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I take it you are on the 991 R list? Consider a Singer? PFAFF has just announced they are the new home of Singer Canada. They open later this year.
h.
I'd love a 991 R. I'm working on it... Ya, my brother's been telling me to buy a Singer. It's a beautiful car, the attention to detail is so exquisite, and I really love the way you can customize it so thoroughly. But I haven't pulled the trigger on one. Not sure it's a good decision for me at the moment. I'm kind of hoping the 991 R might scratch that itch.
Bronson7, hope you can take a few photos and tell us what you learn at the opening!
I went to Tony first, because I heard he bought out all of Eric Linden's pepita stock and I know he does great work, but there must be gold in that Australian Merino wool, because he wanted $400/sq. yd. for it, and then $1200 to fab the inserts. I am retired and broke, not to mention Scottish by ancestry, and I just couldn't see paying top dollar for this little frivolous project, so I did some more research and found Garry Hall at Classic FX in Surrey, England was having some new pepita fabric custom woven, and ordered from him, then had Dave at OB Upholstery fab the inserts.
C'ya,
TT
Bravo Tom! Looks fabulous. Can you share how much material was required to make the inserts?
Tom, thanks so much for the info. I'm ordering 4 meters just because you never know. Your seats look amazing!
Originally Posted by Tom Tweed
Hi Eduardo,
I went to Tony first, because I heard he bought out all of Eric Linden's pepita stock and I know he does great work, but there must be gold in that Australian Merino wool, because he wanted $400/sq. yd. for it, and then $1200 to fab the inserts. I am retired and broke, not to mention Scottish by ancestry, and I just couldn't see paying top dollar for this little frivolous project, so I did some more research and found Garry Hall at Classic FX in Surrey, England was having some new pepita fabric custom woven, and ordered from him, then had Dave at OB Upholstery fab the inserts.
Bravo Tom! Looks fabulous. Can you share how much material was required to make the inserts?
If you look back through my previous posts in this thread, you'll see that I ordered 2 sq. meters, but if cut carefully, I think a pair could be done with 1, it's just nice to have extra. If something happens to one of the seats, I know I have enough left over to redo it, and possibly enough to do both seats again.
Originally Posted by FLT6SPD
Tom, thanks so much for the info. I'm ordering 4 meters just because you never know. Your seats look amazing!
Thanks! You'll have enough to do a friend's seats as well with 4 meters.
thin fabric, potentially not for automotive applications?
Tom and everyone else who has tried this mod,
I was with the seat upholstery people yesterday and the owner of the shop had a concern with the fabric being so thin.. has anyone else heard this from their installer? He was also pretty sure it wasn't UV resistant, or made for automotive applications at all.
I let him know that it was going to be a light use car, and not in the sun much, so he agreed to do it but said that in his opinion, the fabric was not solid enough or thick enough for a seat application.
Additionally, he did not feel that he had the same kind of foam padding which was included by porsche, said he couldn't source the same quality, so we are not proceeding with making new seats, just the covering to velcro over the padding instead of the current alcantara.
I was with the seat upholstery people yesterday and the owner of the shop had a concern with the fabric being so thin.. has anyone else heard this from their installer? He was also pretty sure it wasn't UV resistant, or made for automotive applications at all.
I let him know that it was going to be a light use car, and not in the sun much, so he agreed to do it but said that in his opinion, the fabric was not solid enough or thick enough for a seat application.
Additionally, he did not feel that he had the same kind of foam padding which was included by porsche, said he couldn't source the same quality, so we are not proceeding with making new seats, just the covering to velcro over the padding instead of the current alcantara.
wanted to see if anyone had the same feedback..?
Just use it and don't worry. Life is short. Enjoy it.
For sure, this is not a modern fabric--it is natural wool, only 8% nylon, and it is not going to wear like a modern synthetic product. That said, how heavily will these seats be used, compared to, say office furniture? Your home sofa?
The fabric is a reproduction of a 50-year old, handmade product that has stood up well for its intended usage, historically. It was commissioned and tested by a well-known UK "trimmer," an expert in auto upholstery. It has a weight of 440 grams per square meter, which is on the light side of modern upholstery fabric, which might be 600-800 gr/m, but it was abrasion tested after the first samples of the fabric had been produced using the European “Martindale Test,” which resulted in 100,000 rubs (severe contract quality). The standard for upholstery on public transportation vehicles w/ soft padding is only 30,000 cycles, for instance. I only have a few thousand miles on the seats so far, but I can't discern any visible wear at all yet. The bolsters take most of the abuse, anyway, not the inserts.
As far as the foam padding, the OEM units are custom-molded, so no one is going to be able to reproduce them without going to great expense building the molds. I found only one shop that would even attempt it, out of alternate materials, and the other two wouldn't even try. I didn't see any reason to do that, though, since the covers are totally and easily removed in a matter of minutes.
As far as UV damage goes, I try to keep the car out of the sun to help extend the life of the clear paint protection film. The seat inserts cost 1/3 of the clear bra, and I expect the seat fabric to outlive the film, since it's inside the car and much less exposed.
11-10-2015, 04:02 AM
