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Thoughts on seat upholstery

Old 07-22-2014, 12:17 PM
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What's wrong with an electric carving knife? Worked like a charm for me, took about 30 seconds in a single sweep, and when finished, I had two discrete pieces of foam that I could have glued back together with some foam-specific spray adhesive if I didn't like the way they turned out.
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Old 07-22-2014, 04:00 PM
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Originally Posted by RussellT94
Originally Posted by supercooper
well.... those are seat covers... we are talking about SEAT COVERS.... lol
Complete fabric replacement. Straight fabric over the foam

HOWEVER.... if you are just wanting covers to put on your seats, to protect the factory seat or whatever, these would be an option. Personally, i hate seat covers. Even Form fitted ones like these. I have the $400 Neoprene seat covers in my Mini, and they suck too... Worst $400 ive ever spent... but my leather still looks damn good underneath... only benefit ive noticed. But they slide around on the surface of the seat like crazy. I dont feel secure at all on them.
Those look pretty nice. But they are COVERS, not upholstery. As such, they won't be even close to the fitment and quality as oem upholstery.

I think Joe is confused: he specifies covers, but describes upholstery.

There's a difference. One just plops over the top, the other actually replaces the material and connects to the foam/padding and becomes part of the seat.
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Old 07-22-2014, 05:53 PM
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http://www.duettomotors.com/miata/seats_vinyl.htm

Only replacement upholstery I can find that's not leather.
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Old 07-22-2014, 06:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Joe Perez
Leather seats are highly effective at absorbing energy from solar radiation and then transferring that energy into human skin, yet exhibit a very low coefficient of friction against denim, and are thus exceptionally poor at holding the human *** firmly in position during periods of high transitional lateral g-loading
Solution: go bare-assed. If you aren't driving a miata in assless chaps, you're doing it wrong.

I am familiar with the drawbacks of leather seats. The seat covers I was referring to are not leather. They do look like leather, but they have a sorta pebbly texture so your *** doesn't scoot so much. They seem to be tougher than leather, and they clean up with a wet rag. While hotter than a cloth seat, they are not blister causing hot after sitting in the sun for a full work day.
Finally, they fit really well, and install under the seat hinges... you know what **** it, I'm wrong.
I'll make an appointment with the vet for my neuter.
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Old 07-22-2014, 07:20 PM
  #25  
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Originally Posted by TheScaryOne
Originally Posted by RussellT94
"Complete with hog rings and pliers."


That is exactly what I'm looking for- something which replaces the leather entirely and is installed in an OEM-like manner, rather than just slipping over top of the existing leather.

Shame they're not available in tan, but I can live with that.

Thank you, gentlemen.
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Old 07-22-2014, 07:37 PM
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Which ones, cloth or leatherette? The leatherette ones are the exact same thing I posted at the beginning. They do in fact come in tan. I'll post a thread on the install because it doesn't come with any instructions, and you need to punch a few holes in the skin to install.
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Old 07-22-2014, 07:39 PM
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my biggest gripe with duetto - the pic looks to have been taken in the 1800's with a potato.

And couldn't find decent pictures of what those velour covers actually look like in a miata.

I guess if you didn't care about looks, they're probably the way to go.

*edit: stop with the stupid leatherette already Monk, the stuff is worse than leather. its literally the worst crap you can possibly put on your seats.
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Old 07-22-2014, 07:55 PM
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haha, Leatherette SUCKS... My First Mini came with it because i didnt know any better. I ordered it brand new in 2006 (2006 model). By 2008, Them ***** were cracked. Looked and Felt like ***... and NOT in a good way. lol

My second Mini (2003 model) came with Italian Leather... the real ****... And i still have it, The leather still feels amazing, and STILL has no cracks/fading/blemishes of any kind at all.

Oh, and My Miata still has the OG Tan Leather... No cracks at all. They look Damn good. I assume its because #1.the windows have been tinted since day 1. #2. the top was never left down in the rain #3. The top never leaked and #4. I have used leather conditioner on them since i got the car, and the previous (original) owner did the same.

Surprisingly, the seats hold me in really well... even on the track. Maybe not as well as fabric, but not bad at all.... Also could be because I'm about 25 pounds over weight. LMAO

Last edited by supercooper; 07-22-2014 at 08:21 PM.
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Old 07-22-2014, 08:03 PM
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Originally Posted by 18psi
*edit: stop with the stupid leatherette already Monk, the stuff is worse than leather. its literally the worst crap you can possibly put on your seats.

So many mixed signals. I'm going to go take a nap.
Attached Thumbnails Thoughts on seat upholstery-dq3wg2.gif  
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Old 07-22-2014, 08:06 PM
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Originally Posted by Monk
So many mixed signals. I'm going to go take a nap.
In what way are you getting mixed signals? Leather is a bad material for seat upholstery, and a poor-quality simulation of it is just unfathomably wrong.
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Old 07-22-2014, 08:17 PM
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You copied a link to cloth and leatherette seat covers (which were the exact same thing i linked to amazon) and said it was exactly what you were looking for. Until that point I didn't realize that the key ingredient of leatherette is Satan's semen, and I thought your beef was with leather specifically. Since they don't behave the same and the covers are basically new upholstery, it seemed reasonable that they were what you were talking about. I didn't mean to give this thread aids. I promise to never speak of leatherette again.
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Old 07-22-2014, 08:28 PM
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lolol
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Old 07-22-2014, 08:38 PM
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Next in this thread: Monk tries to convince me to buy seat upholstery made from cat ********.
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Old 07-22-2014, 08:53 PM
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Originally Posted by Joe Perez
Next in this thread: Monk tries to convince me to buy seat upholstery made from cat ********.
Speaking of cat ********.... have you checked out Katskin Yet??? Are they only leather materials??? I would assume they could do cloth as well, and they usually have great fitment as a Factory replacement upholstery
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Old 07-22-2014, 09:17 PM
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You people are telling me that none of the old guys on M.Net have installed the Duetto cloth upholstery and lived to tell about it?

Joe: Change your thread title. You are looking for replacement upholstery not seat covers.

This is relevant to my interests. My seats look like *** and I need baller upholstery to go with my baller hard parts.
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Old 07-22-2014, 09:40 PM
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Originally Posted by fooger03
What's wrong with an electric carving knife? Worked like a charm for me, took about 30 seconds in a single sweep, and when finished, I had two discrete pieces of foam that I could have glued back together with some foam-specific spray adhesive if I didn't like the way they turned out.
I am pretty sure professional upholsterers use such a cutting device.
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Old 07-22-2014, 11:26 PM
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Vinyl ala 1980's economy style > leather or leather substitutes. It might be just as hot and sticky and slipery as leather, but it doesnt stain and you give no ***** about it.
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Old 07-22-2014, 11:57 PM
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I think we need to make a clear distinction here between "leather" and leather. Most American and Japanese cars use "leather" in their seats. European cars mostly use leather. "Leather" is a piece of leather permanently coated in vinyl for "protection" *cough*orthickness*cough*. Leather conditioner won't work on "leather" unless it has cracks that go down to the hide, and then it won't work evenly. You don't need to use leather cleaner to clean "leather." Dish soap, mop'n'glow, whatever you really feel like works just fine. "Leather" wears poorly, gets as sticky and hot as vinyl seats, and dries out and cracks in the sun. Leather is soft and supple, doesn't get hot enough to incinerate one's *** cheeks, and with proper care (the aforementioned leather cleaners and conditioners) will age gracefully with a nice patina and last many years.

I will agree with Joe, that anyone who believes that having "leather" (or vinyl) seats in a roadster should be subjected to forced sterilization. Leather is fine.
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Old 07-23-2014, 08:50 AM
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I've got katzkins installed, and they are amazing quality seat upholstry. With that being said, they do only premium leather, and so they are not relevant to this thread.
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Old 07-23-2014, 09:15 AM
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Originally Posted by EO2K
You people are telling me that none of the old guys on M.Net have installed the Duetto cloth upholstery and lived to tell about it?
right?

and yet when I was upholstery shopping I seriously couldn't find more than like 2-3 pictures, and those were also taken in the 1800's with a potato, 40' away.

some people just really, really suck at taking pictures
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