# Aftermarket Interior E46 Coupe 5-sp Trim



## phlsteve (Jul 21, 2003)

Anyone have any experience with aftermarket E46 trim? I have a 2002 325ci with interior "myrtlewood" (is that german for plastic?) trim that I hate and have been trying to replace for months... I can't bring myself to pay the near $1500 that the dealership wants to do the swap out, but there doesn't seem to be any other source for this trim. At this point I'd take anything.. even basic black... I've looked on ebay too.. with no luck.

Any sources are stories would be great... And I'm sure plenty of you have stories


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## Terry Kennedy (Sep 21, 2002)

phlsteve said:


> Anyone have any experience with aftermarket E46 trim? I have a 2002 325ci with interior "myrtlewood" (is that german for plastic?) trim that I hate and have been trying to replace for months... I can't bring myself to pay the near $1500 that the dealership wants to do the swap out, but there doesn't seem to be any other source for this trim. At this point I'd take anything.. even basic black... I've looked on ebay too.. with no luck.


All of BMW's wood trims are thin veneers over metal backing (except for the shift knob / shifter surround / ebrake handle parts). I didn't like Myrtle, but that was because it didn't go with my black / gray interior.

What trim does your dealer want $1500 to install? For $1500, if you're patient, you could get Individual Birch Anthracite (which is what I did).

Changing the trim is a simple DIY (the hardest part is avoiding hitting yourself in the nose with the shift knob). There's probably a 'fest member in your area who could help if you want some moral support...

Anyway, you have a good choice of trim parts from BMW - unless you're looking for something like carbon fiber, you should be able to get something you like from BMW. There's a number of woods as well as painted parts in the various interior colors, and textured / matte metals. You can see some of them on the BMW web site.

If you post what sort of trim you're looking for, one of us can look up the various styles and narrow it down, and then give you part numbers once you've picked a style. Then you can price it at one of the Internet BMW parts places to get a good discount.


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## phlsteve (Jul 21, 2003)

*great start.. thanks!*



Terry Kennedy said:


> If you post what sort of trim you're looking for, one of us can look up the various styles and narrow it down, and then give you part numbers once you've picked a style. Then you can price it at one of the Internet BMW parts places to get a good discount.


Wow .. thanks. The conversation with the BMW parts guy went something like:
me: "I want to change the wood trim to metal or carbon fiber trim" 
him: "hmmm.. that'll cost 'ya. You're looking at around $1500, depending on the trim you want- and that's only if we can get it."

He had no catalog of available trims and couldn't point me to any website. I didn't even know BMW had a parts website.

What I'd like to get is either brushed aluminum or some other brushed silverish metal. Or, if I can find it, something funky blackish (like the carbon fiber pattern I've seen around while peeking into other people's cars - shameful, I know...)


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## KP (Apr 16, 2002)

$1500? Your dealer is insane  . Not even the carbon fiber units are that expensive (exception of a few). You can probably even get some leatherZ stuff for around that price. Like Terry said, the DIY isn't that hard, and yes, I've hit myself with the shift knob (luckily mine was leather, if it was metal, I would be missing a tooth).
edit: I took a look at LeatherZ. You can get their full extended package for $1200. Here's the description: 
"In addition to the Small Extended Leather Package, the Large Package adds shift and e-brake boots (either matching material with deviating stitching or black material with matching thread... customer choice), E46 M3 Extended Leather Steering wheel with matching leather lower trim and black stitching, BMW Individual Door Sills, and matching overhead UGDO panel. Prices start at $1200 and go up depending on material choices."


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## Terry Kennedy (Sep 21, 2002)

phlsteve said:


> Wow .. thanks. The conversation with the BMW parts guy went something like:
> me: "I want to change the wood trim to metal or carbon fiber trim"
> him: "hmmm.. that'll cost 'ya. You're looking at around $1500, depending on the trim you want- and that's only if we can get it."


That's bizarre. He was either clueless or didn't want to be bothered.


> He had no catalog of available trims and couldn't point me to any website. I didn't even know BMW had a parts website.


Well, there's a sample box of older trims, part number 01 39 0 009 644 (around $60 list). If your dealer has one, it is probably over in the sales area though, not parts. As for BMW's web site, I was referring to the "build your own BMW" pages, where you can select interior trims. Many are model-specific, but since you're buying them as spares, you can get around that.


> What I'd like to get is either brushed aluminum or some other brushed silverish metal. Or, if I can find it, something funky blackish (like the carbon fiber pattern I've seen around while peeking into other people's cars - shameful, I know...)


How about "Black Cube" - 51 41 7 902 873 for the 3 dash pieces, 171.49 Euro for the set; 51 41 7 902 429 for the shifter surround, 62.50 Euro; and 4 armrests where the part numbers vary depending on whether you have gray, beige, or black interior. The front armrests are 130.50 Euro and the rears are 93.30 Euro. Note that the above prices are in Euros, since BMW doesn't issue an ETK price file for the US (since the dealers use the ADP network).


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## phlsteve (Jul 21, 2003)

*Exactly*



KP said:


> $1500? Your dealer is insane  . Not even the carbon fiber units are that expensive (exception of a few). You can probably even get some leatherZ stuff for around that price.


Right! and all I wanted was the trim.. I was looking at the website with the pix of the interior of your car and it's exactly what I want.. brushed metal trim, maybe even the metal pedals if they're not insanely difficult to attach... The leatherZ site doesn't have interior trim, tho.


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## phlsteve (Jul 21, 2003)

Terry Kennedy said:


> How about "Black Cube" - 51 41 7 902 873 for the 3 dash pieces, 171.49 Euro for the set; 51 41 7 902 429 for the shifter surround, 62.50 Euro; and 4 armrests where the part numbers vary depending on whether you have gray, beige, or black interior. The front armrests are 130.50 Euro and the rears are 93.30 Euro. Note that the above prices are in Euros, since BMW doesn't issue an ETK price file for the US (since the dealers use the ADP network).


You're amazing! This is great. Where did you find this stuff?


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## KP (Apr 16, 2002)

phlsteve said:


> Right! and all I wanted was the trim.. I was looking at the website with the pix of the interior of your car and it's exactly what I want.. brushed metal trim, maybe even the metal pedals if they're not insanely difficult to attach... The leatherZ site doesn't have interior trim, tho.


That's the "matte chrome" trim. It's one of the older ones. The pedals aren't difficult, but there is drilling involved. The kit comes with the templates, so it's really easy. I don't know how leatherz does it these days, but back then when I was considering one, you would basically ship your trims out to them, and they would wrap it in the hide/grade/color of your choice. They do a lot of custom work and their products are top notch from what I've seen.


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## Terry Kennedy (Sep 21, 2002)

phlsteve said:


> You're amazing! This is great. Where did you find this stuff?


I collect lots of information about BMWs, since they don't see fit to provide purchaseable technical manuals any more. The part numbers and prices came from the ETK, which is the monthly CD set the dealers use. In the US, the dealers don't use the ETK pricing (as I mentioned earlier). One of the other goodies I collected was the visualizer, a tool used by dealers to show prospective customers what a car will look like if the dealer doesn't have that specific color / option combo on the lot. Here's your 325Ci with the black cube trim and the metal pedals you wanted:










If your interior isn't black, or you have an automatic, let me know and I'll revise the picture. Note that this is a Euro model, hence the additional driver's side glovebox and funky light control switch.


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## Kaz (Dec 21, 2001)

People sell various factory trims used for cheap at places like E46fanatics all the time. This includes Myrtle, gloss black, matt chrome, titan, titanium shadow, black cube, silver cube, brushed aluminum, aluminim columns, and probably a couple of other factory-installed ones that I can't remember. It's when you want something unusual (the various woods) or something that never came standard in the US (graphite matt, aluminum dots, bicolor leather (which you can get custom from LeatherZ)) that you need to go hunting.

CF (black or silver) is strictly aftermarket and is not available through the dealer channel in the US (I say this because I'm sure Schnitzer CF is available through EU dealers).


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## Kaz (Dec 21, 2001)

Terry Kennedy said:


> Changing the trim is a simple DIY (the hardest part is avoiding hitting yourself in the nose with the shift knob). There's probably a 'fest member in your area who could help if you want some moral support...


It's a piece of cake on sedans/wagons (I can probably do it in 10 minutes). Coupes and cabs are harder, since the door and rear side panels need to be removed, the armrests unbolted from them, the padding removed (which is a b1tch), and all reversed for assembly.


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## Terry Kennedy (Sep 21, 2002)

Kaz said:


> It's a piece of cake on sedans/wagons (I can probably do it in 10 minutes). Coupes and cabs are harder, since the door and rear side panels need to be removed, the armrests unbolted from them, the padding removed (which is a b1tch), and all reversed for assembly.


Hmmm. I have a good deal of experience on the wagon doors, since I had them apart for the folding mirrors, and then a few times for speaker rattle fixes.

One thing it is good to have handy is an assortment of the various clips, pins, etc. for the trim and for the door panels. You never know when you're going to break / lose one, and the trim clips aren't re-usable multiple times. If you're nuts like me, you'd also have a set of the BMW trim wedges to make removal and re-installation easier.


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## Kaz (Dec 21, 2001)

If you look at a coupe/cab's door/rear trims, you'll see why it's much harder than on a sedan where the trim pops on and off (OK, so in reality it's not THAT easy). A lot of people are intimidated with the door panel removal process, though it's fairly well documented at places like bmw330ci.com. And I believe the rear side panels require seat bottom and rear seat bolster removal, neither of which are that hard, but are rather time consuming.


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## andy_thomas (Oct 7, 2002)

phlsteve said:


> Anyone have any experience with aftermarket E46 trim? I have a 2002 325ci with interior "myrtlewood" (is that german for plastic?) trim that I hate and have been trying to replace for months... I can't bring myself to pay the near $1500 that the dealership wants to do the swap out, but there doesn't seem to be any other source for this trim. At this point I'd take anything.. even basic black... I've looked on ebay too.. with no luck.
> 
> Any sources are stories would be great... And I'm sure plenty of you have stories


As others have intimated, your parts guy is either out of his mind, or wants you out of his shop as he has better things to do than serve customers. For $1,500, you can have pretty much any trim you want, and have money left over for shipping and insurance from a friendly dealer in Germany.

Several more interesting wood trims are available (and which don't try to look fake, like Myrtle!) but that doesn't sound like your bag. If you just want plain painted silver, I don't think even the coupe/cab set is more than about $400 all in.


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## phlsteve (Jul 21, 2003)

*Thanks again.*

Terry and everyone-

Thanks so much for all of the information. Terry, the rendering you did is very cool. I was surprised to see the window cut-off switch on the left side of the shifter boot- I don't have that, since mine is a 2-door. That reminds me that I need to make sure that I get *exactly* the right surround piece for the coupe stick.

Thanks, too, to Kaz, Andy and KP. I'll keep my eye on e46fanatics.com... didn't even know that existed. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post in the near future.

-Steve


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## Terry Kennedy (Sep 21, 2002)

phlsteve said:


> Thanks so much for all of the information. Terry, the rendering you did is very cool. I was surprised to see the window cut-off switch on the left side of the shifter boot- I don't have that, since mine is a 2-door. That reminds me that I need to make sure that I get *exactly* the right surround piece for the coupe stick.


Sorry for the delay - I was up at the BavAuto show today. Good catch on the picture - I asked it for a 325Ci, but it appears to use a common center console image.


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## andy_thomas (Oct 7, 2002)

Terry Kennedy said:


> Sorry for the delay - I was up at the BavAuto show today. Good catch on the picture - I asked it for a 325Ci, but it appears to use a common center console image.


Terry -

is there anywhere this application be sourced (e.g. ETK part no.)? Or downloaded (or is it just too big)? This visualizer is not used by the UK dealer network; more's the pity, since a lot of UK-market cars are custom-ordered and the range of trims is quite broad, making choice - and a good match - more difficult...


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## Terry Kennedy (Sep 21, 2002)

andy_thomas said:


> is there anywhere this application be sourced (e.g. ETK part no.)? Or downloaded (or is it just too big)? This visualizer is not used by the UK dealer network; more's the pity, since a lot of UK-market cars are custom-ordered and the range of trims is quite broad, making choice - and a good match - more difficult...


Hmmm. I got it as a copy and it doesn't have any part number on the label, nor any readmes on the disc itself. It identifies itself as "BMW Accessories Configurator - Original BMW Parts and Accessories Version 2.3". Poking around the ETK, it _might_ be "CD Configurator", 01 29 0 391 734 but that is just a guess. I'll see if it is in the US parts system and try to order it if it is.


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## andy_thomas (Oct 7, 2002)

Terry Kennedy said:


> Hmmm. I got it as a copy and it doesn't have any part number on the label, nor any readmes on the disc itself. It identifies itself as "BMW Accessories Configurator - Original BMW Parts and Accessories Version 2.3". Poking around the ETK, it _might_ be "CD Configurator", 01 29 0 391 734 but that is just a guess. I'll see if it is in the US parts system and try to order it if it is.


Thanks Terry - much appreciated.


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## Terry Kennedy (Sep 21, 2002)

andy_thomas said:


> Thanks Terry - much appreciated.


Well, that part number comes up as "not valid" in the US system, unlike the ETK which comes up but isn't for sale to customers. So I guess you'll have to try asking for it at a dealer over there to see if it is available.


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## bmw325 (Dec 19, 2001)

One other trim that you might consider is the high gloss black trim. It came standard on 99-01 323/325s. Its still my favorite-- subtle, elegant, sporty, and high-tech looking.


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