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ARRRGH I stuffed up and ordered the wrong seat material...

1K views 13 replies 6 participants last post by  alexGS 
#1 · (Edited)
I want to replace the driver's seat base on my 156, which is the perforated red leather (round holes) type.

Looking on FIAT Forum ePer, my car apparently has a Splash Grey interior, so I had to click 'Search' and 'List of fabrics', and find the fabric in the list. It's colour 491. There is also a 401, which doesn't have the holes.

Then I went to SEATS, etc. in ePer and found the list of covering materials - the one for right-hand-side in colour 491 had the number 0184462810. So I ordered that. The FIAT/Alfa dealer quoted a ridiculous $2540 (£1160). Happily, a contact of mine was able to obtain it from a European source, for $560 (£255). Better!

Within a few days, it turned up - and guess what, 'right' part number, wrong colour and no holes :cry: Can't be returned...

I've listed it on eBay - my first-ever eBay listing: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280494397660&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT
Just hope someone, somewhere has an Alfa 156 with red seats that don't have the holes and would like a new covering for the driver's seat base.

-Alex
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Actual material even more expensive - any other ideas?

Today I had a call to advise "We've found the correct material in Europe - but it's more expensive - price to you will be about $850" - which is about £400.

I don't have that sort of money at the moment and with just about no interest in my 'wrong' material offered for £50 on eBay (2 watchers) I don't expect I'll get back the £270 I've already spent. I think this is the most money I've ever thrown down the drain... should I spend another £400 to get the result?

What would be ideal is if someone could please send me a red-leather-with-holes seat base pulled from a 156 being wrecked somewhere. It doesn't have to be like-new, as the problem with mine is that someone has repaired it with the wrong-colour (grey) material and with the wrong (cross-shaped) holes. That's why I'm trying to replace it. I guess they did that because replacement material was so expensive.

Any suggestions or leads considered... please! This is the most expensive problem I've ever struck with any Alfa... makes the 156 suspension rebuild and replacement 164 V6 jobs look cheap.

-Alex
 
#4 ·
Good idea, I'll call around some motor trimmers in the morning. I was told (by a local Alfa specialist) that the chance of motor trimmers having a matching material would be very slim - but then again, red leather (and cheap leather at that :)) with holes can't be all that unusual - or is it?

-Alex
 
#6 ·
You could try autolusso, 2 of their guys are on here and seem to be extremely helpful. It should be fairly easy to find the right leather seats in the UK and then send the base section across

I think this would be your cheapest and best option
 
#7 · (Edited)
Thanks for that Pascs - I emailed AutoLusso and look forward to their reply (decided that was probably easier than guessing who to PM on here :))

stoyce - I discovered possibly the best trimmers in NZ at Leather Interiors | Pantera Leather | Retro Vehicle Enhancement - I had heard of them before - the perforated leather shown on the site looks exactly the same as what I'm after and they obviously take their work very seriously. I emailed some photos through to them too. They quoted about $500 (240 pounds-ish) to make the seat base.

Meanwhile I thought I might upload a few pics here of what I'm talking about.
First pic - passenger's seat in happy condition.
Second pic - driver's seat (previously repaired in Singapore) looking quite sad.
Third pic - close-up of passenger's seat.
Fourth pic - close-up of driver's seat. Hope you'll agree it's not very satisfactory :)

Thanks to everyone here for their time.
-Alex
 

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#11 ·
That's kind - thank you :)

Re: re-painting or re-dying my existing seat, the material is completely wrong and the seams are all skewed :lol:

So far the 40-years-experience auto trimmers in Auckland are looking like the best idea for me - the guy who emailed me was really keen to help and confident of a perfect match.

-Alex
 
#13 ·
How old is the car we are talking about here?

Personally I'd be happy if the seat was coloured correctly, can't see much else wrong with it that would cause me to loose any sleep :)
Okay so it doesn't match the passenger seat but i bet 99 out of 100 people whould never notice unless you told them!
 
#14 · (Edited)
JA5ON - you're very welcome to 'hijack' ;)
I guess I'm not the first to become stuck with the wrong part, then. I hope someone is looking for grey leather... I share your pain...



That's a fair call :D

At first I thought it wouldn't matter too much, as this was the bit I was sitting on, so I wouldn't have to look at it while driving and hopefully no-one would notice :D

But this car is my 2003 156, that's like having a new car in New Zealand :lol: They sell for the equivalent of 5000 pounds (and more) where a 2003 156 in the UK would probably be a lot less. The average car in NZ is 12 years old and Japanese, unless it's a Ford or a Holden. So this is my pride and joy, most people don't know what it is, and I'm finding that people I don't even know say things like, oh, what's that grey stuff on your seat... or, that seat's worn a bit flat hasn't it?... and my friends aren't too impressed given that the few other 156s and GTs are in pristine condition, even the '98 models! Mine is an import from Singapore (last year) and I bought it relatively cheap due to a Selespeed fault that scared everyone off (though at this rate, it's rapidly becoming average-priced ;))

The other factor is that I've got a silver one, a really bland colour here (I liked my last Punto not because of its CVT or its funky interior etc. but because it was YELLOW). The best thing about my silver car is the red interior - except, it isn't the best thing yet ;)

The sensible money would buy something like a same-age Toyota Altezza (Japanese-market version of the Lexus IS200) - lots of them around - less expensive, rear wheel drive, lots faster, uses less oil... though most of them are silver too :cheese:

I have a lovely lineup of other mods to my 156, including HID lights, structural foam injection (my invention of Botox for cars), Eibach springs/Koni shocks, might treat the Selespeed to a new clutch, etc. and so I suppose the driver's seat is just another important bit of icing for the cake. What annoyed me was how I tried so hard to get the right part and threw that money away... But I suppose this is still a less-expensive car than my Stilo Abarth was - that thing was costing me thousands each year just sitting there...

-Alex
 
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