Garage + Interior Specialists in Essex

[Maxtek]

Hey,

I was giving my car a good clean inside earlier and came across quite a lot of damp underneath both front seats, it's only noticeable if you actually pull up the carpets. I guess I have some kind of leak, I still need to remove the front seats to have a proper inspection of the floor and try to find the leak.

Now, after fixing the above I would like to get my car thoroughly cleaned inside and have the carpets/headlining restored to a certain extent (carpet has a couple small rips and headlining is a little tatty). Also want the leather seats restored. Then I'm thinking about getting the car an early re-MOT before I start driving it properly.

(Whilst poking the headlining about I heard a bit of crunching, I reckon the roof is a bit rusty, thankfully I haven't yet found any other rust on the car).

Ideally I would like this all done around the same time, does anyone know of a decent Upholsters/Interior place in Essex (Braintree area), I don't mind a little trip but don't want to go across the country. Also a good trustworthy garage and bodyshop.

Thanks

[daimlerman]

Does you car have a sunroof,by any chance?

[bmw9818]

poked the headlining and heard crunching...

[Maxtek]

Yeah it does have a sunroof.

I'm a little worried about the whole headlining rust issue though, it's not all over the place, just around the passengers side edge.

[daimlerman]

E30's are very,very good at hiding structural rust.Have a brouse through the zone wiki,there's sure to be plenty of information there about where to look!

Roof rust is becoming more of an issue in recent times,particularly in and around sunroofs,when the cars were built,the sunroof 'cassette' was spotwelded to the underside of the roof panel,then the shells were painted.It seems that some painters were more careful than others,as often the slight gap around the spotwelds was left un-painted,condensation formed and the inevitable has happened to the un-treated steel.
Rust around the gutter area is not usual,so if this is your issue we need photo's to try and help you further,but poorly repaired past accident damage must be a distinct possibility.Remember,these were expensive cars when new,so it took a lot of damage to write one off in it's first year.

[Maxtek]

Thanks for the detailed explanation, when I purchased the car the other week and since then I have had some fairly thorough looks over the car, however 'poking about the headlining' really didn't pop into my mind, even doing fairly extensive research about common issues and rust areas before buying.

Within the next or two week I plan on getting pictures/details up of everything that I think needs work and taking it from there.