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[skidog]

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.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/Followup/articleId=44351
Inside, the 323i has a feeling of quality evidenced by precise control
action and high-grade materials. And although the seats are not leather and
there is no genuine wood trim, the interior is not austere as on last year's
318i sedan. In fact the standard "leatherette" (that's German for vinyl)
seating was comfortable and fooled most passengers who thought it was the
real thing. The 10-way adjustment allows the sport seats to fit a variety of
human 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

[E Brown]

On Thu, 8 Dec 2005 04:29:19 -0500, "skidog"
<rpresuttiUNMUNGE@bellsouth.net> wrote:

3. 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
--
2003 BMW 325i Black/Black
2003 BMW Z4 Black/Black

[Corey Shuman]

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!!

[skidog]

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

"Corey Shuman" <cshuman@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1134058450.625631.198740@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...

[Corey Shuman]

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.

[RP]

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.

[skidog]

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.



"RP" <poteetr@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:1134169880.133824.310190@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...