Ok, trying to plan on one of the next projects in line for my car.
when I got the car the seats had been all redone but as typical of the rest of the "restoration" work on my car it was done wrong and very poorly. Half the hardware underneath seems to be missing, there is no burlap covering as I understand their is suppose to be, the foam is now splitting, and becuase it wasn't done correctly the leather covers are full of wrinkles that aren't going to come out when the leather is stretched which can't be done over anyway or the holes where the little "bumpers" stick up at the back won't line up if the leather is readjusted.
I just had a hopolstery(sp) shop look the seats over and he agreed that to do the seats properly we basically need to start from scratch again. About the only thing worth keeping on them is the seat frame itself which is in very good condition, the springs on the bottom that go from side to side, and the plastic seat backs.
I'll need new leather covers, foam, the seat cover burlap, and the kit that contains all the hooks, clips, wires, hog rings, etc. I"ll also pick up new "hockey sticks" or have the ones I currently have rechromes as they are just starting to pit and look a bit rusty.
I know Al Knoch seems to be the accepted "best source" for interior things like this but their website on-line catalog is currently down for changes.
How are Al's prices compared to other places such as Corvette America, Zip, Paragon, etc? Are the materials such as the leather and foam pretty much the same quality from everyone or are some places using better quality than others?
Obviously, like everyone else, I'd like to try to keep the expense as reasonable as possible and I see the prices really vary from one vendor to another - for example, one vendor had the leather covers at $499 and another place was only $419 - I don't know Al Knoch's price though. I'd love to save that $80.00 but if the quality is better on the more expensive cover I'd rather do it right the first time around. I'm willing to pay for better quality but not to pay more just to have a particular vendor line his pocket with more profit because I was stupid to pay more for the identical item and identical quality.
Any suggestions or comments regarding good vendors and pricing would be very welcome.
Also, I remember last year when I was at Carlise Al Knoch was doing seats and other things right there at the show. Anyone get seats redone by them at the show and any comments about the work you recieved?
Barry
when I got the car the seats had been all redone but as typical of the rest of the "restoration" work on my car it was done wrong and very poorly. Half the hardware underneath seems to be missing, there is no burlap covering as I understand their is suppose to be, the foam is now splitting, and becuase it wasn't done correctly the leather covers are full of wrinkles that aren't going to come out when the leather is stretched which can't be done over anyway or the holes where the little "bumpers" stick up at the back won't line up if the leather is readjusted.
I just had a hopolstery(sp) shop look the seats over and he agreed that to do the seats properly we basically need to start from scratch again. About the only thing worth keeping on them is the seat frame itself which is in very good condition, the springs on the bottom that go from side to side, and the plastic seat backs.
I'll need new leather covers, foam, the seat cover burlap, and the kit that contains all the hooks, clips, wires, hog rings, etc. I"ll also pick up new "hockey sticks" or have the ones I currently have rechromes as they are just starting to pit and look a bit rusty.
I know Al Knoch seems to be the accepted "best source" for interior things like this but their website on-line catalog is currently down for changes.
How are Al's prices compared to other places such as Corvette America, Zip, Paragon, etc? Are the materials such as the leather and foam pretty much the same quality from everyone or are some places using better quality than others?
Obviously, like everyone else, I'd like to try to keep the expense as reasonable as possible and I see the prices really vary from one vendor to another - for example, one vendor had the leather covers at $499 and another place was only $419 - I don't know Al Knoch's price though. I'd love to save that $80.00 but if the quality is better on the more expensive cover I'd rather do it right the first time around. I'm willing to pay for better quality but not to pay more just to have a particular vendor line his pocket with more profit because I was stupid to pay more for the identical item and identical quality.
Any suggestions or comments regarding good vendors and pricing would be very welcome.
Also, I remember last year when I was at Carlise Al Knoch was doing seats and other things right there at the show. Anyone get seats redone by them at the show and any comments about the work you recieved?
Barry
