After searching the forums for autoleathers I found a lot of good discussion, but the only pictures I found were of a couple of installs of the leatherseats.com product.

I'm wondering if anyone has pictures (or can comment on) the door panels that come with the Katzkin kit. Are they a full panel with the perforated part in one color and the rest in black like I saw with the leatherseats product?

 

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

 

I ordered the Katzkins through a local retailer. I wanted to get suede inserts with just the little perfporated section in suede on the door panel. They sent the whole thing in suede so my guy sent it back and they sent the same thing again. They said that it's they only way it comes. I know leatherseats.com does the little section in a different color b/c I've seen pictures. Here's a link to the install thread:
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=225609

 

The kits I have seen seem a little loose fitting. I have also heard that people are saying they will tighten up over time...not true, they actually stretch even more so just beware.

edit: I am not stating autoleathers.com has loose kits, just some of the guys I have seen with custom kits they bought seem to be a little too big, just in general be aware of this problem and don't bank on shrinking over time, it won't happen.

 

Leather will shrink over time, most leather that needs to be reupholstered requires it because the leather shrank and tore at the seams. Now this takes years to occur, so don't expect your leather to tighten up over night, but it /will/ tighten up given sufficient time.

 

The reason leather shrinks is because some tanneries stretch the leather when it is made to create bigger hides in some cases. More hide=more square footage=more $$$.

Some leathers will shrink significantly, others will not. If you have a big crease in your seat with extra leather you will not see that go away due to skrinkage. Areas where you place 100+ pounds day in and day out...ie the seat base, will not shrink drastically due to the stretching pressure you exert on the leather.

Dryer climates may have an effect of shrinking, the more moisture, the more leather stretches, take that out, the tighter it may become.

You are right in that leather does shrink, but I have seen some custom jobs that will never shrink to where they need to be (as tight as the OEM), to be honest I don't even know who did them, but there are good upholsterers out there and bad ones, just don't get caught up in the hoopla that the bad ones tell you to justify their work.

My post here was not to knock autoleathers.com, I know nothing about them, it was just to give my opinion from what I have seen over the years.

 

Leather does not tear at the seams due to shrinking, it would easily be able to hold the pressure if it was in good shape, leather tears because of damage to the protein bonds that actually hold the fibers together. If nto properly taken care of...or over a longer period of time, they will weaken and thus break apart, hence a tear in the leather.

 

Tell that to my old infiniti. Maybe it is just some, not sure on that, but at least some leather will shrink.

 

I ordered and installed myself, a kit from Classic Soft Trim (CST) for my MR2 turbo a couple years back. The guys on the MR2 board were doing group buys on Katzkin and CST and the feedback at the time seem to suggest most liked the quality of CST a little better so I went with them. CST does leather kits as oem for a few models (I think they do stuff for Mitsu).

I got the kit, and though it took time, I installed it myself with a couple of special tools purchased (hog ring pliers and hog rings). It looked fantastic when done and I liked the CST kit better thatn the original stuff. Very good quality, I recommend them.

 

Just remember to pour a protein shake on your seats every month

The leather I got from Katskinz was wrinkly at first. Now, a month later, half the wrinkles are gone and the seat looks more like factory. It will take time for it to completely tighten up and true that some parts never will, but I'm willing to sacrifice a wrinkle or two where it doesn't matter for really nice and original seats.