lseat.com - review

[Irhase46m3]

Hello Everyone -


Just wanted to review and document lseat leather covers for the e46 cabrio that I will hopefully be updating along the years with how holds up. I remember someone started a thread about this in the old m3forum.

Background, I originally wanted to convert my black interior to cinnamon but I was unable to source a decent set of seats (only the arm rests and door cars got sourced) – Along the years, I called a bunch of places to reupholster the seats with original nappa, all of which were expensive. I went online and came across lseat.com and autoberry.com the latter being more expensive.
I recently saw that lseat added the saddle color to their portfolio and decided to bite the bullet on this one as it was cheaper. I warned the installer that these seats run loose and will require additional foam or heat to get a tight fit, he gave me push back with the heat as he stated it reduces the life of the cover and said to let the sun do its thing.

Below is the end result, it definitely exceeded my expectations and I very much like the results.



Time will tell how they hold up!

Best,
Irhase46m3

[sev]

wow! pretty impressive I must say

[Hallerhan]

Interesting.. finally another option for recovering pole positions and spg seats

[Andy2424]

It seems to be a little easier in Germany. I had my Imola converted into cinnamon...

[yhp2009]

Hello Everyone -


Just wanted to review and document lseat leather covers for the e46 cabrio that I will hopefully be updating along the years with how holds up. I remember someone started a thread about this in the old m3forum.

Background, I originally wanted to convert my black interior to cinnamon but I was unable to source a decent set of seats (only the arm rests and door cars got sourced) – Along the years, I called a bunch of places to reupholster the seats with original nappa, all of which were expensive. I went online and came across lseat.com and autoberry.com the latter being more expensive.
I recently saw that lseat added the saddle color to their portfolio and decided to bite the bullet on this one as it was cheaper. I warned the installer that these seats run loose and will require additional foam or heat to get a tight fit, he gave me push back with the heat as he stated it reduces the life of the cover and said to let the sun do its thing.

Below is the end result, it definitely exceeded my expectations and I very much like the results.



Time will tell how they hold up!

Best,
Irhase46m3

Looks great. Any thoughts on the quality of the leather and stitching compared to the factory nappa? At that price it seems like a great alternative if the quality is acceptable

[lemoose]

hows the grain/color match?

[jbfrancis3]

I've never seen an upholsterer 100% nail the factory look. A little wave in a seam, a small bunch here and there and/or slight differences in taught-ness. These look good though, I'm impressed with both examples, nicely done.

[Irhase46m3]

Looks great. Any thoughts on the quality of the leather and stitching compared to the factory nappa? At that price it seems like a great alternative if the quality is acceptable

Hi There - The stitching is not 100%, its a bit off. The quality is good, its important to understand its not leather, its a leather bond, according to the installer said its good and that he has worked with it in the past. As mentioned before, time will tell how it holds

[Irhase46m3]

hows the grain/color match?

It has no grain, its very comparable to the napa look, the arm rest was wrapped in new nappa leather and the feel is different, the covers are soft but have a slight plastic feel to it, the arm rest is super soft and no plastic feel. Hopefully this makes sense.

As for the color, its not an exact match to cinnamon, you can definitely see the difference but i dont mind it, my black covers are destroyed so this is a vast improvement for me.

[Andy2424]

It has no grain, its very comparable to the napa look, the arm rest was wrapped in new nappa leather and the feel is different, the covers are soft but have a slight plastic feel to it, the arm rest is super soft and no plastic feel. Hopefully this makes sense.

As for the color, its not an exact match to cinnamon, you can definitely see the difference but i dont mind it, my black covers are destroyed so this is a vast improvement for me.

mine is 2.5 years old and its feel is getting better and better.

I used new leather care 2 times. That helps that the new leather doesn't get so greasy. Rougher original look

https://www.lederzentrum.de/glattleder-pflegeset-mild-mit-leder-versiegelung.html

is unfortunately in German

the only thing that has not turned out well for me is this edge

[BMWE46M3]

For those of you who want high quality leather that is molded for our seats you can look at: https://gahh.com/brand/bmw?models_fit=3372&years=4914. My imola red driver's seat needs a backrest and seat bottom replacement and this is the only company I could find that provides OEM quality - it's actually better quality than OEM. It's worth noting I requested a sample of the imola red leather and it was a perfect match. I haven't yet had this done so I can't comment on the stitching or actual fit. But I have spoken with them and they described their process. I plan to buy new seat cushions first. However, this is an expensive route to go down. Almost $900 for the new seat covers, about $400 for installation (I don't mean removing the seats from the car, I'm referring to GAHH installing the leather to the seat cushions), and the cost of the new seat cushions. I hope to find a lightly used seat bottom and backrest in imola from a passenger seat (same part numbers as drivers seat) that someone is selling.

[jbfrancis3]

For those of you who want high quality leather that is molded for our seats you can look at: https://gahh.com/brand/bmw?models_fit=3372&years=4914. My imola red driver's seat needs a backrest and seat bottom replacement and this is the only company I could find that provides OEM quality - it's actually better quality than OEM. It's worth noting I requested a sample of the imola red leather and it was a perfect match. I haven't yet had this done so I can't comment on the stitching or actual fit. But I have spoken with them and they described their process. I plan to buy new seat cushions first. However, this is an expensive route to go down. Almost $900 for the new seat covers, about $400 for installation (I don't mean removing the seats from the car, I'm referring to GAHH installing the leather to the seat cushions), and the cost of the new seat cushions. I hope to find a lightly used seat bottom and backrest in imola from a passenger seat (same part numbers as drivers seat) that someone is selling.

I mean that price seems more reasonable to me, when you factor in good leather material and all the effort in stitching together a cover. I couldn't believe two new seats covers regardless of materials could be found for $350.

[oceansize]

Another option as mentioned is autoberry. (I've since completed an grey to imola and black swap). I have brand new nappa imola (not autoberry) in my car now and the autoberry feels just as nice. This was a few years ago so hopefully nothing changed with respect to autoberry's quality. The video is right after installation and over time the feel and fit was better and better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBuMoaxbItM

My imola came from https://www.instagram.com/bmwrestoredseats/?hl=en

[rbg]

I mean that price seems more reasonable to me, when you factor in good leather material and all the effort in stitching together a cover. I couldn't believe two new seats covers regardless of materials could be found for $350.

our nam3 forum at its best! Only expensive, only perfect! C'mon that interior looks great based on the photos and I bet much better than it was. As for the money, I keep saying that imo e46 m3 seats sucks so much that would not spend more than a couple of hundreds to restore them. If you are willing to spend money go sprotsters with custom upholstery! Or Cobra.

[Andy2424]

For those of you who want high quality leather that is molded for our seats you can look at: https://gahh.com/brand/bmw?models_fit=3372&years=4914. My imola red driver's seat needs a backrest and seat bottom replacement and this is the only company I could find that provides OEM quality - it's actually better quality than OEM. It's worth noting I requested a sample of the imola red leather and it was a perfect match. I haven't yet had this done so I can't comment on the stitching or actual fit. But I have spoken with them and they described their process. I plan to buy new seat cushions first. However, this is an expensive route to go down. Almost $900 for the new seat covers, about $400 for installation (I don't mean removing the seats from the car, I'm referring to GAHH installing the leather to the seat cushions), and the cost of the new seat cushions. I hope to find a lightly used seat bottom and backrest in imola from a passenger seat (same part numbers as drivers seat) that someone is selling.

great site, thank you

I'm still looking for Alcantara for my limousine!