I took advantage of the group buy a while back and got new leather for seats (both L/R), center console cover, shift boot and L/R door panel trims all for about $850. The group buy was from Northwest Automotive Leather. Since they had already done several prior group buys, I was quite comfortable buying from them.
Anyhow once I got the new leather kit, I removed my seats, door panels and console cover, took all of them to a auto ulphostry shop in Santa Ana, and had them all done for $400, cash.
I did some shopping around before committing to the group buy. Prices for the same leather kits I ordered ranged from $1400 ~ $2600 and that's w/o installation. I'm sure some shops probably quoted me some top quality leather to justify such high price, but I was quite happy with what I got from Northwest Auto Leather.
As for labor cost, one shop in Irvine took a look at those seats and wanted $800 just to start. There was also a shop that claimed to do alot of ulphostry works for local auto dealers such as BMW and MBZ and wanted $1200. Many of them didn't care to do just the installation. So I decided to hit on some smaller shops in Santa Ana that did a lot of general interior restorations. I found them to be very reasonly priced and very easy to work with. The shop I ended up going to had everything done in two day, exactly as promised. Quality of work was about an 8.5 but well worth the money. I then spent about 1/2 hour with a heat gun tightening up any loose spots in the leather.
All and all I was quite pleased. Here is a bonus for you! While the ulphostry shop was working on my seats, since the seats were out I thoroughly vacuum and shampoo the interior carpet, conditioned the vinyl liners and dash. When the new leather interior was put back in, the interior felt like a million bucks. :smile:
