Goldfinger

iTrader: (1)

I just bought a 90 vert with seats in very poor condition. I am leaning toward having them recovered but am thinking I may go with something other than leather. If you have recovered your original seats, what material did you use? Post up some pics for ideas as well please. Here is what I have to deal with:

jackhild59

iTrader: (7)

Here is what I did-

http://www.leatherseats.com/vehicle_...earSelect=1990

I won my covers on ebay and got a better deal.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mazda...Q5fAccessories

My seats were worse than yours. Now they are beautiful. I got leather with perforated inserts, just like the original factory seats. The perforation is an 'option' from this supplier. I rebuilt the left bottom bolster and fixed the hole in the left back bolster.

My seats are comfortable and beautiful.

breezetime

[IMG]<a href="http://s678.photobucket.com/albums/vv146/breezeingrx7/?action=view&current=DSC_0117.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv146/breezeingrx7/DSC_0117.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>[/IMG]just did my 90 vert seats got the skins from ebay 400.00 a lot of work!!!!


[IMG][IMG]<a href="http://s678.photobucket.com/albums/vv146/breezeingrx7/?action=view&current=DSC_0001.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv146/breezeingrx7/DSC_0001.jpg" border="0" alt="rx vert new seat"></a>[/IMG][/IMG][IMG]<a href="http://s678.photobucket.com/albums/vv146/breezeingrx7/?action=view&current=DSC_0117.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv146/breezeingrx7/DSC_0117.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>[/IMG]

jjwalker

Breezeingrx7, do you have pics of those installed in the the car?

scrip7

iTrader: (6)

I have been looking at the 2 most common sellers of these seat covers on eGay for a while and one of the things I noticed is that the ones that Jackhild has are sewn with a single stitch at the tops of each bolster just like OEM, which is where most of the OEM seats start to come apart. (No offense to you sir). They also appear to be leather inserts with vinyl panels. If you look at Breezetime's seat covers you will notice the more modern and durable French stitch on the bolsters, with full leather. You can get different color inserts and stitch thread on these as well.

PvillKnight7

iTrader: (16)

replace them. headrest speakers are lame anyway...

Goldfinger

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the input. Breezetime, you say that they were alot of work. Was it worth the effort in your opinion? How long did it take to do them? Anything you learned that you wish you had known before you started the project that you would be willing to pass along?

Anybody out there go with any other material such as cloth or suade? I suppose leather will hold up in a convertible if you take care of it but just wondering if anyone has had good results with a non-leather material. I really do prefer the leather though.

Rob XX 7

iTrader: (8)

im not a huge fan of re-covers, they tend to look loose and ill fitting

VAbeachFC

id go with fd seats

Goldfinger

iTrader: (1)

As cheesy as most people think they are, I like the speakers in the headrest with the FC vert seats. If I was going to change out the seats, I'd put the set of RX-8 seats in that I have been saving for my FB. I do like the fabric on the RX-8 seat which is why I am considering going with a cloth recover on the vert seats. I was hoping someone had done something like that and could post up a pic or two to show the results.

Rob XX 7

iTrader: (8)

I have leather and I think its either micro suede or microfiber inserts, they hold you in the seat REAL good and you dont sweat in them.

But they are different seats, not re-covers.
You can order skins with leather and suede like inserts- that is what I would do

Dltreezan

iTrader: (3)

I think most people that do the recovers dont use the heat gun to tighten things up.

breezetime

it was a lot of work it took 9 hrs total saved about $250.00 to $350.00 in labor.go for it, take your time and know you did it your self on that long sunday drive.

breezetime

hay peps lets be honest how hard are you driving your n/a or turbo rx7 verts? they have large bolsters in the convertibles and you dont move that much in the corners ( @ g's ). ? I would like to know how much mazda spent in the development of just the seats in that car $$$$$$
in 1990 I think this car had a price of 30 + or - k.

Rob XX 7

iTrader: (8)

its not the bolsters that caused me to move around, it was the leather.
I really like the stock seats, just dont really care for re-covers. Im picky.

PvillKnight7

iTrader: (16)

lets be honest...the vert doesnt pull any g's

jackhild59

iTrader: (7)

Rob-

Maybe you have seen some poorly done 'recovers'. The installer's attention to detail makes a world of difference. Here is my own example.

FWIW, the first time I recovered seats was in a '79 626. I had to rush an injured man to the emergency room from a job site. My passenger seat cover was blood stained and my driver seat was covered with green stains from the hayfield.

I bought *factory* seat upholstery from the dealer to recover the front seats. I did the passenger seat and it looked like hell-lumpy, ill fitting with a couple of wrinkles here and there. I cut off all the hog-rings and redid it. Now it looked much better. So I turned my attention to the drivers seat. This time I paid careful attention to the way the factory had installed the cover on the seat. I recovered the driver seat exactly as the factory had. The driver seat looked as good as it did from the factory. Then, looking at the passenger seat *again* it looked like crap compared to the driver's seat. So, I cut all the hog rings off the passenger and did it for a *third* time. Now both seats looked as good as they looked from the factory.

Moral of the story is that even factory *covers* can look bad. My leatherseats.com covers look very nice. I took my time and payed careful attention (using pictures) to the exact mounting points when i removed the original factory covers. I installed those replacement covers *exactly* the way the factory did and they are tight properly contoured. They do not look exactly like the factory seats, but they look very close and are very nice.


Don't judge all seat covers by the results that are shown in this thread or other threads. The quality of the work is as important as the quality of the seat cover. No offense to Breezetime but that install job pictured in this thread is pretty poor work.

Rob XX 7

iTrader: (8)

I agree- it is very time consuming to get re-covers to look right, they always seem to stand out to me.

I know I dont have the patience for it, lol

jjwalker

I'd be jealous if I drove a coupe too.

breezetime

jackhild59 No offense taken I do need to get them in the sun to get them to fit a little better!!
but now that you say that i would love to see your before and after photos of your work .so I can see how someone who know what they are doing does it .alot of people post how they would or could or have do somthing better but we never see it, and if we do the photos are taken with both eyes closed from 50ft away. look forward to your photos and to see your skills !!!

jjwalker

I have the stock leather everything in my car and it is all still perfect.

I attached a pic of the interior, and you can see the driver seat. I don't have any of both seats. The PO, and now, I take very good care of the leather. The leather gets a good rub down and moisturizer every week. The car has 145k miles when I bought it, and now has 153k miles.

Goldfinger

iTrader: (1)

JJWalker, I am envious of your seats. The previous owners of mine did not have a clue about how to take decent care of them. They are hard as a rock and unfortunately cannot be saved due to their condition. Overall I really like the design and feel of the seats which is why I am looking at having them recovered. I really had hoped someone would post up some pics of recovered seats with suede or cloth on them just to give me some options to look at. Anybody out there have a setup like that?