Alcantara or Carbon Fiber INTERIOR!!!!!

I have a 2002 e39 525i and I was starting to improve my interior headliner, wood grain and everything. Headliner is white but it's starting to look blackish white, so I'm going to replace it with alcantara also the A, B, and C pliers that touch the headliner. But my question to everybody that has or had a e39 is I'm comtemplating if I wanna wrap the wood grain in the car ALCANTARA or 3m DI-NOC vinyl carbon fiber. What should I do, I know both will look good but I wanna wrap all the wood grain in alcantara but except the CENTER CONSOLE. The center console will be carbon fiber. I know that would look really good. I want both in my interior not just one or the other. I'm trying to go for something different then any of the other bmw's interior, something that catchs other BMW owners EYE's.

Carbon fiber has always caught my eye. Just do what you think looks the best to you. Don't worry about what others think.

Carbon fiber is tacky in interiors especially that nasty coarse wrap kit. It just doesn't belong inside the interior. I say go with a nice luxury interior. People think carbon fiber makes it "sporty" but it just takes away that premium feel. Carbon fiber wrap kits belong on Civics and Integras.

Hi

Some things to think about on this project -

Genuine Alcantara is a real pain to work with. There's hardly any 'stretch' or 'give' in the material. Those who've attempted DIY with genuine alcantara often can't quite get it right and the end results don't look good at all. It's much better to have this sort of work done by a professional retrimmer. A headlining is mostly flat which fools many people into thinking it's easy. The corners and the covering of the indentations in the shape of the rooflining is where you'll be tearing your own hair own if you don't get things quite right! Those A,B,C pillars look easy right?! .. well they're not, look at the shapes in the corners etc, covering them with alcantara will be a real pain ! On top of all that, you also need to use the correct grade automotive adhesive. You won't find that in a general hardware store either. It's trade only materials where these sorts of products are available. If you do wish to use stuff available in hardware stores at retail, be prepared to see sagging and peels within a short space of time - not saying it will 100% happen, but chances are high.

The 3M DiNoc material is very popular indeed, Again, there's a correct grade of CF vinyl which is intended for internal use. The external rated stuff can indeed work internally, but chances of peeling etc issues within a short while are increased, the adhesives and the actual properties of the material are different for external and internal applications. Also take a look at the Carbon Fibre cloth that's available

Also, these sorts of modifications do 'match' and 'flow' with other higher level modifications on the car. They sort of look out of place on a mainly stock or oem looking example. Is your car more extensively modified or going to be?

Another tip - be wary of the 'fake' alcantara's out there too, too much adhesive and you ruin the material, too little and it'll quickly sag and flap around etc.

Cheers, Dennis!

CF wrap interior wrap is of course not OEM, but it has been done by many others. So if you can get the Alcantara or Alcantara "like" stuff to work I say go that route for the trim. I not sure how it would look, but you said you wanted your car to look different that would give you a different look. I am not sure there are going to be very many of those out there.

Originally Posted by DennisCooper!

Hi

Some things to think about on this project -

Genuine Alcantara is a real pain to work with. There's hardly any 'stretch' or 'give' in the material. Those who've attempted DIY with genuine alcantara often can't quite get it right and the end results don't look good at all. It's much better to have this sort of work done by a professional retrimmer. A headlining is mostly flat which fools many people into thinking it's easy. The corners and the covering of the indentations in the shape of the rooflining is where you'll be tearing your own hair own if you don't get things quite right! Those A,B,C pillars look easy right?! .. well they're not, look at the shapes in the corners etc, covering them with alcantara will be a real pain ! On top of all that, you also need to use the correct grade automotive adhesive. You won't find that in a general hardware store either. It's trade only materials where these sorts of products are available. If you do wish to use stuff available in hardware stores at retail, be prepared to see sagging and peels within a short space of time - not saying it will 100% happen, but chances are high.

The 3M DiNoc material is very popular indeed, Again, there's a correct grade of CF vinyl which is intended for internal use. The external rated stuff can indeed work internally, but chances of peeling etc issues within a short while are increased, the adhesives and the actual properties of the material are different for external and internal applications. Also take a look at the Carbon Fibre cloth that's available

Also, these sorts of modifications do 'match' and 'flow' with other higher level modifications on the car. They sort of look out of place on a mainly stock or oem looking example. Is your car more extensively modified or going to be?

Another tip - be wary of the 'fake' alcantara's out there too, too much adhesive and you ruin the material, too little and it'll quickly sag and flap around etc.

Cheers, Dennis!

Yeah I know what you mean. But I know me I'm a profectionist and I know I'm going to make sure everything is on right and stays on right. And everything I'm getting the alcantara and carbon fiber are real. Not settling for that fake crap over here in my BIMMER!!!! Its going to look good whatever I decide to go with. Thanks for you input though.

Originally Posted by Solo12

CF wrap interior wrap is of course not OEM, but it has been done by many others. So if you can get the Alcantara or Alcantara "like" stuff to work I say go that route for the trim. I not sure how it would look, but you said you wanted your car to look different that would give you a different look. I am not sure there are going to be very many of those out there.

Yeah I've already decided that the alcantara is going on regradless I love that ****!!!! I think what I'm going to do is alcantara everything and carbon fiber the center console. That's the best of both worlds. THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT!!!

find an M5 that's being parted-out...take all the bits and pieces you need...it's already been engineered and fitted