My '01 VDP SC's leather has finally given up after 200K miles on the drivers seat (black seats with grey piping AGD?)

I'm looking to reupholster, I have found a few shops that seem talented, but they don't really offer different grades of leather (just leather or vinyl)

Any suggestions on what to ask to make sure I'm getting a good quality leather. I believe Connolly is out of business.

I looked into Lseat as an option, but after looking at the samples I'm leaning more twoards having a local shop do it.

Any other tips you have or questions I should ask would be appreciated.

 

There are companies that offer ready made replacement leather ( not covers ) for the X300 and most likely for the X308 . Can't remember where on the internet I saw it .

 

I believe your referring to https://www.lseat.com/. I got leather samples and wasn't too impressed. Also they didn't return phone calls.

 

That's the one , not impressed by the sample or the actual product delivered as I am considering them for my X300 very like your X308 seat .

 

I choose not to buy so i haven't seen the end product.

 

I found replacement leather (not just seat covers) upholstery at
http://www.gahh.com

I didn’t order them so I can’t comment on the color match or quality. I’m interested in what you learn, so hopefully you’ll follow up on this thread.

 

I recently placed an order with Lseat and I'm waiting on the order. Supposed to be 10-15 days to get it. They are horrible at phone calls (never responded to mine), but respond rather readily, even on Sundays, to email.
I highly recommend you get their swatch panel and do not order from the colors online, they do not match the swatches. I even took pics of my finish (SDZ) with their swatches to show them how off they were. If you have SDZ, you will have to get it dyed by your upholsterer (as I will have done). But its still cheaper than the $2500 for a whole set I do not need. My upholsterer dye's for $80 per seat and I'll probably let him do the application also as I plan on deep clean shampooing the carpet while the seats are out. I also confirmed you will have to cut for the headrest holes.

I am using Llseat because I have not found anyone else who makes the VDP tufted center panel seat covers with front pockets. I will be happy to update as soon as I receive these to let you know the results.

 

Just figured out my color code is LEG. Look forward to hearing about your experience with Lseat.

 

upholstery shop cut a swatch from the seat and then we went through his many sample books to find an appropriate color and texture match. While his books had pages of leather for jaguar we ended up with one from a BMW that is a very close match.

There really wasn't much room for discussion about leather quality when it seems like the first order of priority is to get something to match closely. With that said he assured me that it was good quality leather.

 

Just received an email that the covers will ship 10 Jun via Fedex.

 

Ok, received the covers today, they show they shipped on 2 June, so that's pretty descent turnaround... ordered (15 May) to receiving (6 June) and its a scratch build.

I am providing pics for your viewing with descriptions embedded. I will be taking this to my upholsterer maybe tomorrow or Fri and will see his opinion.

 

Mine went to the upholstery shop on Tuesday, should have it back later this week! I should have taken before pictures (seat was pretty ripped up).

 

Alright, just got back from my upholsterer and there was some good and not so good. The not so good wasn't that bad in saying, he said that the leather grain was grainier than original Jaguar and was a bit stiff. But, he did say even with that stiffness, that leaving it in the sun for a couple weeks or so, it would loosen up, look real nice and should soften up.

The good is he said it was factory Jaguar stitching design (he recognized it immediately) and looked real good. He also stated that the price they are selling for is incredible, even for a stiffer leather. He couldn't come close to that price, but then again, the leather he gets is cashmere soft and is 3+ times the cost. He figured that LSeat must had gotten a real good deal on a lot of leather in that style, thus the good resale price. He also said for that price he'd get it to have for the future if it were his car. I hadn't planned on putting these on immediately (contracting is busy now and I make my money when the money calls), so this will be a winter or next spring install.

If your in the Orlando, FL area and want to contact my upholsterer, feel free to PM me and I'll pass his contact info over to you. As for these covers, I'm not remodeling a show car and she is 18 yrs old and I'm driving it and no one I know will know the difference. Plus, I haven't found anyone else providing front seat covers only. So, if you want to be picky, I would recommend you shell out the cash for being picky. If you feel as I do, ...you'll settle for pretty good, it doesn't have to be factory perfect ...then I think you may a candidate for these.

I look forward to dneider's results and costs. For review of my cost (& pics) from mid 2014, here's my leather repairs a few years ago post (early 2016)... https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...y-good-159924/

 

Time in the heat stretching to shape and confirm was what I was thinking about before .