bmwe21.net forums

Hi does anyone knows how can I replace the radio antenna of E21

How, or where to find a replacement? How is pretty straight forward…. I believe Walloth & Nesh have got the new ones available.

Greetz,
Walter.

Hi everyone,
It's been some time that I haven't posted anything here. So here am I, with the following 3 issues and questions seeking for your knowledge / ideas / suggestions / advice:

Well, I am thinking of

a) retrimming my car's dashboard (with leather or leatherette)
Has anyone done this? Any photos that show the results?
What should be taken into account regarding this work?
Is (back) there anything else (any part etc) that should be looked at, while everything's out so it would be easier, just in case that any further actions should be done?

Also,
b) I was thinking of refreshing (aka replacing by a new one) the car's carpet. And, of course adding some insulation underneath (and wherever else we might be able to). What am I expecting to find under the carpet that might need to be replaced? I am not expecting any rust at the moment, hopefully. But how about cables? fuel lines? what else? For cables, am I guessing right that it would be good to replace and refresh them?

And, finally,

c) I am afraid I have summed up with quite a lot of electrics in my (99% analog by factory) car.
I have a lot of small switches, such as electric windows, central locking, power steering rheostat, seat heating plus a couple of others I am planning to add, for which I have to find a place somewhere in the car. Up to the moment, none of the ideas that I have had so far (custom consoles, boxes etc) seems to be perfect. I am wondering whether any other "gadget-meisters" are in here, and whether they might shed some light or post photos of their solutions

Any help or advice on any (or all) of the above issues is welcome.
Thanks in advance!

a) I usually find that only shabby and in warm climates, leather usually comes loose, becomes bubbly or out of shape in the sunlight. If you have a cracked dash, better have it replaced or repaired

b) Pull it out and give it fresh paint? But there are some decent replacements to be found on the web too. Some fresh insulation, perhaps replace some of the sound deadening as it may have become brittle.

Hi Jeroen, thanks for your reply

I had the dash redone in leatherette (not leather) in another car.
The result came out very nice. It is second (or third maybe?) year now, and Greece has a bad summer sun. Until this moment at least the material still holds alright, of course only time will tell.
Regarding E21s, I have seen a couple of nice results of leather retrimmed dashes searching pictures in the web.
I am currently hesitant, as my dash, despite its 48 years, still has really minor cracks, but I was thinking that finding a totally non crack dash is rather impossible and, most probably, even if I do find one, as this is going to be an old stock one, it is going to start cracking after first or second summer, because of its age.
Repairing has two ways afaik: a) Local repairs and paint which, I believe only lead to more crackings (actually this exactly happened with the other car, before I had it retrimmed with leatherette)
b) repairing like the work done in "just dashes" if you have seen them, who also do a retrimming with vinyl, but they "dive" the whole dash in a vacuum thing and when in there, the new vinyl is glued on the specially prepared dash surface. This way, except for the vacuum, is almost the same as the old-fashioned retrimming with leather etc.
My upholsterer, and actually another upholsterer also, told me that they never retrim dashes with genuine leather. They both said that they have done a lot of dashes with leatherette and none has come back so far. Istead, leather as a material is coming loose when exposed to high temperatures. Now, that could be an interesting "secret".

Regarding carpet replacement, what I would actually like to know is whether we will find, when removing the old carpet, any old cables or hoses that might need replacement, in order to gain myself some time (and look for these parts earlier)

And another question

I am about to replace tyres.
It seems that when 205/50/15 rear and 19/50/15 front is the desired dimensions, I can't find same speed index front and rear.
Is it the same with all of you or is it only in Greece that they stopped importing? (or even could it be my tyre seller?)
And if yes, what are people doing about this? (if your cars are wearing these dimensions)

As for removing the mat, better just have a look, usually not that much wrong, definitely not wires.

Tyres: Hankook Ventus Prime V3 K125 are amazing and available in both sizes, I believe Uniroyal RainExpert as well