday night meet.
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