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Replacing the leather and Alcantara on the entire interior

496 Views 11 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  jproy
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I thought I would share the latest in the overhaul saga of the old 2000 M5. I’ve started replacing all of the leather on the door cards. I tore them apart this weekend with a chisel and a hammer. Took about 6hrs. Broke them down to their individual panels. It was extra difficult because when I got the car 12yrs ago all of the door pockets had fallen off the door cards into the door cavity. The factory glue had failed so we used black epoxy to stick them back on the door cards. I never thought in a million years I would completely redo the leather in the car. The door cards look way better in the pics than they are in person. In person, there are gouges, areas where the leather is failing, and areas where there was water damage to the door card from leaking vapor barriers from when the PO had it. My interior person is going to fix the door panels before she recovers them. I'm using Relicate Ferrari black 6300 leather for the entire interior. Not exactly OEM but neither is most of the car anymore either. I have already had the covers made for all the seats using the same material through GAHH Automotive. I have them in a box ready to install. I’ll be beginning the installation of the new seat covers on all the seats soon and my upholstery person is starting the door cards, headliner, & pillar covers for me next week. I’m going to do the inserts around the door handles (airbag cover and the part around the grab handle in anthracite Alcantara to match the headliner and pillars. I think it will look great. Pretty excited. Penny for your thoughts?









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Re Door Card inserts: Will your seat inserts also be Alcantara? I think it would be odd to match the door inserts with the headliner and pilars.
Subscribed. Can’t wait to to see the results
Thanks for posting and please keep posting. This project is on my list as well but some other items are currently higher priority. I'd like to hear any key learnings and see the results.
Best of luck, its going to look fresh when its done!
Re Door Card inserts: Will your seat inserts also be Alcantara? I think it would be odd to match the door inserts with the headliner and pillars.
The seats have already been done in full Nappa leather 6300 from Relicate (also universal 8500 industry universal code) so I will not be changing the insert there to Alcantara. Google "alcantara door inserts on black leather"and then click on the images tab at the top. Looks pretty darn good in a Porsche, NSX, and all the other cars you will see it in. ;-)
Best of luck, its going to look fresh when its done!
No doubt. And it should smell of leather bound books and rich mahogany!

Interested in the results as well saying I need to get this done on my door panels as well. Annoyingly though I have to find new rear panels because mine are rotted beyond repair.

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk
Interested in the results as well saying I need to get this done on my door panels as well. Annoyingly though I have to find new rear panels because mine are rotted beyond repair.

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk
I've looked at how the structure of the door card is made pretty well and it is just a simple, shaped fiber board that everything is glued to. Super simple really. You can grab any used door cards from any E39 5-series. Just make sure yours has the shade cut out or not for the rear doors. Honestly, I don't think it would be hard to make this door card myself using one of the extras I have as a mold/template. I talked to my upholstery person about coming up with a cost to do this again if all goes well so you guys could know the exact cost if you wanted to send your cards to her and have them done. I'll let you know what that takes when mine are done.
Is there a small speaker attached to the upper part of your rear door panel ? When I took mine off to replace the door lock actuator, mine did not have the small speaker attached despite there is a speaker grill on the panel.
Is there a small speaker attached to the upper part of your rear door panel ? When I took mine off to replace the door lock actuator, mine did not have the small speaker attached despite there is a speaker grill on the panel.
Yes there is on mine but there is not on my extra set of door cards. It’s my understanding not all 5series have it but I think all US spec e39 M5s do have it
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