Vader M rain restoration

[bimmerlaurent98]

Wondering on some input people may have!
picked up my dream M rain set yesterday and i want to get them back to they’re former glory


story goes from who i got them from that he paid $75! for them from his friend that wrapped his hellrot coupe into a light pole
(trust me i paid 10x more than this and couldn’t believe it myself)

they sat for for a year and drivers bolster became extremely faded
thought about using dye but hoping someone may know if i’m able to to just replace that bolster with an exact alcantara (the asc fabrics reproduction for the alcantara that i bought is much to dark )

also the fabric insert has a lot of pilling (little fabric gunked up) - would a amazon depiller razor help ?

lastly the drivers side that got hit from the pole bent the entire seat frame (yes i have the replacement seat frame) but haven’t seen a in-depth video anywhere on removing cushions from seat frame/fabric
so wondering if anyone has a write up or walk through on going about swapping the cushions over to a seat frame
thanks in advanced (i’ve been hunting for these since 2017 and never could justify the 3k plus shipping from european fb groups and now that i finally have my Techno coupe coming these will tie everything together)
located on long island new york

[Braymond141]

That bolster has been replaced, it is not original.

You need to replace the fabric(s) to restore these seats. Not trying to be mean, but when he posted it, it was clear it was a set not worth doing anything with. You're basically looking at replacing most everything, so you overpaid for a broken front seat and core components elsewhere. Sadly your only choice is to use replica fabrics to make another set.

The original fabric is Amaretta, not Alcantara. They are both name brand manufacturers of synthetic suede (backside of real leather) but they are different. Amaretta has a longer nap while Alcantara uses shorter strands. BMW also specifies their own anthracite color (note: anthracite is not pure black) so you will be unable to find a match unless you stumble across some OE old stock Amaretta.

My advice is to ditch those seats entirely and just spend the $3k it will cost to get Genuine Alcantara, ASC fabric and upholstery work. Restoring what you have is just going to cost you the same it will end up a mismatched mess.

[realjones]

Maybe just replace all of the original stuff with replacement fabrics? Those seats are not in the sort of condition where keeping them original is going to add any value to a vehicle so if you want to look the best that would mean ditching the beat up fabric.

[brianc]

^ they're right.. you're going to have to recover those or live with them as is. If you recover them it would have been much cheaper to buy seats w/o m rain.

[notMpowered]

I'll echo it unfortunately. Most of the fabric panels are beyond repair as there are spots that are worn through. Your only option is to find OEM fabric, or covers, which is borderline impossible, or to recover with ASC stuff. They aren't that bad though. I'd fix the frame and run them as is until the fabric wears through.