Possible leatherette seat cover group buy!!!

[karlf]

Just wondering if there would be any interest in a group buy. I'm thinking of getting some leatherette seat covers, and wondering if there are others interested. If there is enough interest we could see about getting a group discount. It would be good to have a figure of those definately looking to buy/interested in buying, so put your name down.
1.karlf

[Sebastian]

do you have a car yet Karl?

[MY-JAP-MISTRESS]

how much and from who?

[colm_mcm]

Don't think ricerocket will do them any cheaper than he's doing them for now. where were you thinking of getting them?

[karlf]

was thinking rice rocket (as its the only place I found that sells them) or maybe just getting some made by an upholsterer. Was looking for numbers to use for bargaining.
I thought if we went to an upholsterer we could get something a little different done as a few of you have the ones on ricerocket. We dont all want to look to same There's no harm in asking anyway.

do you have a car yet Karl?

I put a deposit down yesterday and will head back over when I get my check from the insurance (which should be this week) so maybe saturday if I can get a flight and book a ferry.

[karlf]

I'm going over on sat to collect the car. I have flights and ferry booked and will be back sunday morning. Here's a few pics





Here's a description from the original ad:72,300 miles, This is the standard GPX model not the Ralliart edition! 2 Door Coupe, Petrol, Automatic Rare 9 vent GRP light weight bonnet and side skirts. New alternator, new vented brakes, pads, braided hoses and fluid change. Cam belt changed. Complete new stainless exhaust. Professionally tinted rear and side quarter windows. DVD/CD player with colour reverse camera. Viper VX remote pager Cat 1 alarm (with certificate) with auto wing mirror fold feature for lock/unlock and remote engine start for those frosty winter mornings when you want to de-ice the car from your bedroom . Local area tracker fitted to car. Custom twin cone induction filter, oil catch can and painted mivec cover. All modifications done to improve style, cooling, breaking and breathing. These have not been done to increase power and therefore lower fuel economy or alter engine management systems. Owned by advanced trained driver and is not a poorly looked after or abused example like so many other FTOs out there. Taxed until 06/09 and MOT until 08/09. No work required on last MOT. Air con and Mivec system fully working. Full under body underseal. Drives well with good gear changes and no tappet noise on startup. Bodywork in good condition with a few stone chips on the front bumper
It has a couple of small bits to fix but nothing major:
1:Bonnet needs new hinge/refixing so as it sits flush
2:Headlight on driver side is peeling
3:Original pager for the alarm needs resetting, but there is a spare

[Bernard]

Best of luck Karl.
That twin cone setup is unusual isn't it? Never seen that before...

[TopCat]

Great news Karl, looking forward to seeing this one.

[karlf]

I have been on to ricerocket and they dont do a group discount unless there is 20 or more being ordered. He's quoted prices of £275-£315 depending on what syle etc you go for.
I also have sent pics to an upholsterer to get a price to have them made up here also. It will be next week before I hear anything back from them.
Does anyone have pictures of ricerockets seatcovers, I visited the sight and cant find any examples. Also does he have a facility to let you design your own covers? I did ask in my emails but he never answered the questions.

[gary d]

I have leatherette seats in my car they look quite convincing but I found to be very easy to mark and actually managed to nick mine a couple of times gettin in out of car. had to remove all zips on pockets of my work trousers as these were the culprit as this is something you'll only do once might be better to stretch that little bit extra an get the real macoy. my mates Alfa has leather in grey, you can't beat the real thing.
p.s. love the new mota good luck with it

[karlf]

I've just got another email and ricerocket will send pics of the design of the covers. For a two colour leatherette, one colour stitch, and one colour for the logo's it will be £291 if we have 5 orders. You an choose your own colour scheme.

[karlf]

p.s. love the new mota good luck with it

Thanks Gary. Its going well so far. It was well looked after by the previous owner so it shows. I'm just looking to put my own little touches to it. I've bought a Momo Millenium steering wheel and the RF tip shifters(should have them next week). The real leather seats are a bit too expensive for me. £900+ plus on one site I looked at. I agree about the quality but cant spend that money. I shouldn't even be looking at £300ish on the leatherette covers . What with the credit crunch and me looking for full time work. But I can resist

[karlf]

Got a quote off Nolan Auto Care for leather retrimming. Its €1100 +vat normally and if there are two or more he'll do them for €995 +vat. Here's what the email said:
Hi Karl,

We can retrim these seats in any colour combination, double top stitch, style annd logo you require. Regarding, the logo you will have to provide us with the artwork.

Normal pricing is €1,100 plus VAT, but if you have two or more cars we can supply & fit full Leather for €995 plus VAT.

Is mise le meas,

Derek Nolan

[colm_mcm]

Derek's work is top notch, he does work for Toyota Ireland, and other car distributors. Handy guy to know if you have a soft-top too.

Also look at Cartronics in Santry (018623644)

Re the leather vs. leatherette, very few cars come with genuine leather, for example in Mercedes Benz you have to specify real leather as opposed to MB-Tex - their synthetic leather.
(I think you can tell if a recent merc has genuine leather by the door trims, ruffled material= real, stretched = synthetic)
Pretty much all non-premium brand cars that have "leather" or half leather interiors actually use leatherette.


There are pros and cons to both.

[gt94]

Any idea how much they would charge for cloth seats most of the cars on here are 10+ yrs old and the cloth seats are holding up well.I would love to get blue for the GPvR with the yellow stitching.He might do it cheaper if its not leather and i bet there would be a bigger demand as E1000+ is alot to part with for leather

[karlf]

Any idea how much they would charge for cloth seats

I dont have a clue. I'll ask him and let you know.

I was on the FTOOC and they are also trying to organise a group buy. The price is £260 delivered if there are 20+ it might cost a bit more for delivery to Ireland (not sure on that). So would anyone be interested?