fluque

Does anyone have experience with aftermarket leather?

I need a car without a sunroof (because of headroom) but want leather seats. Leather only comes with the GT package and also includes the sunroof.

A dealer in Maryland recommended a shop they use but I’m suspicious of quality and durability.

Any thoughts….?

zerobanger

you can try leatherseats.com I got them for my FD there, but I doubt they have them for the rx8 now, but worth a try. top quality.

Senseny

Willow Grove Auto Top in Willow Grove PA does quality leather work. It might take them a while though. Lots of custom fabrications.

sniper

Check for a company called Classic Soft Trim. They do aftermarket leather upgrades for dealer vehicles mainly bit also do retail. They also back the leather for 3yr,36K. I worked for them for 2 years in charlotte. As a matter of fact that is the only way to get leather in a track 350Z. Factory they only have cloth. And for most makes the leather has to meet the manufacturer specs. But check em out. You won't have the custm wait or price either. They can have you in and out in a couple hours.

fluque

Thanks for the info. guys. I'm going to check it out.
What's a reasonable price? I've been quoted $895 and $1300 from two different dealers.

8_wannabe

Look at the bright side. You can do the two-tone thing regardless of what color car you get. What did you have in mind?

fluque

You're right, I just hope quality is as good as factory.
I was looking for titanium or black exterior and may be match it with black/red leather.

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

Classic Soft Trim is indeed a good way to go. I will get my custom leather there as well. Have been to their local shop already and decided for colors too. I'll go with their black / medium red combo. The medium red is darker than the factory red, but they do have a similar 'screaming' red like the stock one if you're after that look.
They quoted me $1200 out the door for the entire interior and they do have the necessary templates. This includes the seats and door panel inserts, but not the steering wheel.
Another nice combination would be the black / brick which is similar to the stock chaparral leather but here again the brick is a bit darker than the brown part in chaparral. Looks better IMO.
I will do this without going through the dealer because that saves me a couple hundred dollars. As it was mentioned, they work primarily with dealerships, but if you talk to them, they probably will deal with you directly as well.

fluque

I called Classic Soft Trim and they can do the job in about half a day. I'm impressed.
Price is on the higher range but I guess you get what you pay for.

racerdave

Fluque... what did they want $$ wise? Are you doing 1 color or 2?

Just curious... I was really not interested in aftermarket leather, but I have to say their's is the nicest I've seen so far.

fluque

They quoted me $1100 single tone and $1200 two-tone. Not the cheapest but looks like great quality.

racerdave: This is off topic... nice custom paint job on your Arai helmet. Are you into racing?

racerdave

Thanks for the info.

Yeah, mainly karts and mainly autocrossing. The helmet paint is a long story, but Gordon Deltenre of Boss Designs in Texas wound up doing it. Turned out great. Thanks for the props.

Nubo

Ask to see some examples. Our dealer had a Mazda 6 with custom 2-tone leather in the showroom and the work looked as good as (maybe even better) than stock, and comes with a 3-year warranty. $1200 for the RX-8 2-tone which includes seats and door inserts. They've begged off doing the wheel though so far.

fluque

I have not found anyone who will do the wheel. Seems that I'll have to keep the original.

jdwk

How does Classic Soft Trim compare to Katskins? The RX-8s that I have seen with custom leather at the dealer have used Katskin leather and was very very nice. Although I was told it would run about $2k for the black and yellow.

It's cheaper than four grand for the GT package, which includes the heaters which are really valuable in Phoenix, the extra 40 lbs of weight and missing two inches over my head, and the Bose sound which I have never been a fan of.

The only thing I would miss if I got a base with custom leather is a power driver's seat. It's not a necessity, but when you have never lived without one, it's hard to downgrade.

sniper

Katskin is garbage! Honestly. We have removed many of there products from cars to replace with CST leather. Some dealers went to an installer that was using KAT because ut was cheaper for them, and they could increase their profit by keeping the mark up the same. But customers were complaining about quality and the feel of the products. So we put ours in and of course have acquired our accounts back. Maybe I am biased but if you goto a CST maybe they'll have some katskins laying around from removal. You can feel the difference. KAT feels rubbery in my opionion. And like I said cst has a nice warrenty to boot. Unquestionable. We have had a mini van come back. The 3rd row seat was all tore up. Obviously from a childs abuse, as we found an action figure under the leather. But it was replaced anyway. no charge to the customer.

The one piece of advice that I have and this is for anything aftermarket. From leather to body kits. After installtion, Go over it with a fine tooth comb check for misfit and alignment. scratches, or anything that shouldn't be awry. And do this with a tech there with you so you can ask questions if needed. And lastly remember when getting aftermarket leather it probably, (kit dependent) won't be super tight upon installation. But leather does shrink and will do so, to give a nice fit and finish over time. (not long).

BTW: you can have seat heaters installed as well. And when doing leather upgrade it just falls in line.