recommendations for leather hides
- Thread starter ajf
- Start date
Where are you located? I have a good source here in southern california that get them for me. He is pretty reasonable and the quality is good. Below some seats I have redone for my e9 and my 2002.
Interested, need both front and rear, white
thanks
thanks
paging @rsporsche
Did you want white leather hides? I can check my supplier if he has any all white.
Yes, leather, thank you
Perhaps this was resolved through PM's, but I too am looking to source complete leather hide. Does anyone have connections? I am considering hides only or complete seat skins. I'm losing faith in World Upholstery and exploring options.
Yes, I am looking for complete seat skins
I have a friend who just retired from owning a business of restoring interiors of classic US and European (primarily Porsche) cars. I had dinner with him at a car meet about 3 weeks ago. I asked him who the best suppliers of leather were. He said there were three in Europe (Vesuvio as I recall was one of them, in Italy, the one he preferred). The major players (GAHH, Hirsch, and one or two others buy the best hides from Europe (probably in combination with each other) he said. The minor players (World Upholstery???) buy the left overs that don't meet the premium quality. The premium products are vat dyed, not 'painted' to achieve their color. And the premium hides are free of punctures, significant scratches, etc.
Gary
Gary
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Would love info on who your LA guys is!
I got mine done by TLC in Newark, UK. They also do kinky boots, but that is another story.
The result is great and the cost was very reasonable. They told me, a medium quality leather is fine as these classic cars spend so little time in use or in sunlight that medium quality is adequate. From memory they were about £100 per hide, 5 needed for the car.
I got a very positive complement from the judges at The Warren concours show this summer, they liked the leather but not my polishing or cleaning. I just said, I drove it several hundred miles this week, many of the others came on trailers. I’m not cut out to be a concourse show winner, but did ok at the drinking whilst watching the cars and other entertainment walk by .
The result is great and the cost was very reasonable. They told me, a medium quality leather is fine as these classic cars spend so little time in use or in sunlight that medium quality is adequate. From memory they were about £100 per hide, 5 needed for the car.
I got a very positive complement from the judges at The Warren concours show this summer, they liked the leather but not my polishing or cleaning. I just said, I drove it several hundred miles this week, many of the others came on trailers. I’m not cut out to be a concourse show winner, but did ok at the drinking whilst watching the cars and other entertainment walk by .
Steven, I sent u a PM.
Hirsch carries, or used to carry, Bridge of Weir leather which is very high end vat dyed product
@Cornishman you mentioned 5 hides, is this for everything in the car? Thinking front seat backside, rear armrests, rear center, maybe trim pieces like kick panels.
I thought three hides did the job.
I am pretty sure that TLC told me 5 hides, this was for everything inc rear parcel shelf, door cards, kick panels.
Perhaps hides differ in size depending upon their origin.
Perhaps hides differ in size depending upon their origin.
@Cornishman I was not factoring in door cards, that adds a lot of real estate for sure.. Thanks!
Wouldn't you loose the factory look if you did door cards?
I did a complete car minus doors and recall it being 3 hides
I did a complete car minus doors and recall it being 3 hides
the number of hides greatly depends on the size of the hides. typical full size hides are 50 sf +/-. some hides come in 25 to 30 sf size ... which would obviously take more. remember hides are very irregularly shaped as they come off the cow - there are narrow pieces from the legs.
now for the longer discussion and perhaps more than you want to know - buy leather that is made for the automotive / aviation industry that is more stable for u/v light. you should also understand that there are 2 basic types of dye process used on premium hides. one is a surface dye, the other is an aniline dye which completely penetrates the hide. if you deeply scratch the surface dye it will be a more natural color inside ... this means both front / back surfaces are the finish color ... it just doesn't greatly penetrate like an aniline dye does. please also know there are different types of tanning / finishing processes for different types of leather. some will patina others will remain consistent with U/V light. there are vegetable tanning and chromium tanning processes. vegetable tanning is an older process used today more by bootmakers and saddlemakers. chromium salt tanning allows for a softer hand and a broader range of color
there are also 2 different versions of the top grain leather - full grain and corrected grain. full grain has not been sanded or buffed ... it retains the grain layer of the hide - original texture remains. corrected grain has been sanded or buffed to allow the dye to be better absorbed and minimize the appearance of blemishes ... which allows a more uniform color. i greatly prefer the full grain leather over the corrected grain.
now for the longer discussion and perhaps more than you want to know - buy leather that is made for the automotive / aviation industry that is more stable for u/v light. you should also understand that there are 2 basic types of dye process used on premium hides. one is a surface dye, the other is an aniline dye which completely penetrates the hide. if you deeply scratch the surface dye it will be a more natural color inside ... this means both front / back surfaces are the finish color ... it just doesn't greatly penetrate like an aniline dye does. please also know there are different types of tanning / finishing processes for different types of leather. some will patina others will remain consistent with U/V light. there are vegetable tanning and chromium tanning processes. vegetable tanning is an older process used today more by bootmakers and saddlemakers. chromium salt tanning allows for a softer hand and a broader range of color
there are also 2 different versions of the top grain leather - full grain and corrected grain. full grain has not been sanded or buffed ... it retains the grain layer of the hide - original texture remains. corrected grain has been sanded or buffed to allow the dye to be better absorbed and minimize the appearance of blemishes ... which allows a more uniform color. i greatly prefer the full grain leather over the corrected grain.