Cost of re-trimming the lower half of a dashboard?
Discussion
Not strictly a classic car, but asking in here as it's the place where I feel I'm most likely to get an answer...
I've seen a BMW 440i for sale. The spec is lovely but, in my opinion, it's let down by the fact that the lower half of the dashboard is trimmed with black leather rather than the cognac leather that's on the door cards and seats.
Here's what it looks like:
Cars specced with coral red leather had a matching dashboard, which I think looks a lot better from a visual continuity perspective:
What might it cost to re-trim the lower dashboard on car above for the same effect as the car below?
I've seen a BMW 440i for sale. The spec is lovely but, in my opinion, it's let down by the fact that the lower half of the dashboard is trimmed with black leather rather than the cognac leather that's on the door cards and seats.
Here's what it looks like:
Cars specced with coral red leather had a matching dashboard, which I think looks a lot better from a visual continuity perspective:
What might it cost to re-trim the lower dashboard on car above for the same effect as the car below?
Isn't the bottom one the extra cost 'extended leather' option, rather than being because it's red?
I've seen a car in the cognac with similar extended cognac leather dash as well.
As to cost, it won't be cheap. Lots of shaving of the edges of the leather pieces to wrap around the dash panels, plus labour time in removing all the panels.
I'd be surprised if the bill would be less than four figures.
I've seen a car in the cognac with similar extended cognac leather dash as well.
As to cost, it won't be cheap. Lots of shaving of the edges of the leather pieces to wrap around the dash panels, plus labour time in removing all the panels.
I'd be surprised if the bill would be less than four figures.
aeropilot said:
Isn't the bottom one the extra cost 'extended leather' option, rather than being because it's red?
No, the bottom one is actually coloured plastic which came as standard on the coral red and ivory white interior options. For some reason the cognac option came with black plastic and if you opted for extended leather it was black leather rather than cognac leather, annoyingly. Same with coral red and ivory white - opt for extended leather and it's black rather than the relevant colour. The cognac lower dashboard seemed to come on the non-M Sport versions. The M Sport version just gets black!MitchT said:
aeropilot said:
Isn't the bottom one the extra cost 'extended leather' option, rather than being because it's red?
No, the bottom one is actually coloured plastic which came as standard on the coral red and ivory white interior options. For some reason the cognac option came with black plastic and if you opted for extended leather it was black leather rather than cognac leather, annoyingly. Same with coral red and ivory white - opt for extended leather and it's black rather than the relevant colour. The cognac lower dashboard seemed to come on the non-M Sport versions. The M Sport version just gets black!9xxNick said:
Would it not be more cost-effective to recolour the black leather to Cognac? There are plenty of places that can colour-match leather dye.
Not sure how well that would work on the Dakota leather considering how heavily treated it is. It's a relatively robust but less desirable leather. Best option, I feel, would be to see if a BMW repairer could source some original Dakota Cognac leather to re-trim it with.markiii said:
For me the dash is overkill. First pic is much classier
It's very much down to personal taste. There have been discussions on here about this before when the BMW F3x interior has come up in conversation. For me, having worked as a graphic designer for 25 years, I'm very oriented towards aesthetics, flow and continuity. Having the lower half of the dash in black when the seats and door cards are a contrast colour reminds me of when cars had black plastic mirrors and bumpers. It looks like the "poverty spec" option. The doors have that black, silver, cognac layered finish and, to me, this needs to continue onto the dashboard to avoid breaking the flow and making it look like the job hasn't been finished properly.MitchT said:
9xxNick said:
Would it not be more cost-effective to recolour the black leather to Cognac? There are plenty of places that can colour-match leather dye.
Not sure how well that would work on the Dakota leather considering how heavily treated it is. It's a relatively robust but less desirable leather. Best option, I feel, would be to see if a BMW repairer could source some original Dakota Cognac leather to re-trim it with.I'd be surprised if they do, given the low quality of it, would have thought it not good enough quality for use on dash with the way it has to be fitted to dash parts...?
I think you'd struggle to find any trimmer that has any BMW leather in stock to re-do a dash.
You need to find a good bespoke trimmer rather than a BMW repairer.
aeropilot said:
Does the factory use the Dakota leather on the dash trim on extended leather?
For me it would make sense for any trim additional to the seats and door cards to be the same grade, for continuity, but maybe that's just my design oriented OCD kicking in again!aeropilot said:
I think you'd struggle to find any trimmer that has any BMW leather in stock to re-do a dash.
I guess whomever does interior repairs for BMW would have some!MitchT said:
aeropilot said:
Does the factory use the Dakota leather on the dash trim on extended leather?
For me it would make sense for any trim additional to the seats and door cards to be the same grade, for continuity, but maybe that's just my design oriented OCD kicking in again!You normally need to use quite high quality soft hide for that sort of stuff, because of how it needs to be trimmed, shaved and folded around the dash edges etc.
The difference in quality of the Dakota leather in my previous 135i to the Merino leather in my current X5 is like night and day.
Have a word with Pickerings in Bradford. They do a lot of work for main dealers. Very helpful.
https://www.aspickering.co.uk/
https://www.aspickering.co.uk/
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