Pillar Re-Upholstery

[02_lsb]

New set is currently around $700 on ECS.

Does anyone on the forum do pillar reupholstery?
Is there a place you shipped yours? What did it cost?

[bigjae46]

I reupholstered mine with microsuede from Michaels. It was 10 years ago but it was about $20/yd. Just need to tear off the backing material.

It is easy, just tear off old stuff, lightly spray 3m 90 adhesive, apply new fabric. The only pain is the A pillar trim that hides the screws. I left a little extra on the HPS strip and tucked in the edge with a panel tool.

[heinzboehmer]

OE fabric is BM-3109. Pretty easy to recover yourself with some spray adhesive.

[lvm3sm46]

Some good videos on youtube, I used this one

[02_lsb]

Hmmm I tried to wrap with leather. Looks like shit. Maybe I need to peel it off, sand it and try with fabric.

[oceansize]

https://youtu.be/edzDj9ZUIQI?t=351

[lvm3sm46]

https://youtu.be/edzDj9ZUIQI?t=351

That guy does impressive work. Very detail oriented.

[thegenius46m]

OE fabric is BM-3109. Pretty easy to recover yourself with some spray adhesive.

It is CLOSE to the OEM color, BUT if you are doing all the pillars (A,B, and C) at the same time it is worthwhile because BMW quality control is garbage with the pillars as of the last few years. I went through absolute hell on both my E46s to get matching pairs of As and Cs each time I replaced them because the driver and passenger would consistently be 10 shades off. Multiple exchanges gave me sets that you would not be able to notice but the A, B, and Cs will never be the same color from BMW these days unless you have access to the warehouse sorting center.

If I hadn't replaced A and C in both cars BM-3109 would be a very good option if you have a pro install. If you're just trying to replace one set (Bs in my case) you will be disappointed as it is much darker.

[thegenius46m]

Bumping this. Anyone have a recommended reupholster that does oem level work to have this done? Found out on my sedan the bm-3109 is actually a closer match to original fabric than I thought and looking to have that done but its hard to find quality work these days.

[TexaZ3]

BM134 is a better match for E46 headliner.

[old///MFanatic]

Most automotive upholstery shops can do this as typical work. As mentioned the A-pillar is the trickiest because of the cover strip for screws.

[Tones]

Didn't they use to be like 90 bucks

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[thegenius46m]

Didn't they use to be like 90 bucks

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Yeah its kinda hilarious. Bmw wants like $220 each side for black sedan b pillars. M3 is half that. Outside of the ridiculous price tag, you can't even get a matching set because every batch the colors are different and I'm just over paying a premium to deal with the hassle just to settle. Just trying to find someone really good to send these b pillars off and not get back some quality issue suprises from an incompetent upholster.

[ChapterM3]

Saving this for when I'll do mine - Just saw a bit of my rear headliner and C pillars are flapping in the wind when the windows are open so it'll be sooner than later.

Any good videos out there for removing the interior? and doing the headliner?
I found these videos below and was wondering if anyone has any other suggestions.

Headliner removal
Full interior removal - ABC pillars + Headliner

[dukeofchen]

I reupholstered mine with microsuede from Michaels. It was 10 years ago but it was about $20/yd. Just need to tear off the backing material.

It is easy, just tear off old stuff, lightly spray 3m 90 adhesive, apply new fabric. The only pain is the A pillar trim that hides the screws. I left a little extra on the HPS strip and tucked in the edge with a panel tool.

Has the 3m adhesive held up well over the 10 years? This looks easy enough, adding it to the never ending list of to-dos.