Food for Thought: Leather Upholstery from CA

[Firstcall]

Hi all, esepcially prospective Skoda owners,

 

Rencently I have the opportunity to ride in one of the Premiercab Skoda Superb taxi. The leather upholstery is done locally. Prior to this, I have viewed the leather interior of a Skoda Superb which was delivered to a SOG member in early October.

 

To my surprise, the leather upholstery in the cab and the private car is provided by the same contractor.

 

The main tell-tale sign is located at the rear bench seat at the middle. There is a seam on the leather upholstery which is found 5 to 10 cm away from the seat cushion which supports the back. This is a common technique to connect 2 adjacent pieces of leather to make up for the deficiency in length.

 

The second tell-tale sign is the inclusion of leather upholstery on the door panels of the Superb, without the need for extra cash top-up. For the Superbs which have been delivered prior to Oct 2006, the original cloth upholstery is left intact even though the seats have been upholstered by the previous leather contractor, which is renowned for its workmanship and quality.

 

The third tell-tale sign is the pitch of the thread found at the seams where 2 adjacent pieces of leather are sewn together. The fineness of the pitch is related to the genuity of the leather. For leather which has a higher percentage of genuity, the distance of the pitch is finer compared to half-leather and PVC. From what I have observed, the pitch is coarser for the leather upholstery provided by the current contractor.

 

As seen by one of the new Superb owners whose leather upholstery has been done by the current contractor, the grain and quality of the leather have taken a step backwards. Workmanship has dropped considerably. There was excessive leather on one section of the rear seat bench, revealing a bulge. (Nobody has sat at the rear before, just in case anybody thinks that the bulge is a crease.)

 

According to the owner, the cost of getting leather upholstery installed has not been lowered even though the quality and workmanship are considerably poorer. To add to his woes, the leather seats of his Superb look no different from those found on the taxis.

 

To those potential Skoda owners who are keen to opt for leather interior, it could be a wise move to order a Skoda vehicle ditto leather. Besides having the flexibility to choose the colour and texture of the leather upholstery you desire, you will be assured that you will be getting your money's worth from a reputable leather upholstery provider.

 

The upgrade which is worth topping up are the rims provided by CA. Albeit they are not original Skoda rims, it is value for money considering the top-up price.

 

yup, that's right buy without the leather. That was my conclusion to go without the leather and HU. Find the leather a bit hard unlike those conti cars that comes with factory leather. Would rather spend a bit more for better leather and choice colour. And like what you advises me earlier get HU from elsewhere... or perhaps the original HU from Skoda MY

[Firstcall]

Actually TOMO leather or not is not the factor, its the grade of the leather and the $$ that commands the grade.

 

Alfa Romeo also use local leather in some the lower range models like 147 and 156. Its a world of difference from cars like the GT coupe.

 

Mazda also uses Tomo. But most likely less expensive and lower grade ones. They also feel hard.

[Kwong]

yup , the grade makes a diff, cheapest is thai laether, then comes italian and leather from germanny, nappa leather is thicker but softer coming from younger cows..

my 2 sen opinion.

[Dudemobile]

I seriously regret taking the leather from CA, it's 5hit. I'm considering the jackspeed redo (my Octavia A4 was jackspeed) and the quality was much better. This current guy told me they will call me back, but never did (been 2 months already). It's too loose and it creases like hell. heat Ironing only makes it look good till someone sits on it.

 

And they did not glue the inside properly too (the hairy underside of the leather). 5 months and all the hair starts popping out thru the tiny holes. Something i never had with my previous car for 4 years of continous daily use.

[Galantspeedz]

There is this DK leather cool from MY in MY. seen reviews by hypertune.... seems pretty good. there is even a cool leather, which will let your leather feel up till 20 degrees cooler than normal leather seat if your car is parked under the hot sun

[Koolaba]

I believe DK Leather has its operations in Singapore too. It is known as DK Tomo Leather (S) Pte Ltd.

 

http://www.tomoleather.com/

[Fortress]

Ah...that was the reason why i chose my unit, the display set. Apparently, higher omv and also better quality chair, when I did a comparison of my 5 years old to Moeykf's 4. The main reason is that the original do not have fabrics under the leather, and those which are done locally are wrapped up with the fabric still under which cause the creases.

[Ommph]

Wah...bro. u kena the same problem as me.

 

Now all frenz called the seats....hairy cow liao.

 

Any idea how much it is to redo the thing?

[Limlien]

Hairy Cows?

 

Keke.. did they mention from which part of the cow did it come from??