leather upholstery
 

Hey all, thinking about installing leather. Any kits better than the others? This hard to do?

My car came with leather, though when I bought it, they were all torn up and looked like crap... so I went to 50 RESTO and bought new covers... though I went with the VINYL covers, for two reasons. It's more durable and it's cheaper... but regardless if you go vynil or leather, it's not a hard job... take some time and you'll need a set of hog ring pliers and a bunch of rings but I did it myself and I have never done upholstery before and I think they look great... I can dig up some pictures if you care to see what the vinyl looks like.. it's looks like leather, mostly...
-=as

how many people are convinced that vinyl is more durable than leather?

I had vynil seats in my cutlass... after 30 years they still looked good, the stiching comes out but the actual VINYL was fine, the leather seats in my mustang and just about every car with leather will start to wear thin and crack...

I like the feel and look of leather as much as the next guy.. but i dont think it can make it for the long haul... though I bet the car will be toast before the new leather would wear out... in 10 years I doubt I'll even own the car... but whatever... you've got options..
-as

Does it look like keather?

they give it a grain ... where I found that the real leather was just kinda smooth... I'll take some pictures tomorrow and you be the judge, I'm not selling vinyl or anything... I just happened to go that route... the install will be the same either way
-as

ON most Ponies,only the center portion of the seat is true leather and the balance is vinyl.They changed as the newer models came out,but in my 1988 they were leather and vinyl.I went to an upholstery shop here in town and got my seats done for about 300 bucks.........and that is in total leather and they are beautiful,soft and quite durable.

I think you should go the route of leather Man.

Man, I need to move to the south, you cant get a guy to look at your seats for 300 bucks around here... I think my vinyl kit alone cost more the 300 bucks.... but he's right about the half and half. Ford called it LEATHER SEATING SURFACE or something like that... only the part your butt and back touches were actualy leather. The sides and back were vinyl anyway.... I would go with the full leather kit if you're in a hard top, but I think the kit was something around 800 bucks .. the vinyl was about half that...
Check out 50resto.com they carry all the options...but if you can find a guy localy to do it for less then you'd be all set
-as

here's the pics as promised... I'm a "large" man.. so I tend to squish seats more then the normal person... but you get the idea.. .the rear seats are the factory leather... though I have vinyl covers for them I never installed them since they rears were in ok shape.

http://ftp.invernessmedical.com/pass.jpg
http://ftp.invernessmedical.com/back.jpg
http://ftp.invernessmedical.com/bottom.jpg

I have a freind who does interior for a living and he tells me u cant really beat that kit from www.50resto.com for like $400 you get everything you need no questions asked and its simple to install yourself, so you might wanna go that road to save cash, looks the same as leather to everyday person.

Thanks for the pics, looks good. I'll have to think about that vinyl.

it must be that ford uses a crappy design and crappy leather because leather is extremely durable stuff, very hard to rip in normal instances and wears quite well. I think that some leather wear or "soft spots" look much better than how vinyl cracks, splits and exposes the guts of the seat. maybe vinyl isn't like that anymore, but the last car i saw with vinyl was my moms '72 malibu sedan! That was back in '87 and those seats were a mess! Or take school bus seatsfor example...what a mess.

My wife's car is a 96 Taurus w/factory leather seats. 130K miles, 2 small kids and I haven't put anything on them and they look great. Those vinyl seats look good but I think I will go w/leather. I got a line on 2 leather fronts, worried about how I would match the backs though.

I wish you could have seen the seats when i bought my car, they were wasted. Just check with who ever you get the covers from that they are ALL LEATHER or if they are OEM style LEATHER SEATING SURFACE... I just went vinyl cause it was cheaper, if this was a show car or somethin I'm sure I would have gone leather, but it's a daily driver with 100K miles on it and I forget to put the top up sometimes and it's rained in there before... stupid new england weather-
as