I recently purchased leather seat upholstery from Interior-Innovations and figured I would do a write up for any of you considering that route.

 

First a picture of my old seat back.

 

I'm pretty sure the interior was "updated" sometime in the 80's before I got the car.  I considered both leather and vinyl but decided to go with leather hoping it will acquire charater over time.  At $375 for the pair Interior-Innovations was affordable so I sent them an e-mail asking if they could send some scraps of leather so I could check the color.  I got a response within 10 minutes of my e-mail stating that they just needed my address.  

 

The color swatches took about a week to get to the house and it looked like the maroon leather was a close match to my original red interior.  I called them and got a guy named Kahlid.  He was the only one I talked to from there out so I'm not sure if they have other employees.  Anyway... I asked what they would charge to do inserts in a different color and he told me there was no additional charge.  I ordered inserts, but then changed my mind.  Kahlid was very patient with my changes.  

 

After my final change he told me he would call the order in and I would get a tracking number in 5-8 days.  In reality they were delivered in 7 days.  I find that amazing considering they came from Karachi, Pakistan.

 

Initial quality seems good, and they are in fact entirely leather.    The leather is backed in foam on all interior surfaces.

 

I won't do a compressive install write-up since Hardway already did a good one.  But I will mention a few issues I encountered.  The seat bottom installed just fine.  I imagine a professional could have done better, but it went okay.  You can see the leather is much duller than the original vinyl, but a fairly close color match.  

 

The seat back, however, was cut too generous in the back.  I didn't put the 1/4 inch of foam on the back so that may have contributed.  Additionally I am using "slightly" used seat foams purchased from another forum member so that could have affected it as well.  In the end I got it pulled tight by reversing the order in which it pulls over the tabs.

 

All in all I'm pretty happy with the service and the product.  This last picture is some vinyl trim painted in SEM Napa Red for color comparison.

 

Let me know if you have any questions or want any other pictures.

 

Cheers,

Scot

 

 

Looks good. I love the leather. Especially the way it makes a car smell inside. I would consider leather for that price.

Charles

Nice!

Very nice Scot!

 

Added those to my winter project list.

Thanks guys!  It was a little easier that I had thought.  I would recommend 2 sets of hands to do the bottom portion.  Hopefully I'll get a chance to get the other seat done this weekend.

Those look great! Thanks for the good write-up too.

So I finished the other seat today and need to add some information.  Earlier I said they we cut too generous in the back... I was wrong.  They are cut correctly.  What happened on the first seat is the headrest peace of the foam slipped down about an inch.  To prevent this on the other seat I put the foam in the cover and then slid the metal back in.  

 

Another thing that happened is several of the metal tabs broke.  To fix this I drilled holed in the frame and screwed the cover in place.  I suppose time will tell if this was a mistake.

 

Lastly I read a thread from some asking about redoing the straps on the seat bottom.  I can say that this was the easiest part of the project.  The kit from Motorsport explains what needs to be done. 

 

Again, thanks for the positive feed back and I hope this helps.

 

Cheers,

Scot 

Thanks, they look great! I've been thinking about leather and That price is pretty good. How firm is the foam on your seats? You mentioned it was used. I don't like how soft my swats are I'm hoping to get something firm and wasn't sure hip ow firm they were when new.

The foams I used are pretty firm.  The guy I bought them off of had only used them a couple of times.  It is definitely firmer than the old seats, almost hard. However, I think with a season or two of driving they will become very comfortable.  Also the leather is more stiff than the vinyl was, but I think it will soften with use.  If it helps both my wife and my daughter feel the new seats are a huge improvement.   If you ever make it down to Great Falls you should look me up.  Then you could see for yourself!

I'm glad to see you used the foam to good advantage. The leather looks fantastic.

 

Cheers, Mike

The leather looks great Scot - good pics and write-up. I'm considering a change to red interior - what did you do about your red door panels, or are they still in good shape? Can anyone else out there provide some insight into obtaining new red door panels? 

thanks

First, thanks Mike, the foams worked out great    Hank240, my car was originally red inside and my door panels are in fairly good shape.  There is a little fading, and the top edge is somewhat deteriorated.  My suggestion would be to find some good door panels and paint them.  The Napa Red from SEM is a good match.