Interior refresh questions

[bassel_sy]

So I’m in the process of swapping my interior from grey to Imola, and the carpet seems like it’s going to be a headache , I’m searching for alternate solutions to this problem , and I was thinking of dying the carpet? Has anyone tried this or have any other suggestions ?

[Inizes]

I generally think dying changes the overall texture. Possible to find a part out somewhere?

[bassel_sy]

Easy to find the but the removal of the carpet looks very time consuming. Maybe I’m wrong.

[Bostonbruck]

Yeah it’s very time consuming, and a headache. There are some forum members here who can do it very quickly and call it easy, but i think it’s pain and will take a lot of time. Especially for carpet and dash.

If you plan on replacing the entire interior to black, I’m pretty sure you’ll be 90% of the way there to replace the carpet, If that makes sense.

IMO you’re not going to want to dye it. If you did want to dye it correctly, you would have to remove it. Or else you’ll be forever seeing grey poke out of the sides of the trim and stuff.

Ebay has some good interior options and you can find some carpet.

[Inizes]

liam821 might have a solution? I’m not sure the extent of his swap. In my opinion, I don’t think there are any shortcuts with carpet. You could try dying it and see what happens and if you’re happy? If you don’t like it put in the work and rip it out.

[Shadytype]

Swap it out. There are some high cuts you can make under the dash to make it easier.

Once most of the parts are out its bot that bad.
Not easy. i paid a guy. That was easy.

[s54wagon]

If you cut around the hvac/heater core area high enough behind the trim it's only a matter of removing the center console, door sill trim, and the seats

[liam821]

liam821 might have a solution? I’m not sure the extent of his swap. In my opinion, I don’t think there are any shortcuts with carpet. You could try dying it and see what happens and if you’re happy? If you don’t like it put in the work and rip it out.

If you cut around the hvac/heater core area high enough behind the trim it's only a matter of removing the center console, door sill trim, and the seats

That is the only short cut, you basically cut it out around the hvac unit and then tuck it up. If you want to have a complete uncut carpet like I did, you need to remove the hvac/steering column/dash support bar. It's not hard, just a pita. I ended up having to pull the intake manifold to get to the two water lines which go into the hvac box, and of course, to pull out the hvac you need to drain the A/C of coolant. Hard, naw, time consuming, very.

You can see a little bit of dove carpet under the hvac in this picture:


And another angle here:


Once you finally remove the hvac unit, here is the piece of carpet that is under it

[Apex_80]

Quarantine also has me thinking of this, I think I will dye the dash but carpet seems best just to replace

[Bostonbruck]

Found carpet for sale.

[Bigo1087]

Replace the carpet... Its very little extra work...once you get the dash out. Just have to make a few cuts right under the dash and matchup the new carpet to it.

You'll prob spend more time.. dying the carpet over swapping it.

[repoman89]

That is the only short cut, you basically cut it out around the hvac unit and then tuck it up. If you want to have a complete uncut carpet like I did, you need to remove the hvac/steering column/dash support bar. It's not hard, just a pita. I ended up having to pull the intake manifold to get to the two water lines which go into the hvac box, and of course, to pull out the hvac you need to drain the A/C of coolant. Hard, naw, time consuming, very.

You can see a little bit of dove carpet under the hvac in this picture:


And another angle here:


Once you finally remove the hvac unit, here is the piece of carpet that is under it

Damn. I replaced the dash on my E39 and thought that was in the territory of “this thing is never going back together” but this is a new level

[ATB88]

Damn. I replaced the dash on my E39 and thought that was in the territory of “this thing is never going back together” but this is a new level

Yeah this is giving me flashes of the time I pulled the dash to replace the AC evaporator. What a nightmare, never again.

[liam821]

Damn. I replaced the dash on my E39 and thought that was in the territory of “this thing is never going back together” but this is a new level

Yeah this is giving me flashes of the time I pulled the dash to replace the AC evaporator. What a nightmare, never again.

I double and triple checked everything as I put it all back together. Because if you forget something, you're gonna have to do the whole thing over again to get to that missing plug or whatever. I was so thankful when the hvac unit and all the controls worked normally.

[ATB88]

I double and triple checked everything as I put it all back together. Because if you forget something, you're gonna have to do the whole thing over again to get to that missing plug or whatever. I was so thankful when the hvac unit and all the controls worked normally.

I worked pretty hard to stay organized throughout the process, was bagging and tagging all bolts etc, but in the end, after everything was back together and working, I discovered two longish bolts that were removed at some point of the tear down and didn't get back in during reassembly. I have no idea where they belong. Everything felt and sounded good, and everything felt solidly secured, no rattles, so, I made peace with it -- maybe I'll figure it out if I ever go back in there but I sure hope not.