Hi, new z4 owner here. Recently purchased an e85 m roadster (yes I know this Is the non m forum but I am hoping it's busier) which has the brushed aluminum dash. I don't hate it but I don't exactly like it. Has anyone retrofitted carbon leather or something else or am I on my own with this dislike. Cheers
That brushed aluminum surfboard of a dash
- Thread starter Sajk
- Start date
Personally I didn’t dislike the dash in my E85, but there are those who don’t like it. Some have done a carbon wrap some have had it leather covered. All down to personal taste I guess.
Tony.
Tony.
Hi and a big 
to the forum from Southport
to the forum from Southport
This was my previous E85 3.0si with the dreaded brushed dash panel.
My first attempt was vinyl wrapping myself, I'm clearly no pro and it looked quite good except after a few miles the dash movement revealed my
poor attempt and started unsticking. Even with it looking like that I still preferred it!
I'm pretty sure that someone who knows what they are doing with vinyl will make it work unlike me.
I managed to find a Z4 at a breakers and swapped everything, was lucky to catch this particular one. Was a complete interior including seats, door cards and the dash panels. So, the bigger problem is finding the parts and then the fitting is relatively straight forwards. I followed a couple of online tutorials on doing the dash panels. Frustratingly the centre console panel is way more involved than the dash panels.
I also had the exterior vinyl wrapped so the red seats wouldn't have worked, hence the full interior swap.
Close up of the leather dash panels.
My first attempt was vinyl wrapping myself, I'm clearly no pro and it looked quite good except after a few miles the dash movement revealed my
poor attempt and started unsticking. Even with it looking like that I still preferred it!
I'm pretty sure that someone who knows what they are doing with vinyl will make it work unlike me.
I managed to find a Z4 at a breakers and swapped everything, was lucky to catch this particular one. Was a complete interior including seats, door cards and the dash panels. So, the bigger problem is finding the parts and then the fitting is relatively straight forwards. I followed a couple of online tutorials on doing the dash panels. Frustratingly the centre console panel is way more involved than the dash panels.
I also had the exterior vinyl wrapped so the red seats wouldn't have worked, hence the full interior swap.
Close up of the leather dash panels.