Prepping a car for sale - seat swap BMW E90

jony_dols

I have 2011 320D at the moment with a cloth interior. Unfortunately the seats are heavily stained...previous owner plus a coffee spill or three from myself. I've tried a few products to clean 'em properly but to little effect.

I was wondering if it is worth my time to buy salvaged leather seats (+door cards) from a scrapyard & fit them myself, for 3-500 euro OR pay around a 100 quid for a Pro valet, to get the seats back to new.

Would the leathers enhance the sale price/desirability, enough to warrant my time & money spent over a thorough clean?

bazz26

If you can get the seats cheap enough then it should be worth it but if it's going to cost big money to swap them out then you probably won't get your money back on them.

R.O.R

A really good interior valet will get rid of heavy staining for a lot lower cost than replacing the interior with leather.

https://www.facebook.com/AutoDetailValeting/photos/pcb.878358142186716/878357762186754/?type=3&theater

If that will open for you, it's before & after shots of a manky interior valeted by the (excellent) guys we use for that type of thing, on the Long Mile Road in Dublin.

Idbatterim

it one seat or area that are heavily stained? if so, I would get them to do that area only initially? if the stains remain or are still visible, you could then decide what to do...

jony_dols

R.O.R wrote: »

A really good interior valet will get rid of heavy staining for a lot lower cost than replacing the interior with leather.

https://www.facebook.com/AutoDetailValeting/photos/pcb.878358142186716/878357762186754/?type=3&theater

If that will open for you, it's before & after shots of a manky interior valeted by the (excellent) guys we use for that type of thing, on the Long Mile Road in Dublin.

Wow, that is some turnaround! The rear seats are in a similar enough state, in the 320, oil spills on the floor & a seemingly permanent wetdog stain strecthed aross the back of the 3 rears (i got it cheap for a reason!). What prices are they charging?

I've sourced a set in the last half hour, 300 for the seats - brown leather. For the resale value - would I be better off to spend the extra?

Atlantic Dawn

+1 for the valet option first.

Atlantic Dawn

jony_dols wrote: »

I've sourced a set in the last half hour, 300 for the seats - brown leather. For the resale value - would I be better off to spend the extra?

There's a fair amount of work getting them fitted, coupled with needing to get the airbags in the seats coded to the ECU.

CalamariFritti

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

There's a fair amount of work getting them fitted, coupled with needing to get the airbags in the seats coded to the ECU.

E90 has airbags in the seats? Wow, I genuinely didn't know that.

I did the leather swap in my E39 a long time ago and it was quite easy. There was an electronic contact in the seat, yes, and a wire running to the thing that adjusts the seat belt height to the seat position, but no airbags. But of course thats over ten years ago.