New guy want's to hear what seat kits to stay away from...

[PxTx]

I'll be posting more of an intro soon. A friend of mine just picked up an '88 325ic which needs some serious interior rehabilitation. It will be a fun little project, as it is intended for his daughter and mechanically is pretty sound sans an oil leak. The work is being done on her budget, but there are a few of us donating labor.

I've found this forum to have the cleanest format of those for the e30's and there seems to be a decent knowledge base here. I've pointed my friend over to this forum, so he should be joining soon and I trust you willbe seeing mnore postiongs on the project, and I promise to keep the pics of progress going.

I did reach out to Kevin at Creative Options to discuss his interior kits but $1,100 is pretty tough to swallow for a 16 year old girl. The other down side if that Kevin told me is is about 5-6 weeks out form when he can get one done.

Now I seen the kit used in this thread: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=165446 and we thought the front seats turned out well enough and that kit is like $650. Company is Customized Factory Interiors aka leatherseats.com

I think the rear seats are just okay, but those fronts look pretty good. We agree, we could be happy with this look.


My friend is really pushing the ebay kit seen here:http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Beige...item1c136ca7b8

And that kit is made by Autocraft Interiors, which I don't know form adam, but you get what you pay for typicaly, but I don't know what the kit normally sells for. If I could find a thread where someone installed one- or better yet someone's 1st hand comments it would really be helpful. I could understand that

The project car is Alpine white, and originallyhad a blue interior and top. The previous owner had a car with a tan top he switched over, and also switched the door panels etc. The blue seats stayed, but had crappy seat covers put over them.

We will be installing a new top, and carpet. The plan is to recover the seats in tan and get it looking like it was one complete car rather than being cobbled together form a few.

What do you think?

[xphiledan]

kevin's work is top notch, and his pricing is reasonable.

that being said, the most cost effective method is to buy another set of seats and sell yours. the front seats are interchangeable with any e30 (2 door, 4 door, m3, vert), but the rear seat is vert specific only.

[PxTx]

I found a guy locally with some cloth e30 vert seats, but there is enough freying, I couldn't justify the $400 he was asking.

I'm comfortable with recovering seats, just wanted to hear form others who have alreayd gone down this road. I would be suprized if I could find matching tan leather seats (front and back) in good shape for less than the $650 kit.

I am not questioning Kevin's quality-I trust his kits look great. They just aren't the right kit for a 16 year old girl's budget.

[Dude]

16 year old girl's budget.

Sorry I dont have anything else to contribute
:giggle:

[e34john]

They got Hello Kitty seat covers for like 30 bucks on Amazon.

[PxTx]

I get it fanboys, but is there really that little expereince with you guys installing different leather kits?

Kinda hoping the community here could help direct me on what products to stay away from.

[jclar]

No experience with any of the kits, sometime down the road I'll be getting a kit for my front seats(rest of the interior in my car is damn near perfect) Kevin @ Creative Options, he's got an excellent reputation for doing quality work, but I understand the price isn't very attractive to a 16 year old.

Keeping in mind this is for a 16 year old on a budget I would recommend checking out the for sale section of this forum for comfort seats and the other things you need as far as interior pieces go. Comfort seats in great condition don't really sell for much, and while they don't look quite as nice as sport seats they will get the job done.

[Farbin Kaiber]

Find a nice used cabrio interior.

[PxTx]

I appreciate the advise on buying another used interior, but we really do want to put new leather in the car. The interior is a bit more of a show piece on a convertible and is worth the effort to install.

I really was hoping to some first hand perspective of how the different kits out there are to install. Found one thread here. Since I'm new to the e30 scene, maybe there is a better forum? Not looking for one concentrated on engine swaps, and stuff but more on restoration and "period correct" mods.

Of course, if anyone wants to post about their experience with a kit, it would be nice to have a thread with this info.

[Tricked 323i]

I appreciate the advise on buying another used interior, but we really do want to put new leather in the car. The interior is a bit more of a show piece on a convertible and is worth the effort to install.

I really was hoping to some first hand perspective of how the different kits out there are to install. Found one thread here. Since I'm new to the e30 scene, maybe there is a better forum? Not looking for one concentrated on engine swaps, and stuff but more on restoration and "period correct" mods.

Of course, if anyone wants to post about their experience with a kit, it would be nice to have a thread with this info.

As stated you contacted me about my kits. I have seen the leaterseats up close and just wanted to point out a few things, although it might not matter to you.
The kit you are looking at is leather seating surfaces and all the bolsters are matching vinyl. The center sections are not one piece with dual top stitching, they are made up of three pieces sewn together then stitched on each side. You have stitching a seam then stitching. There is a guy on here that installed one of the kits might want to look for his post. Not trying to earn you business I just wanted you know what you would be getting with the ebay kit.
Kevin
ps I overlooked you saw the post on the vert install, did you contact him directly?

[PxTx]

Thanks Kevin for the input. As I mentioned, I am helping with the project. It isn't my money, so its easy to spend. I would go with your kit without a question as the quality of the seams being tight and straight certainly is important to me. The 5-6 week turn around is a bit of a negative point.

That is good advice about contacting the guy with the kit I linked. The other fellow I am working with will see this thread. Nothing wrong with trying to earn business, especially when we are trying to compare things without any 1st hand perspective.

[Tricked 323i]

No worries I totally understand, the leatherseats kits should be fine for her.
Kevin

[PxTx]

Car is not bad form the outside.





Will update after putting a wheel to the paint.

I don't know if the wheel is a sport one or not, but it looks good enough. Non-cracked dash too!



Now here is where it need the most help! Note the cross breed of tan gut, blue seats and overall sun fade!

[atle36m3]

Hi, i am the guy that Kevin was talking about... I used the kit from leatherseats.com. The kit is actually not bad but i do not like the fact that the seat inserts are 3 separate pieces instead of one full one. If i had know that to begin with i would not have gone with them.

As cost is a concern with you i would recommend going with a good quality vinyl as opposed to leather. I am concerned with the longevity of my leather as it seems to be a thinner quality than what i have seen with kevins kits.

Kevin also double stitches his seams which look to be a much stronger stitch than what came with the leather seats kit.

all in all i think you will still be ok with one of the ebay kits, it looks like anything would be in improvement from what is in there now..

let me know if you need any more information.

Edit:

i would have ordered from Kevin but his time line was longer than my lack of patience was willing. He stays pretty busy and i think the turn around time (att the time) was like 8 weeks. leatherseats.com ended up taking like 6 weeks which in the end wasn't that much of an improvement

[JTapper]

I have the leatherseats.com kit in my cabrio and love them. Installation was a ton of work, but would be the same with anyone's kit.

The Leather and matched vinyl are tough to distinguish by eye, but the feel is different. not bad, just different.

Be prepared to spend around 20+ hours on the installation and over 300 hogrings. It's worth it in the end, the seats will feel like new.

I wish my kit were only $650. It was close to $800.