[southcoastphil]

Greetings from Dartmouth, MA!

I have an 04 330xi with 150k on the clock. As you can imagine the driver's seat bolster has gotten quite worn.

A friend of mine specializes in marine upholstery and he's offered to do the re-upholstery if i can find the leather stock.

Can anyone recommend a source for leather? Doesn't have to be "Good Lord, that's a *perfect match* " leather, because its a DD (that still goes like stink!). I'm more focused on finding a source that can provide just leather stock, close in both color and texture to my tan ("natural", i think) to what I have now.

Many TIA for your help,
Phil

 

[alpinweiss]

It appears the leather is available from BMW.
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=EW53-USA-01-2004-E46-BMW-330xi&diagId=52_2814

I have never ordered it by the metre, so I am not sure about availability.

Here is another idea; the entire leather seat cover is also available.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=EW53-USA-01-2004-E46-BMW-330xi&diagId=52_2284

:drive:

 

[John Davis]

Ignore this if you already know, but "leatherette"--BMW's version of vinyl--looks uncannily like leather. It's hard to tell them apart. There are some threads on how to tell which you have, if you're not sure. Most E46s have leatherette, not leather.

(Of course, as I said, you may already know this...)

 

[DEADF15H]

Lseat.com used to sell the full covers for the E46. I just checked and didn't see any BMW seats now. I would call them, as I'm sure they have the patterns. They were about $350 per for sport version iirc. You have to Install yourself, or have an upholstery shop do it.
I also have a sample somewhere of a company who sells the material for a custom sewn seat. I'll check and report back. It was an exact match for my dove grey.

 

[GoForthFast]

Ignore this if you already know, but "leatherette"--BMW's version of vinyl--looks uncannily like leather. It's hard to tell them apart.

After my dealer could not tell the difference between the two examples of seat covers in the cars sitting on his lot, I ordered leatherette for better long term durability.
Now 12 years later my leatherette still looks close to new. No regrets!

 

[FredoinSF]

OP should clarify what he has. He mention both tan which would entail the popular beige that was available in both leather and vinyl, but he also mentions natural which is the awesome darker darker color that was leather only.
If the cost and availability of the material is close, he should match what he has. Labor will be the same IMO.

 

[John Davis]

After my dealer could not tell the difference between the two examples of seat covers in the cars sitting on his lot, I ordered leatherette for better long term durability.
Now 12 years later my leatherette still looks close to new. No regrets!

Yeah, I prefer the leatherette too. It wears well, you don't have to condition it, and I really can't tell the difference without researching the threads to learn the telltale signs of a leather seat.