The last time we checked in with Sreten from M539 Restorations, he was taking the interior of his E39 5 Series Touring apart and wanted to replace its front seats with E38 7 Series seats. Not only were the new seats better and more comfortable, they were also more supportive. However, the seats themselves were in pretty rough shape and the leather seemed tired at best. So he took it apart and planned on bringing the seats to specialists who could revive them back to life. In this new video, we get to see that process and end results. It’s pretty amazing.
His gray leather seats were almost black in some areas and almost white in others, due to being both dirty and worn. They weren’t the prettiest of seats and they clearly needed a ton of work. I never knew leather could be restored from such condition, either. The seats looked gnarly but the pros that Sreten worked with had all the answers for restoring them to their original glory.
First, they started by just cleaning the leather, which made a huge difference on its own. They then applied various different products to not only help fix the leather but also redye it back to its original color. The color match was also absolutely perfect, which is pretty wild to see. Even a small hole in the leather was filled with what they called liquid leather, and they were even able to replicate the original grain in the patch before dying it. Seriously impressive stuff.
In addition to fixing the leather quality, Sreten also wanted to transfer the liquid massage function bladders from LCI seats to his pre-LCI seats. So he took it to another specialist who completely took his newly refurbished seats apart, broke down an LCI seat, and then transferred the goodies from the newer seat to the older one.
After the seats were fixed and refurbished, and while they were still out of the car, Sreten cleaned the rest of the interior, bringing it back to like-new condition. He also installed a very cool, factory-option slide-out tray in the trunk. After it was all cleaned and reassembled, he put the seats back in and it looked absolutely brand-new. He also replaced the aging wood trim with a trim called “Technical Graphite” which looked awesome.
Watching this E39 5 Series go from being genuinely gross on the inside to looking like it belongs in a BMW dealerships showroom, circa 2003, is incredibly satisfying. Have a watch.
