[car_overhaul] Yet Another Laser Green 1.9! Photo Heavy

[AndyCrom 64]

Well when you decide to give it a crack let me know and I'll offer whatever pointers I can to help you out

 

Also if you need a cover square base cutting from nappa let me know... Once ive finished and done the seats that is lol

[feb 47]

I am speechless, I never knew how a steering wheel retrim was done, excellent work!

You clearly have great skills, is your profession retrimming interiors?

Edited April 13, 2013 by feb

[DanteICE 72]

 

erm, its the same stuff they use in the aerospace industry to stop vibration and foreign objects puncturing fuel tanks etc, I also found out that the manufacturer for this also sells the same stuff for use in train flooring and even in horseboxes!

 

But 'WHERE' did you get it from and how much?

 

Geoff

[AndyCrom 64]

I am speechless, I never knew how a steering wheel retrim was done, excellent work!

You clearly have great skills, is your profession retrimming interiors?

 

 

 

Whilst I was at Bentley they used to like getting various individuals to re-train in other depts just in-case the s**t ever hit the fan and all the agency workers walked out one day.

 

Tbh I was more than grateful for the opportunity to learn new things and skills and now as a result I have someone to re-trim my car for free!

 

However as far as I know all the "leather" seat sets in the 205's are faux leatherette which is why the bolsters split so much, real leather, if looked after properly can last 50+ years, god knows why pug decided to sell "leather seats" as leather and not PVC! However I plan on using real black nappa hide as if anyone was trying to match the original synthetic dark grey PVC "faux leather" or fox leather as I have seen on ebay (WTF?) matching that of a off the shelf hide will be a nightmare, granted you can get leather in any colour you wish but just worth keeping in mind most places that sell hide will usually only stock certain pantone colours that sell well or from certain cars, i.e a dark grey would be similar to most Mercs > http://www.lyonssystemsserver.com/breakerpro/1038/1038-011112-171300-1271-PTIMG.jpg I did ask for an exact colour match from the place I got mine and they said I would need to order 1,000 hides, or £250,000 worth in that colour!

 

and with that I chose black!

 

 

But 'WHERE' did you get it from and how much?

 

Geoff

 

 

 

What your looking for is EPDM matting similar to the spongy bit on car door seals, have a look here> http://www.rhnuttall.co.uk/sheeting/epdm-sponge-sheet/

 

I ordered a piece that was 1.8m long x 1.5m wide and 15mm thick, out of that I used about 1.2m x 1m and now I use the large spare piece (0.8 x 1.5) for floor matting while working on or under the car (gets nice and warm after about 10mins of lying on it) and the smaller piece (1 x 0.3) as a kneeling mat, its great stuff if you drop tools onto as they just bounce gently and when you need to clean it, some bio washing powder and hose gets any grease off no problems and if you plan on standing over the engine for several hours it also saves your legs aching, actually its now permanently residing infront of the work bench atm.

 

Cash wise for just enough for the 4 pieces needed in a 205 your talking about £50+vat for 1.5m x 1m x 15mm thick

Edited April 15, 2013 by AndyCrom

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi,

I was interested to hear you say that "all" leather bolster covers were faux leatherette. I think you're mistaken. The ones I have in stock and that I've taken apart for pattern making most certainly were hide - not good quality , but definitely hide. The bolster seams split because of the rather weak nylon backing guaze they used, and also because it should have been a french seam, and not just decorative top stiching with a rather thin (weak) bottom thread.

regards

Dave

[AndyCrom 64]

Hi,

I was interested to hear you say that "all" leather bolster covers were faux leatherette. I think you're mistaken. The ones I have in stock and that I've taken apart for pattern making most certainly were hide - not good quality , but definitely hide. The bolster seams split because of the rather weak nylon backing guaze they used, and also because it should have been a french seam, and not just decorative top stiching with a rather thin (weak) bottom thread.

regards

Dave

 

 

Well in all the years I was at Bentley and for the past 40 years my farther-in-law has trimmed for both Rolls Royce and Bentley neither of us has ever seen leather with nylon backing, also and not saying it wasnt actually leather, but with the fact that none of my leather cleaners, albeit rubbing creme, rejuvenator's, saddle soap or fillers would absorb into the "leather" and also on a test piece in a kiln for 30 mins, the 205 leather literally melted with all of those facts its hard to believe it was ever real leather as I am sure you know all too well a decent leather will always welcome any creme and outlast any manmade / altered materal like the 205's bonded leather, mind you bonded leather may contain 50% leather, but thats only 50% therefore its not really leather

 

just my 5p's worth

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi,which seats are you actually talking about here. I agree I've not seen nylon backed hide - but that's not what you were saying.

Loads of pictures of the leather bolsters are on my site gallery, and that is the example I'm citing.

regards

Dave

[mowflow 67]

Don't be fooled tho, if you go into it expecting it to be an easy 20 min job, it was claimed that when I was back at Bentley it was one of the hardest things to trim, well that and the toilet seat, also a seasoned wheel trimmer would be expected to have 1 1/2 or 2 wheels trimmed a day, and they charged £3,000 for a standard rim and an extra £1,500 if you wanted it with colourized thread!

 

Also I did a friend one for his skyline a while back, a local trimmers wanted £450 for just the wheel, I did his the same as mine with nappa and only asked £180 the most expense is in the leather, decent unmarked skived nappa leather can cost upto £250 as ive just paid out £1,300 for the 205's 6 hides for the interior as trying to get true green check cloth is impossible I'm going for full leather now and even adding heated front seat panels from a Mercedes and I'm still toying with the idea of fully cross stitching all the seats and even the sub box to boot!

 

Fantastic job on the wheel. Not sure I'd have the patience or skill to try a DIY though (I once stitched a hole in the knee of a pair of trousers and sewed the leg shut). I'll probably send my wheel off to Royal Steering Wheels. I had them do a wheel before. They do a choice of leather and/or alcantara, reprofile the wheel if you want and use any choice or mix of thread colours for around £150.

[AndyCrom 64]

Fantastic job on the wheel. Not sure I'd have the patience or skill to try a DIY though (I once stitched a hole in the knee of a pair of trousers and sewed the leg shut). I'll probably send my wheel off to Royal Steering Wheels. I had them do a wheel before. They do a choice of leather and/or alcantara, reprofile the wheel if you want and use any choice or mix of thread colours for around £150.

 

I was actually thinking of recovering a few wheels and flogging them off for about £100 each with the spare hide I'll have once ive done the seats, oh and re: Alcantara, though it may feel nice, on a wheel it does wear through quite quick, albeit quick is probably every 10,000 miles

[welshpug 1,622]

Sounds pretty reasonable, is there a decent match grey available?

[AndyCrom 64]

Sounds pretty reasonable, is there a decent match grey available?

 

blacks all I have got atm, if I find some grey to match I cant see it b'in an issue

[mowflow 67]

Put me down for one with red stitch then Much as I like Royal I'd rather give the money to someone on here.

 

Re. Alcantara. I've never been a fan as a steering wheel covering. I've used it in a 997.2 GT3, M3 CSL, Caterham r400 and boxster spyder and it just isn't grippy enough unless you are wearing gloves and you look like a right bell end wearing gloves anywhere but on a track.

[Guest Spitfire2k6]

Great job so far mate, plenty of TLC! Great guides too by the way, might have to keep a copy of those!

[Robbiedundy 58 4 Cars]

Hey, have you any idea how much your floor insulation stuff weighed? If you decide after you've finished trimming your seats etc you can't be bothered to do some steering wheels would you be up for selling me a strip of it to try and trim my own wheel? Also any updates?

 

Thanks,

Robbie.