Project E30 / Ep. 24 / Lseat leather seat cover install

In this video we freshen up the E30’s interior by throwing on some new leather seat covers. There were many hang-ups along the way - watch to see what happened!
- I ordered the seat covers from www.lseat.com
- Here are the hog rings and pliers I used to recover the seats:
/ www.amazon.com/Pliers-Galvani...
/ www.amazon.com/ION-TOOL-Galva...

[@shreda125hilux7]

Love your work man, I recently found your channel when you first bought the 80s tacoma, I have since binge watched all the E30 series , love the channel , well spoken , very neat and hard working DIY worker. Love DIY work on all my cars as nothing beats that feeling after fixing something or adding a new mod and it works. Brings smiles to my face even just watching you work on your cars its as if you really take us for a ride when you test drive your car haha. Much love from Australia mate, you deserve more subs.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Thank you so much!

[@TheIsaacPalmer]

Watching you restore that beauty is the most satisfying thing ever.

[@motheolebelo]

Wow Those seats look too fresh, thumbs up. loving your work and videos.

[@benkromphardt1916]

Awesome video. Great job on a very thorough DIY, this really encourages me to try it myself too! Keep it up.

[@Molino-Red]

Lseat is great! I stand by them 100%

[@j.saavedra1502]

Good work! The finished interior looks great.

[@GDavis49]

You are the king of the auto DIYers! Very impressive work.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Thank you!

[@robsfooty]

Loving the vids as usual man! Thanks for all your hard work!

[@GaJeepr]

Great update! Good job on the seats. Feel your pain on "custom/never been done before". My wait on some never been done JEEP armor was 2 YEARS! And I completely agree some good summer heat cycles will most likely tighten the rest of the leather up. Bought my HF heat gun at X-Mas time with one of the super-coupons. Thanks again for such good content.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Playing the waiting game, especially when it's for parts that are the last pieces the the puzzle, is so difficult!

[@TheDasbull]

Great job on the seats! The "comfort seats" are actually really nice, but everyone wants the sport seats... Glad you are saving another e30 - one on BMW's best designs 👍

[@Nikko780]

Great video, good tip on working the wrinkles out. I was close to pulling the trigger on Lseat covers but kept seeing pictures with wrinkles, they looked exactly like yours did before you shrunk it with the heat gun. Now I'll go ahead knowing what to do. Thanks

[@amanwithhiscigaretteandcof3474]

i love when you upload about e30. Regard from Indonesia.

[@chasetiemeyer1056]

Welcome back to the 40k E30. Looking good man!

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Geez I hope not! You must be an intervention if I cross 10k.

[@k.j.g.9601]

Awesome video. Your car looks fantastic! I'm doing a similar project on an 84 Mercedes w123, even though it is a completely different car, these videos are super helpful none the less. Just subscribed

[@andreww.6283]

Hey Peter. I saw your articles from Jalopnik, and now I found your channel. I have a 2003 BMW 330i with a 5 speed, and I’m amazed at how little the interior aesthetics have changed!

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Hey Andrew, I'm glad you found the channel! I'm hoping to write an update for Jalopnik on this car once it's finished.

[@MrBrianMandl]

Great video man! Really impressive work. Also-- I have that same watch!!

[@comfort_in_discomfort]

You're a patient man. I debated recovering my seats on my Wagoneer. The cost for new covers was really high. I ended up buying other seats and fabricating new brackets and plan to do a color change to match. Good luck with the sport seats. Hopefully the next set won't be from a vert.

[@txdave13]

Good work, Peter. Just looked and LSeat has covers for my project car. They're awful tempting, but I've got a couple of other items to tackle first. As always, great video.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Thanks David! I agree - I think an interior restoration is a good final step.

[@diegobolon72]

Good job man!

[@ActionM]

looking good!!

[@stubbk3]

looking good bud

[@dougbrown8331]

A grinder and paint make me the welder I ain’t 😁

[@swazi5]

Wow that was a lot of work. Shame about the sport seats. Watching there winkles come out was pretty satisfying haha. Interior looks mint now!!

[@kitler01]

What a diffrence cars looking mint

[@JS-fj9ik]

Rebuilding the viscous coupler in 325ix is easier than you think. I used a hack saw to cut it open on the friction weld. Its the only place that can be cut. Clean off the plates, pop out the ball bearings with a punch, order new seals and silicone. Weld back together with seals installed (carefully). file and smooth, get some 5min epoxy warm up the VC not too hot so you can still hold it. Smear some epoxy over weld. Dry and repeat. I used a hand pump vacuum while filling the VC so the silicone fluid would get slowly sucked in and get harder to turn. Tap the ball bearings back in place. There it is. Easy and cheap.😉

[@syedzephan6429]

throw on some 5% tint on the windows and itll be just like a james bond car, love your vids btw and am a true fan of the craftsman ship and work and attention you put on this bmw, Its the little deatails that are the best, Keep up the great work bro- fan love from TX

[@joelpalmer]

Great job and well done. Hope you will put a stitched steering wheel cover on your e30. Thanks

[@DrivenbyGears]

Looks 100000% better. Upholstery you got have lot patience's for, also you could have put in some seat warmers since you went that complete route and had heated seats to boot!!!

[@christopherlee3273]

Really cool

[@bmw-e30]

You could have installed heater seat elements while you had them dismantled. A useful accessory on an e30. You can do so when you get the sport seats.

[@michaelwinfrey2047]

I love this series because I am doing a similar if not more in-depth restore and rebuild to my e30 including seats. But funny thing. I’ve had 6 e30s and the seats you show originally are definitely not factory seats or seat covers at least. The fronts look like e36 and the rears looks like recovers. The lines are all wrong.

[@krutonsurfing]

Hi there. I’ve been watching your vids and they are helpful. Thank you. I’m redoing my 1987 E30 325i comfort seats and I can find new leather to wrap them but am having trouble finding the correct foam replacement. The foam is far gone with holes. Is there anywhere that you have found that sell the foam for the comfort seats? I see the sport seat foam online. Thanks.

[@manuela1094]

So weird, I was just looking up about this and all of a sudden you posted this video on the same day

[@BOKOLIS76]

Leather should have been super tight on the seats....they did take measurements from the old ones that already have been loose and stretched...also the foams were old and not so strong... Unfortunately leather will become a lot more loose in the future. I hope the company who made them will have to get informed about it. Greets from Greece Love your videos

[@jerichobalisticmissile5985]

My first car was a E30, 325ix. I had to sell it before I went to bootcamp...still kicking myself lol

[@celsdogg]

Omg, that cloth 🤤

[@eduardocaste23]

Hey Peter! Where did you get the foam and padding kit for the sport seats?

[@OhYeahAboutThat]

I had no idea your seats were that rough! BTW, much smoother edits in this video. Much nicer transitions while you are speaking to the camera.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Thanks for noticing! I did spend a bit more time throwing in some transitions on speaking cuts.

[@krutonsurfing]

Hey There. I ordered these seats from Lseat. The comfort seat ones. I took the back rest off and the backs don’t match to get the hog rings through the cork looking part. The plastic tabs that go through on the original are just cloth that you can put a metal rod through similar to the seat cushion. Just seeing if there is any thing you recommend to do

[@makosasimakis118]

pretty good

[@someonesaveus]

Was there a guide that you followed for this? I'm having some issues with the headrests and otherwise that don't seem to quite lineup as the original pieces did. Appreciate any thoughts/help!

[@stanimirmn]

I've noticed the steering wheel has been loocking different for the last few episodes, did you do something with the leather there aswell ?

[@metalja]

I had the same problem with the front seats, but i got a pair from an e36 m3 vader, they look great, but they are a little too high, thank god i´m not tall

[@michaellindon5688]

Thanks

[@mkalamo]

What about using a press to break the "weld" on shaft, then a pulley to take off

[@peterk9860]

Nice video, when you going to restore sports seats I'd recommend installing SEAT WARMERS, I did to my and at winter times or chilly days they are great )))

[@rcdudes123]

Some bbs wheels would look killer on this thing

[@tonytodd7403]

Wonderfull

[@MohammedTaha1]

Great work! I discovered this list lately but I already saw all previous videos next test drive can you make it with fixed camera, I feel that it avoid you from driving freely

[@friguy4444]

Maybe it is too far gone but what about trying to tack a small weld to the sport seat outer ring to the inner pipe to hold it in place and try to twist or hammer the piece to get it to break free? I hope that made sense. LOL. Then perhaps you could cut the weld off after wards or weld the whole thing after lubing the inner pipe section. I have no idea if they are worth a try for that but I thought I'd just throw it out there anyway. AWESOME video again and as usual! Thank you! O... Just saw the ending. Disregard my earlier idea. You've got a much better one lol.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Thanks for the idea Greg, I might give it a shot anyway! I always forget that I can use the welder to my advantage in these situations.

[@poching0521]

Another great video! When I redid my sport seats, the weak points I found are the L brackets that hold the back to the bottom seat. They just broke apart. Are you shocks/struts still working? On my sport seats, they were all shut, which made the adjustment so difficult. I spent another 170 just replacing those struts.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

I've seen that bracket as a failure point, but none of the seats had it. Surprisingly all the struts work pretty well!

[@driftkid222]

Love all your videos man! I just have one question. Can you tell me if the spring shocks on the regular seats are the same as the ones on the sport seats?

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

I believe the backrest struts are different between the comfort and sport seats. The height adjustment ones are the same.

[@dwightlee6164]

i am stuck while i am replacing cover. the plastic hole for the headrest pole. it should be come off to take the old cover out. but no idwa how to remove. your video just forwarded fastly for this part. how to do that for removing the cover from the monding?

[@aesmilla]

The old seat leather was recovered at some point. Lseat doesn’t have bc it was never made like that for the comfort and rear seats.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

If there's one thing I've learned from working on this E30, it's to never underestimate the number of variations offered from the factory. This includes the seat covers. The backsides of the old seat covers seemed too "OEM" to have been recovers. My guess is they came off a gray-market car at some point in this car's past. But, I could be wrong!

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Here's about the only picture I can find to support my theory of this being a factory-offered seat cover: carnewschina.com/2016/02/17/spotted-in-china-e30-bmw-3-series-times-two/ This E30 appears to be in China somewhere. (Apologies for the sketchy website and tasteless sidebar ads!)

[@laidback93]

@ghrays I immediately thought they were e36 seats, but I think you're right about them being vert seats which have horizontal striping.

[@mwcrilly]

i know it is a long shot . . . but, did you pull the c clip on the shaft which allows for the hinges to pull off. it is had to believe that steel would rust to brass. I know mine were a pain to pull off; they seemed like they would not come off until they came off in one pull. They can be tricky.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Yep, I pulled the circlip off the shaft. Unfortunately the hinge brackets would bend well before the center piece would free from the shaft. I considered it, then realized it would just make the piece unusable.

[@bourgr]

Love this E30 series, I found you as I was researching buying and repairing an E30 for myself. So far the costs seem mostly reasonable to fix or replace everything on the car. Do you think you'll do final cost video when you are finished?

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Thank you! I'll definitely make a final cost video. The hardest part will be determining when to call it "finished". Hopefully it's soon though!

[@bookooc5605]

Great video. I have a '91 sedan with cloth seats I want to recover. Thought about sport seats, but those are really high priced now. And then you still have to recover them. Think I will go with Lseat. Can you tell me where you bought the replacement foam pieces? I need them for standard seats.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Your best bet on finding replacement seat foam will be ECS Tuning or FCP Euro. I can't say whether the foam is still available though.

[@markbrown1609]

good vids, do you still have the car?

[@jackpatteeuw9244]

A professional would have replaced the padding underneath or at least added some more. Still, pretty darn good !

[@michaeldrews1055]

What is the secret to freeing up the seat belt holders on the backrest of the back seats? Patience and WD40 with some leverage? Mine seem fully stuck and don't want to break the plastic...

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

I used WD40 and one of those door trim pry tools. I cracked the large seat belt holder a little bit, but with it reinstalled it isn't noticeable. All I can say is just give it a try.

[@bart_langedijk]

I'd say you could probably pull those hinges off with some kind of jaw puller, clamping the jaws around the hinge and aligning the threaded rod of the puller with the "shaft" where the hinges are on.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

I'm afraid the puller would bend the hinge brackets well before freeing the center from the shaft. That thing was on there!

[@bart_langedijk]

Well, considering these seats are now only usable for parts, there's not much you could lose by trying. Worst case scenario is that you bend them while getting them off.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

@@bart_langedijk good point. Might give it a try!

[@zacharyjackson1608]

Super late but use a harmonic balancer puller and some scrap stock to separate the seat bracket.

[@Smokie1013]

Did it come with new head rest covers for yours? I ordered some for 2011 lexus gs350 but theres no holes or leather pieces for the head rest

[@Molino-Red]

Me too I ordered seat covers for my 2007 Lexus es350 and they didn’t have headrest covers but I ordered two headrest anyway from eBay off a crashed Lexus..but over all Lseat is great! The quality is Top Notch! And they do have headrest you just have to pick what package you want they have everything you need and if they don’t they will get it done! Great company!

[@tilleytristan]

Great video. You have a great attitude when facing obstacles. Car looks great and is almost done. Do you still have that little Toyota pickup? Would love to see videos making it look and drive nicely.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Thank you! Unfortunately the turbo Toyota pickup was sold a while back. Before I bought the E30, actually.

[@AlexRamirez-bj1zm]

If you continue to have the seat covers for sale I am interested . Thank you

[@medievilassassin]

Great video as always , would the sport foam not fit on the comfort seats? I also love your positive attitude towards it all , as I would have had s hulk smash moment with the sports seats 😂

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Thank you! The seat frames are different between the sport and comfort seats so the foam wouldn't be compatible.

[@frankburn6312]

beautiful job as always. Is the left rear door outer strip a different material then the other doors? it looks less shiny.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

I've noticed that too. I guess rear door molding was replaced at some point.

[@muchgreatness7497]

Hi, do you think 1/2" hog rings would get the job done? I have 20 000 of them in my basement.

[@raf530i]

Congratulations, this car turned out great ! You've been recovering it for months, it is nice to see it rounding up looking so good! Do you plan on recovering the steering wheel also?

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Thank you! Yep, I plan to recover the steering wheel soon after installing some sport seats.

[@LavendrHoney]

I can’t stop laughing at the Mickey Mouse job to band aid that bolster 😂😂😂

[@AlpoMartinez88]

Nice

[@JAHMALCHRIS06]

What color did you buy

[@1188clean]

those comforts sure look nice. i think i would keep those imstead of the sport seats. why dont you try a 3 prong jaw puller for the seat mechanism see if it comes out.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

I'm contemplating keeping the comforts. I'll recover the sport seats and compare them.

[@ramp7t]

@@PracticalEnthusiast Please offer a comparison. I just picked up a pair of e30 sport seats to recover and replace comfort seats in a e24.

[@sgomez3047]

PE... Where did you get the new dash for that Beemer? Thx

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

I found it locally on Facebook Marketplace. I got lucky to say the least!

[@motorart4670]

Good work, did you try heat on the joint of the sport seats

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

I did. Then it caught on fire. I'm still angry I didn't get it on video lol. Always have an extinguisher nearby!

[@TheJedifr33style]

whats the music do you use?

[@florascent9ts]

it'd be so nice if someone had these in cloth seats! leather is just hot, sticky, and demands maintenance.

[@jp2246]

Project car life for sure! Good job but I have to admit, interior work is not my favorite when it comes to car projects

[@sparkeyjones6261]

I ordered a set of these for my BMW. I didn't find them to be high quality at all, in fact I shipped them back for a refund. I'd be interested to hear how they've held up over the past 3 years.

[@LavendrHoney]

When installing the hog rings do you have to make the holes in the leather? Or do they have pre made holes for you?

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

The hog rings are sharp and strong enough to pierce through the leather without pre existing holes.

[@johniannacone6058]

I got a kit for my 4runner through leatherseats.com and it was a much quicker turn around time. I think in total even with them sending samples was about 3 and a half weeks. (made to order kit) I went with black leather with a contrasting stitch. As far as communication went they were very responsive to me but what was a turn off for you in regard to communication?

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

It sounds like your experience was vastly different than mine! As for Lseat, responses to my emails would not answer the questions I asked, and upon trying to verify that they understood my requests, no responses were given. Replies were also mostly in broken English, which wasn't the end of the world, but certainly made communication more difficult. All misunderstandings could have been easily resolved over the phone, which unfortunately was not possible without them having a working phone number. Text comprehension was obviously difficult on their end. I sent the covers in December 1st and didn't receive the new covers until April 13th.

[@johniannacone6058]

Practical Enthusiast wow man that blows. Granted I did mine last year so maybe new owners? Idk but sorry to hear that was your experience. The seats turned out great though. The wrinkles will completely go away after about 2 months

[@ryansoehkle2263]

Hey there! Found this vid to check out the quality of Lseat as I'm looking for replacement for my e46 m3. I noticed the KU shirt and flag in the garage, and I actually live in Lawrence? Any chance your around and I could check out your amazing car in person?

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Hi Ryan - I sold the E30 back in 2019, sorry! I'm in OP. But, I would still recommend getting the Lseat covers. The leather and stitching is high quality and you can't beat the price. Although they have a certain industrial scent to them (think Harbor Freight store smell). If I were to go back and do it again, I'd probably try to git rid of that smell before installing them.

[@ryansoehkle2263]

@@PracticalEnthusiast is the leather similar to oem quality?

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

@@ryansoehkle2263 The only OEM E30 leather I've encountered has always been in such poor shape that anything from Lseat is leagues superior lol. It's real leather and I didn't notice any imperfections. I didn't drive the car much after installing them so I can't comment on how well they wear in. I imagine it would be on par with OEM.

[@blacknightcreations]

did you try heating up around the seized parts with a torch.!!! hopefully this comment didnt get to you to late. just started watching your channel

[@romanarteaga4]

Did you have to request the pattern for the back seats? I don’t see them on their website

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

They likely have the patterns if you ask them. They said to me that they'd add them to the website but I guess they didn't get around to it.

[@romanarteaga4]

@@PracticalEnthusiast Thank you!

[@mikewarner2285]

Lol trash cans make good saw horses I do that to

[@NGAAutoTV]

Nice video! I came across Lseat last year for my Z4M project seats. How is the leather quality? Some review I read expressed concerns. But like you said, the price point is really attractive.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

The leather quality is really good. It's soft, thick, strong, stretchable, and the dye (or however leather is colored) seems to have permeated deeper than just the surface. So long as you are OK with waiting a bit to get them, you can't go wrong.

[@NGAAutoTV]

Thank you, looks like I’ll give them a try.

[@1188clean]

why did you put a hanger in the rear seat for?

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

I cut the hanger up to create new crossbars in the seat covers for the hog rings to grab. The old cross bars were missing.

[@michaellindon5688]

What is the size of your mig welder?

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

It's a Hobart Handler 140 using C25 gas and .030 wire.

[@ozzyfreeman2619]

Nice job mate, steering wheel will be next?

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Possibly! I might make my own cover and stitch it up myself. Definitely something I've not tried before.

[@jackrobertson2558]

Where did you get the bolsters? Part #s?

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

I got them from ECS Tuning. Part No 52101923907

[@jackrobertson2558]

@@PracticalEnthusiast thanks I appreciate it! Keep up the good work👍

[@sflasurf]

How are the seats holding up? It the quality from Lseat good?

[@Molino-Red]

Lseat is great! I did my Lexus and it came out amazing! The quality is Top Notch!

[@Vaabuss]

I thought convertible seat rails were different than coupe/sedan ones

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

I haven't heard that, but I didn't get to find out. I know the convertible rear seats won't fit.

[@garrettgiuffre7298]

do you live in the bay area? I think I bought parts from you ahaha

[@ArnaudShanghai]

Really looks after market... It's a pity the fabric was actually very nice.

[@SkyNeeNews]

хорош !!

[@Scotts-CruiseTravel]

Love watching your E30 project come together. Would love to see you and your E30 at the E30 Picnic June 23rd. www.e30picnic.com. Come and join us.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Thank you! I'll have to look into it!

[@nickkrikorian5909]

back seats look way too baggy

[@patdonnelly9349]

It was free

[@thelukestormwalker]

Great video and content but your music volume level is way to high like 3 times higher then your voice just a suggestion to lower it a lot I know this video is old so maybe you already have in the future but its pretty rough on this video.

[@Ali_F92]

Dude use some Welds on the henge ring , its not a set back!!! 🤔