348 Re-trim

Thanks, mate.

Well, I hope so Andrew. Truth is I've not seen this done before to a 348. Time will tell if it's a fantastic plan or not. I think it'll look stunning and really finish off my car perfectly. I'll be honest about what I think at the end and obviously post up shots so guys can give their opinion. It's not cheap, most retrims aren't quite as extensive, but I hope it'll be worth it at the end. We'll know in about a week!

 

Well, she's finally done! Car was away for just shy of 8 weeks but I'm really pleased with the result. Every interior panel was retrimmed including ECU covers, roof storage inserts, back shelf, round windows, the lot. Also had new carpet put in as mine looked pretty awful once you had taken all the trim out and had a look at it - faded in parts, ground in dirt in others. In the pics some of the shots of carpet look a little pink (passenger side foot well for example) but that's just how the light hit it, it's more like the colour in the other shots. Lastly a shot of her back in the drive - finally!
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What is difficult to put into words is the difference in texture and feel. It's far softer than before and the smell is fantastic. Although it's going away from what Ferrari did, I'm actually glad I decided to loose the vinyl. The leather on the dash, instrument cluster, round the windows and back shelf looks very different from the original but to my eye it looks a step up from OEM so I can live with that.

 

Hi Chip and thanks. I did actually look at those but decided against them for the time being. I just found they made the instrument cluster look a little 'busy' for me so I left them off. The only other thing to possibly go on the car are a set of Yoshi Shields which should arrive monday. Not 100% certain I'll put them on right away, will compare them with my Ferrari resins when they arrive and make a choice.

 

Yep, I agree with the stalk ends and door locks, and you can just about see in one pic that I've got drilled metal pedals and dead pedal from Hill Engineering as well. Just gives the interior that little lift. The Momo race wheel does the same but as it's a very slightly smaller diameter than the standard, it also makes the steering feel even quicker - really good addition in my opinion.

 

Thanks chas.

 

Thanks Jeremy. I've not seen a 348 trimmed like this before ie a complete retrim to include everything, and there really is a big difference when you put a soft matt finish leather in place of the vinyl, but I really do like it. What you can't really see from the shots is that we really did go the whole hog. All the pillars next to the windscreen, rear glass and side widows were retrimmed in leather. The same goes for inside the rear roof arches and on the roof of the rear arch where the internal light and switches are so the whole interior matches. Really does make a big difference.

 

Thanks both. Andrew, hopefully if you can make it south to any FOC events this coming year, I'll get to dhow you her in the flesh.

Thanks. I already had the momo wheel and drilled pedsls etc but the leather trim and carpet cost me £6,000 which I guess is about $9,500. It's actually quite a bit more than a normal retrim and I wanted to use a very fine grained, soft, matt leather to get the look I was after.

 

Thanks both.

 

Thanks Pap. Price wise it was £6000 so just over AUD$9300. As I've said earlier in the thread, this was a tad more than a basic retrim. Retimming the back parcel shelf involved having to go in through the engine bay to get the panels out, the sun visors hadto be reconstructed not just retrimmed as the rigidity had started to go a bit, obviously couldn't just buy new as I wanted all the leather to match. For the same reason I had all the vinyl inside the rear roof arches stripped out as well as the roof of the rear arch around the roof lights and switches (ie behind the driver and passenger) and replaced with the same leather so the entire interior matches. Unless you're sat in the car craning over your shoulder and looking up you're never going to see it which is a pity because he's done a great job around the cloth inserts up there - looks superb. I guess that is the thing I was going for - a complete interior update and if you don't want to get to a bit where the texture changes from matt leather to a shinier surface, you just have to do the lot.

One thing to add is that much of the pricing was agreed beforehand. It ended up taking longer than expected as some bits were a tad awkward (took 7-8 weeks in the end) and other bits required a serious amount of working of the leather (door panels for example). Thing is price was agreed and to the guy's credit he refused to rush it.

 

Thanks mate.

To be honest some of the price was in the materials. I went for high quality leather hides from a place in scottland that has supplied the likes of Aston Martin and Rolls on occasion. Price wise they were more than double what most places sell hides for (and more like 3 times the cost of some) but I looked at samples from several different places and the others weren't close to as good. Also due to the amount of work I needed to buy 4 hides. As many trims involve not doing every last bit it's often 2 hides and at half the price each. Give or take, materials cost me about 4 times the norm.

Work wise, many of the bits that took the most time simply aren't normally done. Inside the rear roof arches and rear parcel shelf (in through the engine compartment to get it out), handbrake taken apart etc. A normal retrim normally involves seats, door cards, maybe lower dash and centre cosole, the rest of often reconnolised. That would have cost me about half what I paid.

I guess I just wanted it how I wanted it and that meant shelling out for top quality leather etc and having the lot done. Don't regret that for a mo, she's all done now.