Materials to Maintain Your ZHP IIIII Hand Protection IIIII Tools to Maintain Your ZHP
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Location
    Katonah, NY
    Posts
    771

    Looking to restore the interior factory smell

    Hi all. I just picked up a 2004 ZHP sedan with beige leather. The car began it's life in Florida and made its way up here. It has roughly 155k miles on it. The leather is in good shape, with the drivers seat, not surprisingly, having the most wear. I have absolutely zero reason to believe the car was ever smoked in.

    When I sold my 335 3 years ago (after 5 years of ownership), the thing that I loved the most about getting into it was that it still retained the trademark BMW smell. Whenever I would wash it I aways made sure take care of the interior, using predominantly Griots garage leather cleaner and leather rejuvenator- it was probably overkill, but the car always smelled as if it car right off the showroom floor, up until the last day I had it.

    Now, I'm the fourth owner of the car and feel like I'm working off the back foot. I'd like to try to get back some of the original factory BMW smell and I'd love to know what some people here use. Here is what Im thinking of doing, and please chime in if you can suggest anything else:

    1. I was thinking of starting with an odor absorber, just to hopefully give it a clean slate.
    2. scrub down any fabric surfaces using the griots carpet cleaner.
    3. Then I was going to pick up a griots garage leather scent spray.

    Fortunately for me the car will only be driving on the weekends. So I'm thinking the odor absorber and leather scary would really be pretty affective, since they'll be locked in for a week at a time each.

    I've also read that the sound deadening behind the rear seat is what gives off a lot of that factory smell. Maybe I can just get the part number and look to replace that as well in the process.

    If anyone has any other suggestions, I'm completely open to recommendations. Wish I would go to macs and just pick up a bottle of eau de boîte de crayons. Thanks in advance.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    VA/DC
    Posts
    14,445

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Location
    Katonah, NY
    Posts
    771
    if it was only that easy...... maybe it actually is lol

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Hereford, AZ
    Posts
    1,081
    You beat me to it Shawn!

    '21 M2 Competition
    '08 Z4 M Coupé
    '19 Golf R

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    Atlanta/Macon, Georgia
    Posts
    574
    In for ideas. When I picked up my ZHP I really wanted to remove both front seats and give the carpets a nice thorough cleaning along with the seats, and possibly something with the headliner. Of course I didn't get the chance to do all that yet, but I wonder if it would make a difference.

    2004 Titansilber Metallic BMW 330i ZHP

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Location
    Katonah, NY
    Posts
    771
    Quote Originally Posted by JPMo View Post
    In for ideas. When I picked up my ZHP I really wanted to remove both front seats and give the carpets a nice thorough cleaning along with the seats, and possibly something with the headliner. Of course I didn't get the chance to do all that yet, but I wonder if it would make a difference.
    I order a couple of odor absorbers off amazon. I'm going to put them in on Sunday night and lock them in there. I'll be in NC for the week so they should be getting to work while I'm away. When I get back I'm hoping the car is a little more fresh.
    I have a second week in NC when I get back so while I'm away I'll use griots leather scent. Again it'll be locked for another week which should let it really work and soak into the interior. We will see. I'll update this as I go along.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    San Francisco, CA
    Posts
    6,847
    I noticed flipping the rear trunk carpet to rubber facing up, dramatically increased the crayon smell in the car. It did in my car.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Branford, CT
    Posts
    16,055
    Quote Originally Posted by derbo View Post
    I noticed flipping the rear trunk carpet to rubber facing up, dramatically increased the crayon smell in the car. It did in my car.
    Odd. I did not have the same experience.
    BP
    2005 330i ZHP / 6MT
    Imolarot / Naturbraun
    2003 330iT / 6MT
    Orientblau / Naturbraun




    It's not the car you drive, it's how you drive it.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    San Francisco, CA
    Posts
    6,847
    Quote Originally Posted by az3579 View Post
    Odd. I did not have the same experience.
    Maybe PO did it already and used it all up.
    Last edited by derbo; 07-06-2017 at 08:55 AM.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Location
    Katonah, NY
    Posts
    771
    Quote Originally Posted by derbo View Post
    I noticed flipping the rear trunk carpet to rubber facing up, dramatically increased the crayon smell in the car. It did in my car.
    Wait, so like the trunk floor liner? You just flipped it over? I'll try that out.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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