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I recall seeing pictures in the past where those inserts are simply held in with Velcro from the factory. Is this the case on the Touring as well?
On the fence about burning $3k for Houndstooth... I like the look of that black material, and if it's close to Alcantara in snugness it'll be hard to justify.
3rd party aftermarket (made by Exclusive Option) “Pepita-look” (Houndstooth) inserts for the LWBs are available from Suncoast below for $2489. They require you to reuse the foam inserts from your factory seats, so they’re not precisely and Velcro only installation, but easy enough I assume.
In light of aftermarket coating about $2500 and factory ones now available for $3555, the factory ones don’t seem so unreasonable to me, especially since the factory ones raise the car’s MSRP, meaning 2 things: you can wrap it into the financing if you finance your purchase, and on resale, you’re more likely to recoup the cost, since most late model GT3’s are sold on the secondary market for some agreed-upon figure above or below MSRP. You generally cannot convince buyers in the secondary market to reimburse you for aftermarket accessories added to the car.
Furthermore, some buyers on secondary market for these cars are very sensitive to any modifications done to the cars aftermarket, even minor cosmetic ones like this, even if they’re easily reversible like this.
On the the other hand, one advantage of going aftermarket with these, besides the $1000 or so of upfront cost savings, is that you get to have both the factory original standard cloth and the houndstooth, in case you change your mind or in case some future buyer wants the car completely original.
PS, some on this forum have said they can get these houndstooth inserts done aftermarket (presumably custom by an upholstery shop) for far less. Maybe so. Seems to me if they are so very much cheaper to produce, some upholstery person should cash in by offering that on this forum.
i would go factory if you're just looking for houndstooth, for all the reasons LAPIS mentions above. This wasn't available back when i placed my order, but also.. i'm going a different route, either tartan or pasha.. these are completely reversible modifications, with just some velcro to undo.. so this is high-return, low-cost/risk modification if there ever was one.
So I order my car with the standard Touring seats... and buy Houndstooth inserts from Suncoast...
How are the factory inserts secured to the LWBs? And how are the covers removed from the foam? I suspect you'd have to cut them to separate, no? Then to reuse you'd have to have them sewn.
So I order my car with the standard Touring seats... and buy Houndstooth inserts from Suncoast...
How are the factory inserts secured to the LWBs? And how are the covers removed from the foam? I suspect you'd have to cut them to separate, no? Then to reuse you'd have to have them sewn.
The Suncoast inserts are from Exclusive Option, not factory Porsche Exclusive.
Exclusive Option explained to me, a few weeks ago, that while they sourced many fabrics to “mimic” the Porsche factory houndstooth cloth, texture, and look, that the pattern was not a 100% match. This was a dealbreaker for me and decided to go with the $3555 Porsche Exclusive factory houndstooth option instead.
01-16-2018, 02:33 PM
