[HughA44s]

Recent I found myself with a bit of free time on my hands so I decided to find a cheap but time consuming project that would hopefully be value added, sooooo I decide to tackle the faded fabric that was falling down on the pillars on my M3 and the grossly faded rear deck. The replacement pillars are $400 a set (remember I said cheap) so I headed down to the local fabric store (Hancock I think) and spent $35 dollars for some head liner and $10 for some 3M 77 spray glue. By the way, the new replacements fade quickly and the fabric falls down in short order anyway (from what I hear) so this may be cheap and effective way to address this problem. Lots of videos out there showing how to remove the back interior parts but the key is to go slow and break as little as you can. After 15 years, the plastic is brittle and some parts crack from the stress on its own. Also, the exact sequence for removing the parts varies from model to model.

The fabric I got had a 1/8 inch thick backing of foam rubber on it and appear to have a bit more texture to it but look nice and basically matched. It was also the only stuff they had.

So once I had the parts out, here is what I did:

First you apply a layer of spray glue to both the panel and the fabric and let it dry until tacky. Then you carefully find a flat surface of the panel and stick it to the back of the fabric. This is a bit of a “get it right the first time” sort of thing as taking off a goofed piece is a real pain. I keep the fabric flat on the ground when I did this. Make sure the piece of fabric you cut is plenty big as you will trim it later.



The next problem I needed to address is smoothly, and evenly applying pressure to the fabric but avoiding using my hands a gluing in hand prints and finger prints. As mentioned, the fabric has a foam rubber backing which can be compressed. I used a small paint roller for this.



This pick shows the trimmed fabric leaving ½ inch around the entire panel. Also I found this glue to be great for fixing cracks in the mounting points in the panel.



Here is a completed panel. I applied glue to ½ inch edge of the fabric and panel and then fold the fabric over.



A few before and afters:




Now on to the back deck. This took a while to get out. I used Dupi-Color Vinyl and Fabric on this. There are to types: flat and gross. I used the flat.

Note how badly is thing has faded:



After:

[86911TLCAB]

looks nice...similar thing i did a few years back on my e36...

[turkis_tii]

Looks great! I did my E36 back in the day, headliner also. Now I need to do my E46's A pillars but am a bit concerned with the curtain air bags within them.

[N0tt0N]

Nice job and nice write up! Thanks!

[cmartin]

Well done. Every bmw I've owned had a faded purple panel, drooping headliner, door panel separating... you could be onto a side gig.

[HughA44s]

Tito – Yup remember that.

John - I still have the A-Pillars to go. I will dis-connect the battery so that I don’t have the airbag blow up in my face. I think I will use one piece but cut a slit for the airbag to deploy.

Thanks Martin

CMARTIN – If the GOV doesn’t decide what to do with some of the contracts I am involved with in short order, I may implement your idea. Besides I have 2 other e46s with varying degrees of this issue – and a bunch of fabric left over.

[Jazzbass]

Great write-up and great work getting those C pillar panel out without cracking them. I was less successful, but some junkyard replacements saved the day. But yeah - holy crap they crack easily.

The finished product is great. I need to do the Duplicolor thing on the rear deck of my E90 - that worked great.

Originally Posted by turkis_tii

Now I need to do my E46's A pillars but am a bit concerned with the curtain air bags within them.

Disconnect the battery and you'll be fine. The challenge with the fronts is, like the back, to go slow and try not to crack all the brittle plastic. The insert piece that cover the screw breaks the easiest and is also the hardest to glue stuff to. The corners of the main piece that tuck down into the dash also crack really, really easily so be careful there too.

A right-angle cordless drill with the right torx bit in it is a life-saver for the front a-pillar screws. They're about 2.5" long and in there pretty good. Going half a turn (because of the windshield) at a time gets a little tedious, esp with 6 to take out.

[86911TLCAB]

The one thing on the airbags i discovered is disconnect battery, wait 30 minutes, then disconnect airbag. don't reconnect battery until you reconnect the air bag...otherwise it will blow the srs code...

[HughA44s]

Jazz – Thanks for the heads up on the A-pillar – Just reviewed a youtube on that. By the way, I think these crack on their own without help from me.

By the way I just saw a deal on these from ECS at $510. The fabric I used is a bit more fuzzy than the stock stuff and supposed to be UV stabilized. One report on the rear deck is that it still looks great after 5 years.

Here are some more pics but taking pics of a black interior from the inside is not easy.

[HughA44s]

The color match is much better in real life - funny angle on the sun in these pics.