OEM M-Texture up-close comparison with ASC Fabrics Reproduction

[Mattn1192]

I have black interior, but I understand. Just not ready to cough up 3.5k-4k (shipping included). I am
Jealous of your interior..

[Thoglan]

Welp, I couldn't sleep at night without seeing the reproduction fabric next to brand new OEM stuff from BMW so I spent way too much getting some. This stuff is pretty much non-existent anymore and my understanding is that this roll that I just got is one of the last if not the last at BMW Germany. Pretty sure it is truly NLA now. There are a couple sellers on ebay claiming to have genuine stuff but idk how legit that is and they are asking huge money. This roll was 2 lineal meters direct from BMW.

Interestingly unlike the reproduction fabrics the genuine stuff is not backed with foam.


I had always attributed the difference in colour to age and fading of the OEM material but as you can see with the off cut of reproduction fabric laid on top, the ASC fabric is much darker. Photos make them look more similar than they are in person they are quite different IMO.


As I said in the OP as well, the backing is definitely very different. Both in colour and in texture. The ASC fabric m-texture has a much higher thread count (looks higher like a higher resolution version basically) and the colour is not quite right either. The blue hue of the ASC stuff doesn't come across on camera but it looks very blue compared to the charcoal backing of the OEM stuff. The backing on the ASC stuff is almost reflective under direct light as well unlike OEM. Again something I had previously assumed was age but is present on this stuff brand new from BMW. I was able to peel back some of the alcantara on one of the cheap door cards I got (underneath the grab handle so not visable) to compare the backing of each fabric, the colour and thread count is obvious there.


Few other photos comparing them:



The other thing that's very obvious when you have them next to each other is just how much softer the OEM stuff is. I don't know why this is. My understanding is that the alcantara on the ASC fabric is genuine alcantara, but it still feels much harsher. The OEM stuff just feels like a way nicer material. Maybe one day I'll redo my bucket seats in this OEM stuff lol.

[0-60motorsports]

Welp, I couldn't sleep at night without seeing the reproduction fabric next to brand new OEM stuff from BMW so I spent way too much getting some. This stuff is pretty much non-existent anymore and my understanding is that this roll that I just got is one of the last if not the last at BMW Germany. Pretty sure it is truly NLA now. There are a couple sellers on ebay claiming to have genuine stuff but idk how legit that is and they are asking huge money. This roll was 2 lineal meters direct from BMW.

Interestingly unlike the reproduction fabrics the genuine stuff is not backed with foam.


I had always attributed the difference in colour to age and fading of the OEM material but as you can see with the off cut of reproduction fabric laid on top, the ASC fabric is much darker. Photos make them look more similar than they are in person they are quite different IMO.


As I said in the OP as well, the backing is definitely very different. Both in colour and in texture. The ASC fabric m-texture has a much higher thread count (looks higher like a higher resolution version basically) and the colour is not quite right either. The blue hue of the ASC stuff doesn't come across on camera but it looks very blue compared to the charcoal backing of the OEM stuff. Again something I had previously assumed was age but is present on this stuff brand new from BMW. I was able to peel back some of the alcantara on one of the cheap door cards I got (underneath the grab handle so not visable) to compare the backing of each fabric, the colour and thread count is obvious there.


Few other photos comparing them:



The other thing that's very obvious when you have them next to each other is just how much softer the OEM stuff is. I don't know why this is. My understanding is that the alcantara on the ASC fabric is genuine alcantara, but it still feels much harsher. The OEM stuff just feels like a way nicer material. Maybe one day I'll redo my bucket seats in this OEM stuff lol.

Thanks for posting this info. Maybe ASC can fix their fabric now to bring it even closer to the original

[Thoglan]

Thanks for posting this info. Maybe ASC can fix their fabric now to bring it even closer to the original

I was going to flick Graham a message since it might be valuable info for him. And to be fair, the ASC fabric I have is from mid 2020 or so. It's possible more recent batches are a better match.

[0-60motorsports]

I was going to flick Graham a message since it might be valuable info for him. And to be fair, the ASC fabric I have is from mid 2020 or so. It's possible more recent batches are a better match.

Yeah would be interesting to compare to newer batches...

[karter16]

Additional observations from looking at the comparisons.

1: The "holes per inch" appears to be slightly off (i.e. 25 holes in the original fabric covers the same distance as 24 holes in the replica fabric).

2: The size of the holes in the replica appear to be slightly larger. i.e. on the replica the dimension of the hole looks to be slightly larger than 50% of 1 repetition. On the original fabric it appears to be slightly less than 50% of 1 repetition.

[Mattn1192]

Is that fabric for sale? 👀👀👀

[9kracing]

Is that fabric for sale? 👀👀👀

This is who I bought mine from and I can verify it's authentic.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254824972277

[Thoglan]

Is that fabric for sale? 👀👀👀

Probably wouldn't make sense economically to ship it anywhere. I'll probably just hang on to it incase I damage any of my interior so I can replace it, or eventually re-do my bucket seats in OEM stuff.

Your best bet is likely that ebay seller, the photos look like genuine fabric. And after seeing both in person the OEM is definitely worth a premium over the reproduction

[Thoglan]

Additional observations from looking at the comparisons.

1: The "holes per inch" appears to be slightly off (i.e. 25 holes in the original fabric covers the same distance as 24 holes in the replica fabric).

2: The size of the holes in the replica appear to be slightly larger. i.e. on the replica the dimension of the hole looks to be slightly larger than 50% of 1 repetition. On the original fabric it appears to be slightly less than 50% of 1 repetition.

I'll have to measure with some calipers to confirm. I think the holes themselves are very similar. The pattern of squares on the backing I did notice is actually slightly larger on the ASC fabric though. One red square on the ASC fabric is larger than that on the OEM fabric

[Icecream]

Wonder if they do this deliberately to avoid getting a letter from BMW. I mean, they get the pattern, blue, red and purple right but can't get the seemingly easiest part correct?

[ra2fanatic]

Got ASC Fabrics for my interior and the swatch is pretty much the same quality as you're showing.

[Obioban]

Wow, that ACS fabric is much farther off OE than I would have thought.

[Thoglan]

Wow, that ACS fabric is much farther off OE than I would have thought.

Agreed, the more I look at it the more it just looks like a different fabric altogether. It passes when you see them at an angle to each other. Seeing my recaros next to the door cards for instance it passes, but when they are on the same plane its not a very good match imo.

[BMWahba]

Cool analysis, thanks for sharing!