My 06 z4 came from florida. The seats were faded but in good shape. They looked tired and needed a reboot. The entire inside [as you can see] is an ugly cream with everything but the trim kit matchy matchy. I decided to take on painting the front seats. It can be done in a period of 24 hours. But be forewarned, when you're doing a complete color change, you must take your time and let the applications dry. If it's a drastic color change ie: black to white, then you're better off stripping the seats, then painting them. In my case, I went from bmw beige to bmw cinnamon. I will show you the good the bad and the ugly. If I can do it, ANYONE can, believe me when I say this. There are many videos out there to show you how to remove the seats as well. Just make sure you have enough room on both sides of the car so that the door is open all the way. I made this mistake, and had to go UP and out the passenger side with the drivers side seat or risk scratching everything up with the seat track bits when pulling it out.
Ok so-you're ready to disconnect your seats yes? It's easiest to make sure the passenger seat is all the way forward [to tilt back to disconnect the harness] and the drivers side seat should be all the way forward [to tip back and access the harness disconnect]. Before you disconnect anything [after the bolts are out [make sure you put all the caps/bolts and nuts in a cup so you don't lose them all] make sure the battery is disconnected [black cable on the right]. It has to be done in this order-otherwise you won't be able to get the seats out because you cannot reach the floor bolts.
There is a plastic clip that needs to be pried open before you can ease the connection out of the bottom of the seat harness. Once the harness is out-you can take out the seats and start taping them off.
Originally I wanted to change the entire color scheme of the interior as well. After doing the seats I decided against it. One job at a time. Ok so your seat is out and you're ready to prep it. Use rubbing alcohol and a clean cloth to remove the oils from the leather. Once your surface is clean and prepped, you can tape it off. My suggestion is to get thick frog [green] painters tape, and the plastic drop cloths to do this. Instead of masking the entire back strip by strip, use the tape to line the back of the leather [where the 2 parts of the seat meet up behind the bolster line] and just create a form. Then take the edges of your plastic drop cloth and attach them slowly to the piece of the tape exposed. This will save you a lot of time and LOT of tape. I'm sorry I didn't get a photo for reference of the back but you can kind of see it here in the 2nd seat photo.
After several coats, I realized that I did not wait long enough for the seat portion to dry. Using a white cotton cloth, I wiped down the seats from top to bottom. It felt gritty and not smooth, this is because it did not dry properly. At this point in the process, they just looked like regular cinnamon worn seats. I was happy with the outcome, and decided to leave them as is. I could have however sanded the bottom seats, used alcohol once more, and start the process over-but I was not in the mood to do that.
While the seats are out drying [setup a fan as well, it will save you time instead of leaving them over night, I am not one for patience..heh..] take this time to clean the entire interior of the cab. Wipe down the back walls, clean the seat belts, gummi the seals, work on the carpet, vacuum, etc. Also-the alcohol dripped onto the leather of my center console, creating brighter circular spots in it. I used olive oil [yes, ..google it for car interior updates] and it WORKED! the oil removed the bright spot, and made the leather console sections above the parking break look great.
Ok so-now that the seats are finished [to my liking anyway and they were far from perfect but you can learn from my mistakes!] it's time to apply leather conditioner back into them. They'll become hard and stiff if you don't and this will cause them to prematurely deteriorate, so best to apply at least 2-3 coats of leather conditioner back into the seats. Put them back in and admire your work!
I also took the time to change the black mats to dark gray with carpet paint.
Materials used:
rubbing alcohol
clean white cotton cloths from home depot
colorbond leather seat paint [aerosol can]
colorbond dark gray carpet spray [aerosol can]
http://www.colorbondpaint.com/
*After your seats are reassembled you'll have to reset the time on the clock, and don't be surprised if you have electrical issues. Just open/close the top a few times and everything should reset itself.