Do not restore your interior!

I found some of the same issues when I did my 308 interior, especially the seat issue. I should have told the shop to simply recover the seats and not add in new padding. They ended up being sort of overstuffed and I agree they just weren't near as comfy. The rest of mine I was pretty happy with except the one issue, where the headliner met the rear window I ended up with a small gap that I didn't like. If you didn't look back over your shoulder you'd never see it, but it bugged me. Never did get it fixed before selling though. Mine took almost three years by the way but I ended up doing the WHOLE interior totally new and a bunch of other stuff too. My big mistake was early on telling the small one man upholstery shop that I wasn't in a big hurry. He took me at my word and then some!!!

 

I've lean't with these cars to muck with them as little as possible. That includes restorations, replacing parts and even excessive servicing. I'm always weary of parts not fitting back again or being easily damaged while being removed. Other then regular maintenance the old saying is true "if it ain't, broke don't fix it".

 

Nice job Patrick. Sorry not wanting to hijack the thread but who did your work on the interior? Mines ok but the seats were re-dyed many years ago and have never really looked much good. ? I just don't have time to do them myself so I'm looking for someone to do seats, carpet etc. PM me if you prefer.

Cheers
Mark
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Dave the Trimmer in MK

 

On a related note, the one thing I really don't like about my car is the driver's seat. It's easily the most uncomfortable car seat I've ever experienced, which I believe is due to the concave shape of the back. It's like the opposite of lumbar support.

Does anyone know if there's enough leather there to have an upholsterer pull the cover off, add some foam for lower back padding, and reinstall? I don't want new leather, just some more padding.

 

You know, I think it's the interiors that go first on these cars. Maintain the mechanical stuff and it will last a long time. The original leather? Not so much.

-F

 

I have seen the original leather in a 308 not last 3 years. I can prove it.

 

I wanted to keep my interior original so I decided to re-dye all the interior leather. I was just going to do the seats but all the other leather wouldn’t match so did it all. The interior had turned a light yellow color and the seat back bolster was beyond re-dying. They re-dyed all leather pieces and the seats, replaced the seat back bolster with the same stitching as the rest of the seat. It took 3 weeks and the cost was $2,500. I entered it to a Concours 3 weeks later and received a Platinum award.
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Any suggestions as to where I can get my original steering wheel recovered. Only the best artisans please....

 

I had the seats in my 308 correctly redone before I took delivery of the car, and they look and feel great (Black, so easier than tan). I do want to do the rest at some point... or not.

 

And before and after pictures Rob?

Maybe it’s not as bad as you convinced yourself ?

 

Problem is, he is the only one driving that car, not us.

There are two things about my interior redo (and I did EVERYTHING in there over again) that bugs the living **** out of me. I can challenge every 308 guy like myself to try and find them. I don't think it is possible anyone else would notice.

I have learned to live with it over the past 17 years but it will bother me still to this day if I look at it long enough.

 

unbelievable

 

But that's the same with nearly every car Tommy. I haven't had anything restored and my car is as close to a 100 point 328 as you can get, but I can point out three or four small "faults" with my car (small paintwork defects, tiny scratches in the engine bay or on a trim item, etc if you know exactly where to look) that someone else or even a judge would be very hard pressed to find. At the end of the day they are cars and not paintings framed behind glass. They are exposed to the elements and need to be driven.

 

Steering wheels: CarBone in Poland. Yes. Haven't used them yet but would from what I've seen on Pelican forum for P-cars. With DHL or FedEx, doesn't matter if they're in Poland or Portland.
Bradan - a sponsor here, Long Island/NYC area does top-shelf upholstery in-house. See threads in their section here under NY/NJ region.
John/Connecticut

 

Try this shop: 469-449-7973
http://www.dallassteeringwheel.com/sw1.htm

 

Jon Gutherson "omgjon" here restores Dinos to the an exceptional level has used a source in Malaysia. Work looks amazing with 10 day turnaround. Thread listed below. You can PM him for info
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/steering-wheel-recovering.483106/