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During the Xmas break I tackled refreshing / changing the colour of my leather interior. I was lucky to pick up my 330ci with a full M3 Nappa leather interior in Kiwi - this was one of the things that first sold me on the car, having a nice contrast with the Orient Blue, not to mention the higher quality leather and the huge amount of electric adjust in the seats. The interior didn't have any rips / tears and seemed in decent nick, but after living with the car a few months I had swapped out the dash trim, repainted some of the interior plastics and re-trimmed the steering wheel, the leather was clearly the weak link in the interior with minor cracking, UV damage flaking and colour variations throughout. I originally tried an Ebay liquid leather type kit to do a quick 'freshen up' but it was evident trying match 15+ year old Kiwi leather was a waste of time (mine had faded to more of a yellow and factory kiwi is surprisingly green which I was not a fan of). The plan escalated from there. I figured if I was going to go to the trouble of restoring the leather, why not go for a colour change to something I would love instead? Pics: Original colour and contrast with exterior Condition of seat bolsters / flaking of headrests etc

That could work well actually as I'm dropping my wife at the airport Sunday morning. Car is getting bonnet resprayed at the moment but was supposed to be finished yesterday so should be back for the weekend ?

We lost a late model, low milage car in that hail storm. Damage to the A Pillar and other structural areas. Looked at buying it back. Couldn't get a WOF until structural report from panel beater or manufacture was produced for damage or repair. Couldn't just fill the dents and repaint myself. Became just too hard and expensive to do. They would make great parts cars. Brent is correct about the hail damaged cars with broken windows being treated as water damaged cars. NZTA started to ease back on WOF's (hail damage) so that people could keep the cars on the road while everything is being sorted out with the insurance companies. But for how long that continues is yet to play out.

You Should head along to the next Akl meet this Sunday out in Penrose. Be very keen to see this amazing interior.

engineer reports on all repairs , some may need new roof skins , watch for broken glass(sunroof , rear screen etc) as might have had water in then classed as water damage etc

Great vid! Enjoy...

Hey Nathan Eddie the old owner made the exhaust from the factory headers back. So when Austin made his headers for me i just said weld some vbands on the ends and connect to existing exhaust, i didnt click to get them taken out. I also didnt realise they were bmw cats till it was too late. i thought they were some type of coby style muffler. But in saying that its a nice rumble but not to crazy loud. so works well for me. id say it would be alot more different if cats were gone.

Few pics from yesterday ...

Wow. That is a stunning transformation!

Finally, after letting it all dry / cure for 5-6 days, I reinstalled the interior (not much fun), gave her a good groom and a photo shoot. I'm stoked with the colour and quality, there are a few tiny areas where I would have liked to do a better job but you would only notice by having it specifically pointed out and eyeballing from 6 inches - for day to day use it perfect and my wife thinks I'm crazy to think otherwise. The colour is a great, classic navy / tan combo with the orient blue and IMHO has enough wow factor without getting into 'marmite' territory. Only issue I've run into is my airbag light is now on, I believe due to switching the passenger and driver seat bases with the passenger occupancy sensor no longer in play. Hoping I can clear that and get the sensor delete thing from Ebay / TradeMe. I'm a little anxious to see how this wears - supposedly should be good for years (we can but hope) - at least this car rarely see's passengers and I now have the perfect colour match for any driver seat touch ups that may or may not be needed in the future. Its been finished 3 weeks with daily driving and several beach trips (i.e. wet, salty bums) and looks perfect. Final pics once completed - looks and feels better than most new cars inside now.

E28 - First born E34 - Staunch older brother E39 - Favourite child E60 - Misfit F10 - Cybernetically enhanced F90 - Version 2.0

Hi guy new bmw owner here Dont no much about bmw but its been great to drive

Had some goodies for the car turn up in the last couple of weeks, which will be fitted sometime in the near future. Unfortunately car is back at the mechanics after breaking down completely and being undriveable. Currently waiting for quote to fix but mechanic suspects timing chain guides, is tearing the engine down to confirm so new timing chain etc needed. Not a happy chap having barely driven the car since purchase, worked out 10.5 hours of driving and just passed a month of ownership.