For those with cloth seats

[Kcalhoun27]

All,

so, i have just plain black nappa leather and its fine, but i think i would prefer cloth seats. I only drive the car in nicer weather so the leather is hot and sweaty, you know the drill. So, my thoughts are either;
1. have my seats redone with M-cloth
2. replace them with aftermarket

im leaning towards 2, specifically the recaro speeds, with the recaro sportsters second, but i dont love the shape of the headrest on the sportster. Reclining seats are a must and i would prefer manual adjustment, meaning id have to swap bases, or source manual seats to have them refreshed

so, am i crazy? Is losing leather something ill hate? I dont care about the seat heaters either. I just dont want the car to look like its just duct taped together, when the stock seats do look nice imo

fwiw, the cost is probably ~$2700 for the recaros, shipped to my door, vs ~$3500 for the cloth and thats with me driving them to CT and picking them up, an additional $2-300. Shipping will be worse.

thanks for any input

[BMWahba]

The end-game for me is Recaros or Cobras reupholstered in M-Texture. However, this is easier for someone who already has M-Texture interior because the door panels and rears are already done.

In your case, if you reupholster fronts in M-texture, you'll have mismatching door cards and rear seats, unless you are reupholstering those as well which is quite spendy. I personally can't do mismatched interiors so that'd be the way I'd have to do it, but if you don't care, then that's probably the easiest.

But to answer your question, I don't think you'll regret getting cloth seats, it's just deciding how much it's worth to you.

[Kcalhoun27]

The end-game for me is Recaros or Cobras reupholstered in M-Texture. However, this is easier for someone who already has M-Texture interior because the door panels and rears are already done.

In your case, if you reupholster fronts in M-texture, you'll have mismatching door cards and rear seats, unless you are reupholstering those as well which is quite spendy. I personally can't do mismatched interiors so that'd be the way I'd have to do it, but if you don't care, then that's probably the easiest.

But to answer your question, I don't think you'll regret getting cloth seats, it's just deciding how much it's worth to you.

Thats a good point i hadnt really considered, the door panels. I probably wouldnt mind them not matching, since the rear seats wont match either. Im still on the fence for a rear seat delete anyway, so thats less of a factor. But tying the interior together is something worth considering

thanks

[Thoglan]

Would probably look strange with only the seats done in m tex. But then again if you're looking at retrimming everything the door panels are what use the most fabric. The front doors are a single large lay basically. Retrimming the whole interior costs a lot. It's usually about 6 yards of fabric plus a decent chunk of labour by an upholsterer.

Buying a set of aftermarket seats is probably your best bet for the money. I've heard good things about recaro sportsers if reclining is a must. If not nogaro's are really well liked on this forum.

As Wahba said the dream is a set of recaros/nogaros trimmed in m tex to match. I have enough fabric set aside for just that. Recaro pole positions are really calling my name atm.

[Dave]

I can't believe that 15-20 years later people are still confusing the rare M-texture alcantara with the cloth. Or at least using the two terms interchangeably... I'm not entirely sure whether you mean the cloth or alcantara, but that $3500 price tag makes me wonder if it's the latter.

If it's the former, it's not that hard to find a cloth interior, and in a lot of ways it's a lot nicer. It has its own wear issues as well, plus the door cards can sag similar to how the headliner does - and it's a pain to try to re-glue/attach.

It's quite comfortable, though, except for one thing, which directly impacts your preference: if you're talking about a serious amount of sweat, then you're going to end up a lot WORSE off unless you have some professional fabric cleaning tools. Without going into too much detail, I'll just say that the funk from my front seat after an autocross in summer heat - and this was back in Chicago, not here in Florida - was George Clinton-worthy.

Up til that point, I was a big fan of my cloth. Not after that, though. Now my recommendation if you're concerned about heat and swamp ass is - and don't laugh - this: Grey.

Even a well-kept grey interior is dirt cheap because nobody likes it. But that's largely because of the use of grey vinyl as well; if they patterned the whole interior with grey the same as imola or cinnamon, it'd look great. Better than black, even, with some exterior colors. (I happen to think it's the best possible option with LSB, for instance.) Grab a set of grey seats and door panels for under a grand, dismantle them entirely, and build up a 2-tone grey interior with the black plastics and vinyls. Car will look great and your butt and wallet will thank you.

[Kcalhoun27]

I have an OG car, so grey isnt really a color i think would go well. The M-cloth is impulse and a full set redone by a well known restorer just went for $3500, so thats where i get the price from. True, thats for a full set vs just the fronts, but they are still fairly rare. The m-tex is fine, but im not a huge alcantara fan either, admittedly because of the steering wheels which i think are awful.

The door cards arent a deal breaker, but id guess they would be quite pricey to have done.

Anyhow, thank you both for your input

[old///MFanatic]

Well cloth isn’t for everyone. It holds stains and not as supportive as leather(but on plus side you slide less).

I would not be too concerned with the door cards. Since you have black Nappa leather now it matches the back and side bolsters. Now if your leather was a different color that’s another story.
I love my heated seats and powered bolsters. So I want to retain those. But some new light Recaros sure makes interior scream performance.