Bay Area Leather -- Group Buy

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mdh said:
don't know if my range can make it from south bay?
You would need to recharge; it took me 7 bars from Santa Clara to Walnut Creek at 60 mph and 9 when going faster. Perhaps the shop would have the good sense to plug the Leaf into a regular outlet before we pick it up? There are several J1772s in Walnut Creek as well.
 
sure you can make it to south bay, as long as they'll recharge you at the shop! I commute oakland to palo alto every day (with a top up 120v at work...)
 
I am going to inquire next week (9/6) and/or the week after (9/12) to see who is out there, try to get photos and questions answered. I will be gone the last 2 weeks of September and upon my return on October 1, my Leaf should be ready :)

So I'm hoping that next week I can get some detailed pricing information for a group buy (if its available) before I leave so those of you who want to get it done right away can go. I'll create a new thread and call it Group Buy v2 if/once I have positive information.

As far as range for South Bay participants, I'll leave that up to you and if you feel comfortable teaching the shop how to plug the Leaf into L1 while its there (I can ask when I talk to them). There are some Nissan dealers in the area but again, I'll leave that up to you.
 
EricBayArea said:
As far as range for South Bay participants, I'll leave that up to you and if you feel comfortable teaching the shop how to plug the Leaf into L1 while its there (I can ask when I talk to them).
For me that's a requirement. It's 65 miles each way for me, and I'll have to climb 17
at the end of the drive home (normally takes me 3 bars just to go the 10 miles up the hill).

I'm still interested in the "group buy", but they will have to charge me up as part of the deal...
 
EricBayArea said:
I am going to inquire next week (9/6) and/or the week after (9/12) to see who is out there, try to get photos and questions answered. I will be gone the last 2 weeks of September and upon my return on October 1, my Leaf should be ready :)

So I'm hoping that next week I can get some detailed pricing information for a group buy (if its available) before I leave so those of you who want to get it done right away can go. I'll create a new thread and call it Group Buy v2 if/once I have positive information.

As far as range for South Bay participants, I'll leave that up to you and if you feel comfortable teaching the shop how to plug the Leaf into L1 while its there (I can ask when I talk to them). There are some Nissan dealers in the area but again, I'll leave that up to you.

I think the cost should be below $1,000. Anything over $1,000 is way too much for leather.
 
Friday afternoon update for all of you...

I went to 2 local auto upholstery shops in Walnut Creek and both told me the same thing; If the dealer recommends a place, I should go with that. Chances are they have a deal setup. So next week I'll get more information from the dealer on the place they recommended and how it works. The dealer is located in Concord and the shop is located in Hayward (I think). So I'm not sure if they come to the dealer or if they require the car go to the shop - but I'll find out.
 
EricBayArea said:
Friday afternoon update for all of you...

I went to 2 local auto upholstery shops in Walnut Creek and both told me the same thing; If the dealer recommends a place, I should go with that. Chances are they have a deal setup. So next week I'll get more information from the dealer on the place they recommended and how it works. The dealer is located in Concord and the shop is located in Hayward (I think). So I'm not sure if they come to the dealer or if they require the car go to the shop - but I'll find out.

As a suggestion, if you do this you may want them to place electric seat heater pads in since the seat will be taken apart, it is easy and they are not expensive and use very little power.
 
EVDRIVER said:
...if you do this you may want them to place electric seat heater pads in since the seat will be taken apart, it is easy and they are not expensive and use very little power.

I plan on asking that question as well. You know, I think that this place is the same that the original owner of this thread was trying to reach since they're both in Hayward and work with dealers. Not sure if that's a good thing but I'll do my best.
 
Hey: the place in Hayward I was working with was AutoHaus
http://www.yelp.com/biz/autohaus-automotive-hayward#query:car%20stereo%20installation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The guy was Rich.

His price quote to start was $1299.

If you go through a dealer, they may mark that up (or not). If you want to organize it with Rich, I'd probably be in -- the work looked fine, he was just unresponsive to me.

To the commenter that it should be well under $1000: I don't have a ton of context with car leather, but that's definitely not going to happen here. I know the LA place was reported as $1000. I approached Rich a couple of ways:

* I could get 5-6 customers if he could get price down to ~$1100. This didn't merit him even getting back to me
* I said separately if he could get me a discount off the $1299 I would be a buy now. He said he would "look into it" and then never followed up with me.

Possibly just disorganized or something, but if this is the shop, my gut is the pricing will be a bit above $1100. And that's fine for me.
 
The place I was referred to in Hayward was not AutoHaus. Its a different place (I can't remember at the time). I'll find out this next week what they're willing to do for us and get more details. I don't think we'll see $1000 in the bay area either.
 
Alright everyone, here is what I found out.

The place I called was Coach Automotive Restyling in Union City. Very nice people I spoke to on the phone said they have done many Leaf's for people and dealers.

Their price is $1,295 which includes the basic leather (opposed to the Tuscany / premium) on all seats and areas where there is cloth (arm rest, door panels, etc.). He does not offer group pricing so everyone is on their own to schedule an appointment, etc.

-Delivery: You can take your car to them and leave it or pay $100 and they will drive to your house, unbolt all of your seats, take them and install the leather, drive back to your house and re-install them. They are more than willing to plug-in your Leaf to your L1 EVSE if you want to leave the car there, you just need to show them what to do.
-Turnaround: 3 days is needed to complete the job (so I'm thinking if you drop it off/have them come to take your seats on a Monday you can pick it up/have the seats installed on a Wednesday)
-Heated Seats: They offer heated seats for the front 2 seats at an additional $495
-Colors: They have a slew of colors to choose from. You can call them and have them send you a sample set with a handful of (I'm assuming basic, popular) colors.

I hope this is helpful to all. Unfortunately the group-buy won't work with this shop. If someone else finds a different place please let us know but at this point when my Leaf comes in I'm probably going to use them and have them come get the seats (worth $100 to me not to have to drive there twice from Walnut Creek)
 
Another option to consider is Surefit Seat Covers in San Leandro. They can do leather conversion on the Leaf, any color, several options available: perforations, two-tone, contrast stitching, seat heating, ect. cost from 1200-1800 depending on your choices, 1-2 days in shop. 1 week lead time. I've seen their work on several classic cars and can recommend them.

Surefit Seat Covers @ 13922 East 14th St. San Leandro, CA 94578. 510-357-4355.
 
Great tips - but has anyone actually got a leather job done in the Bay Area from one of these shops?
If so, could you post some pictures?
 
ehuna said:
Great tips - but has anyone actually got a leather job done in the Bay Area from one of these shops?
If so, could you post some pictures?

A guy at work who parks next to me just got his done with dark grey. It matches the dash and looks great. I'll try to find out where it was done and how much.
 
I thought you might find this interesting. Someone on this forum asked me whether Skyline in Southern California can provide a kit. Those of us who have used this service know that it's custom and the original upholstery is removed but I did contact Tony at Skyline to see if he could make a kit available for those who don't live in Southern California. He said yes, but it's not easy. See here: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=5963&p=136534#p136534" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
There's a video on YouTube that shows how to install new seat covers. I say "covers" because that's what cloth and leather are - it slides over foam and is clipped to metal parrts on the seats frame. Katzkin (I think) is the company that makes most of the leather kits. Google Katzkin install on YouTube and you'll see what is required. I'm not saying his is a Katzkin, but you'll get am idea of what it will take to install.

P.S. My leaf is scheduled to come some time soon (Week of Sept 30). Once it comes, I'm calling the shop I found to have them do my car. I'll provide a full write-up.
 
For those of you who are still interested, I picked up my Leaf last weekend and called Coach Automotive back today. They are going to come to my place and take the seats, door cards, and arm rest and install leather and bring them back/re-install next day. Additionally I opted for seat heaters in the front.

Hope to have them in soon and I'll post pictures here for everyone to see. Using the swatch book, my wife and I determined that the color "Stone" is a very close match to the accent color on the dash/steering wheel. A medium gray that will show a lot less dirt than a color closer to the light of the cloth seats.
 
EricBayArea said:
For those of you who are still interested, I picked up my Leaf last weekend and called Coach Automotive back today. They are going to come to my place and take the seats, door cards, and arm rest and install leather and bring them back/re-install next day. Additionally I opted for seat heaters in the front.

Hope to have them in soon and I'll post pictures here for everyone to see. Using the swatch book, my wife and I determined that the color "Stone" is a very close match to the accent color on the dash/steering wheel. A medium gray that will show a lot less dirt than a color closer to the light of the cloth seats.


very cool... i called them a few weeks ago and they told me they did not have a pattern for the car and wanted an arm and leg to do a "custom" job. What did it cost you? Can you send us contact info once you become a satisfied customer :). Also interested in cost for the heated seats, etc.
 
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