My recent quote to get my interior done. Too much??

[artisticent]

So I contacted a local upholstery company and the guy came out and we looked at all the pieces that need recovering. Basically the dash, all 3 knee pads, carpet, seats, headliner, center console, doors and rear pieces. We didn't discuss what type of leather but he felt like it would take 4 hides approx. at around 1500 for material. (not too bad) however the total cost of the work was going to be 6500-7k. Dude that CANT be normal.
What have people paid out there for a TOTAL interior redo.

[Nicholas R]

So I contacted a local upholstery company and the guy came out and we looked at all the pieces that need recovering. Basically the dash, all 3 knee pads, carpet, seats, headliner, center console, doors and rear pieces. We didn't discuss what type of leather but he felt like it would take 4 hides approx. at around 1500 for material. (not too bad) however the total cost of the work was going to be 6500-7k. Dude that CANT be normal.
What have people paid out there for a TOTAL interior redo.

It seems on the high side to me but I suppose if you really are having every interior piece recovered or replaced, that's certainly a LOT of labor and labor isn't cheep.

Is every one of your pieces that bad? I mean I suppose if you're upgrading everything from vinyl to leather and want it all to match it makes sense. Are you going to have them do the carpets and seats or are you going to buy carpets and seat covers from a vendor? DMCH's carpets are molded to the body tub (not just a flat piece that's sewn in place).

[Ryan King]

That seems VERY steep. I would imagine somewhere in the 3k range for labor would be more appropriate.

Could you post a photo of your interior so I could see what were dealing with?

[Ryan King]

Okay, let me back my last comment up.

You said you needed to get the following done -

Seats - I would probably look into someone doing those for you. I wouldnt spend more then 500 dollars, since Houston sells recover kits for 600.

Kneepads - If your Knee Pads are still all in good shape without any tears or rips, I would re-dye them. I have re-dyed a lot of my interior parts and have been thrilled with the results. (Photo at bottom)

Headliner - This is an EASY DIY project. You can buy specific Headliner material from most Fabric stores (Joann's sells a color this is almost identical to stock). You can buy Spray Adhesive and do this job easily in a weekend.

Center Console - Again, if it isn't ripped or torn, re-dye it yourself. The original texture of our cars interior is no longer available (The ripples and creases in the fabric). My center console had a horrible rip at the top, I was able to get the piece replaced and kept the rest original. You can do most of this stuff cheap but re-dying it to make it look brand new.

Door Panels - Starting to sound like a broken record here, Re-Dye. Mine were looking very faded and shoty, and I just recently did some touch up work. They look brand new. I didn't have to spend hardly anything. A new plate of color really shapens up a sad interior

Carpets - Some people on here have been re-dying these as well, although I haven't done it myself as my carpet is in great shape. Most people will pull theirs out and rent a Rug Doctor and really deep clean them. My friend did it to his car, and the carpet looked brand new. Another DIY project for the weekend.

I would honestly say, granted, your interior isn't ripped to shreds, you could make the car look brand new by just buying a few cans of SEM interior dye and just going to town. As I said before, this is a very easy car to work on, You should take the initiative to learn how to work on it. Don't throw your money away to have someone else do the work for you. That money could just be put to better use on the car, IMO. Learn how it work on it and have fun doing so. This is a great community who will help you along the way with any help you may need.

-Ryan

For Reference. This is after I re-dyed my door panels and knee pads. Looks brand new. I still need to shoot my center console.
17313

[Dangermouse]

OP, did you read this thread?

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?6192-Interior-retrimmed-in-Nappa-Leather&highlight=nappa

It's in the UK, but I don't imagine labor costs are that different.

[David T]

Doing custom interior work can be very expensive. Especially if you are going to do everything in leather. The original interior only has the seating surfaces, door straps, steering wheel and shift boot in leather. Everything else is vinyl. As previously mentioned if you want to stay with vinyl you should be able to save your old parts by cleaning them up and redying them or worst case replace them for a lot less than recovering them in leather. The seat coverings can be purchased from DMCH and just put on the original frames and padding. If the interior was gutted by a fire you might be better off buying a donor car and salvaging the parts for use in your car. Call a vender and price the parts before spending that much money. Maybe buy a sewing machine and learn how to do this yourself? For temporary you can just buy some cheap seatcovers, a dashmat, and floor mats. You can also contact companies like Just Dashes and see what they can do for you to recover some of the parts in vinyl.
David Teitelbaum

[LEVY]

If you want something special, and money is not an issue, look for the best upholsterer you can find and ask for the best material.




LEVY

[Jeff K]

My Car's interior looks pretty bad when I got it.

I took what was not torn to a professional, they dyed all of it for 150 and repaired small imperfections. Came out great.

I bought new carpet and seat covers from Houston. Had that installed.

Not sure about the final cost, I'd have to add it up, but it was relativity reasonable.

[pezzonovante88]

Replacing all the vinyl parts in my car's interior with leather would be something I'd like to do, eventually. I'd want to buy some original NOS seat skins and then have all plastic/vinyl replaced to "original look", but in leather. But right now, $7000 could be far better spent on my car (Fuel system, partial engine overhaul/upgrade, odds and ends, etc.).

[artisticent]

A lot of really great comments here guys, thanks. The situation is with my car that it was another victim of being unloved and sat outside by several po's. so now the seats, door panels, center console and knee pads have become so dry, the leather/vinyl breaks to the touch. I did purchase from this forum, a leather recovered dash, glove and binnacle. It was a little over sold as to its perfection and I will have them recovered along with everything else. My door head liner pieces have become mis shapen but I guess I could buy those fiberglass pieces. Im reluctant to buy the $600 black seat covers because im afraid nothing else will match the material well enough. Geez im having a tough time with this.

[eagle-co94]

It's too bad you're not closer because i'd sell you my complete, near perfect interior for much less than $7k!