i have a 90 325is that i am restoring and i need to change the carpet which is pretty bad. does anyone have any info on where i can get the carpet from and instructions on how to take it out and put back in sp i dont make any mistakes. appreciate your help forum
let's see.... Step A: Remove everything from the interior of your car except the door panels, headliner, and A & B pillar trim. Pedal box can probably remain. Step B: Remove Carpet Installation is the reverse of removal. Ok, actually I don't think it's quite that bad; problem is, I only did it once, and that was 9 years ago. So, without checking or googling anything, I have a recollection that the way it was installed at the factory was just about - wiring harnesses, padding & a few vents go in place, then the carpeting, then darn near everything else, including the heater box assembly, and the other vents and dash over that. IF that's the case (my memory may vary!) AND you get replacement carpet cut the same way, AND you want to put it back in _exactly_ the way it was installed at the factory, you'd have to pull the heater box, which I'm not sure you can do without removing the dash. Bentley manual might offer some clarification there. If all that really is the case, I'm guessing the workaround is to say the hell with getting your new carpet under the heater box and cutting to fit and securing appropriately as best as possible, with no guarantee of optimal results unless someone else can offer up a comment. Presumably moosehead and another person or two has tackled this and will have some more specific insight. Good luck, and if you take it apart, take tons of _high-quality_ pics as you go so you can get it all back together right. A dedicated digital camera might be a better option than you cell phone's camera. Allow for tons of time, and be patient and take your time.
I changed the carpet in my E30. There are few things to take into consideration. First off I would strongly suggest you go with an OEM BMW carpet. It will be molded to the contours of the car's body and will be a much better fit than an aftermarket fits all carpet. There is a lot of padding used, the dead peddle for instance is just foam padding not metal! Now during the life of the E30 BMW produced a couple different carpet designs. I don't know when these changes happened, but it is easy to figure out. The big difference is most carpets have the padding attached to the carpet it's self and a few years had the carpet and the padding separate. It figure out what you have just pull up on the carpet where the rear seat passengers place their feet. It is easiest to replace like with like, or replace with a carpet with the padding attached. You can pull out the separate padding if need be. But if you get a carpet without padding and yours has it attached you are out of luck! You can't put it over the existing carpet b/c there won't be enough room and you have to have the padding otherwise. Now if you can still get a new carpet from BMW it will be expensive, but worth it over a new carpet from an aftermarket manufacture. Now if this is not in your budget or the color you want is no longer available I would suggest buying used. That is what I did. If you want black, I hope you are very patient. It took me over a year to find a black carpet used. I check all the advertisers in the back of Roundel and I kept an eye on ebay. I would call the advertisers on a regular basis. But I finally found the carpet I wanted from an ad I placed in Roundel. Another club member had a parts car and he did not want the carpet. So I would suggest placing an ad too. Now if you go used, don't be afraid of a very dirty carpet, just stay away from ones that are torn, burned, stained, etc. This partly why it took so long for me to find one. Some places had them, but they were in bad shape. I found a few in local junk yards, but they were beyond hope. Once you get your used carpet, rent a carpet cleaner and go to town on it BEFORE you install in your car. Now for replacing the carpet. The heater box is on top of it. So as mentioned above, you can either cut around it or remove the heater box. If you don't need to remove the heater box for other reasons, then I would leave it in and just cut around. Just cut close, but watch for coolant hoses and wires!!! But you should be okay. The cut will be hidden by the center console, so no worries there, even if you are changing colors, like I did. You will need to remove center console, seats, front speaker covers, and the plastic kick strips that go over the door seal at the base. This strip also holds in the carpet. If this is a two door you will also have remove the lower seat belt holder. If your speaker covers are the older carpet style, now is a good time to update them to the larger black plastic kind. The older style is glued in place and will be difficult to replace, so just go with the new style. Again Roundel advertisers, ebay, or the local junk yard is a great source for these, although they might be cheap from BMW, so I would check there too. Once the old carpet is out, now is a perfect time to address any rust and just check the overall condition of everything under the carpet. Clean it up before you reinstall the new carpet. Now is also a great time to put in new door seals, check Bavarian Autosport, about $75 a door for two doors. Do this now, as you will find the plastic strips that go over them are a pain to remove. Also buy new plastic connectors from BMW before you replace the plastic kick strips. Installation is reverse of removal. Just make sure you have the rear heating ducts going through the carpet correctly and the wire for the drivers seat belt warning. Oh be sure to unplug this before you remove the drivers seat!!!! That is pretty much it. You do not need to remove the glove box, but do remove the lower knee bolster on the drive side. Let me know if you have any questions.
I had to replace my carpet last summer because I left the sunroof open and it rained. The carpet was original and it was groady to begin with. The OE carpets bought new are very expensive. I couldn't wait to find a used carpet so I bought one aftermarket. Pretty much a disaster. It wasn't cut correctly and didn't fit well at all especially at the rear seat. The upholsterer I was working with did his best but the carpet is lumpy in the rear and not tight-fitting. But at least I got the color I wanted (silver).
e30 rug thanks for the info guys i am going to wait until i go on vacation that way i will have a whole week to tackle this thanks for all the info
