[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by Anil Vincent

Dear Shashank, considering the age of 3 years this is some thing normal with the leather, it need a lot of care and maintanence, i have seen the OE leather trims coming of premium brans like Merc, BMW and Audi's with the same problem.

Dear Anil,there are umpteen examples of leather lasting for more than 3 years on our forum itself. I've not seen BMW/Audi etc.but my buddy has a 3 year old Passat and the black leather looks like new. All he does is gets them cleaned once in a year. Here's bhpian robimahanta's review:

I had done my leather with Karlssons three years back and there has been no wear and tear at all. It has aged really well and the patina it has developed over the years makes it look even better. It is Napa and I hardly got it cleaned more than 5/6 times over the years.

[thoma]

Originally Posted by thoma

- overall, I am happy; more because the stock interiors of the Baleno was direly in need of a makeover.

Come to think of it again, nobody should misunderstand my verdict. Just because the Baleno needed a makeover desperately and because the use was moderate, I was happy. I would not advice Stanley for heavy usages.

Originally Posted by Anil Vincent

Dear Shashank, considering the age of 3 years this is some thing normal with the leather, it need a lot of care and maintanence, i have seen the OE leather trims coming of premium brans like Merc, BMW and Audi's with the same problem.

The OE leather wrapping on the Baleno's steering after 7.5yrs was as new as when the car rolled out from the factory, that too without any cleaning. I usually forget about the steering wrap as it was in black and the Stanley in beige. The car had run close to 60k kms on the winding Kerala roads.

[sridhu]

Mods: Cant find a comparison of the various leather options in Bangalore. Hence this thread. Please re-classify/ delete as appropriate.

I am looking for getting my to-be-purchased Duster interiors converted to leather. Requirements[list]

• good, automobile quality leather (no art leather/ rexine)
• Excellent workmanship - no fiddling around with the stock seats; no muck lying about, no visible tuck marks
• Guarantee
• After sales service - Stanley cleans my interiors once in 3 months for free

I have always done my interiors in Stanley in all my cars until now. But when I enquired re the price for Duster, they gave me a bone-jarring 65-70k quote for the entry level leather. So, I have decided to look around. I am otherwise happy with their work & service standards until now.

The options I see are these. Request people to chime in with their recco for these and experiences, positive or negative, with any of them in the entire process - enquiry, execution, payment, after-sales

Options

- Stanley: They are still the undoubted kings of upholstering. Price has become stratospheric. Otherwise no negatives.
Quote: 70k for the Duster - entry level 0.9mm leather

- Karlsson: Found out about them from T-Bhp. Seems like they have upped their prices too. Earlier they seemed to have had a 30% advantage for their entry-level Scandinavian vs the Stanley entry level. Now it seems to have dropped under 10%. They were quoting 53k for the a single colour for Duster; 58k for double colour - for entry level Scandinavian 1.5mm leather.
It was quite a pleasure to deal with them - very knowledgeable & accomodative. Very above-board is the word that springs to mind. Took pains to point out their price is including VAT. (Do others spring it up on the customer later?). The sur-charge for double colour was a surprise.

This is the option I am tending towards, if I can get a 10-15% discount.

- Ovion About 45k for the Duster. Sounded flexible.
Personally, I find their designs too over-the-top. Sorry to be slightly judgemental, they sounded slightly shady. "Buyer beware" was my impression. Please do let me know if I am wrong.

- JC Road / local Autoparts dealer By definition, shady. WOrk quality is suspect. Will stay away.

- Coimbatore: I know this is not in Bangalore but apparently they do very high quality work for about 25-30k. In that case, it is actually worth driving to Coimbatore. Do other members know of specific dealers in Coimbatore? Any strong feedback? I have started inquiries too; will post here when I hear from them.

Given the Ambur hub for leather, I am surprised that there is nothing in Ambur or Madras for leather. What am I missing?

[deetjohn]

Originally Posted by sridhu

I am looking for getting my to-be-purchased Duster interiors converted to leather.

Give Imperial Inc. at Bannerghatta a shot. They are amazing VFM!

You can find all the details here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/bangal...bangalore.html

[condor]

@Sridhu,

check with Devraj. Yes, he is in JC road, but he does the work himself & he does it for the shops. Friend of a fellow BHPB-ian got it done recently, and no complaints. For full car, I think he can do fitting at your place.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/bangal...bangalore.html

Alternate - Imperial, in Vijaya bank layout

One more SMS I got (advertisement) - Harish @9880327745

btw, with current price of leather (as they quote), may be higher than 25-30k at CBE also.

[di1in]

Originally Posted by sridhu

Mods: Cant find a comparison of the various leather options in Bangalore. Hence this thread. Please re-classify/ delete as appropriate.

I am not sure of their leather options, but you could check with Shiva Kumar AN from Imperial leathers. Located at vijaya bank layout, and a very decent guy.

Let me know if you need his number, I'll PM it to you.

[Warwithwheels]

Originally Posted by sridhu

..Do other members know of specific dealers in Coimbatore? Any strong feedback? I have started inquiries too; will post here when I hear from them.

Did you try Koyas? They are supposed to be the best in CBE!



http://www.koyas.net/

[nirmaljusdoit]

I would suggest Karlsson, the entire process of selection to fitting to post treatment , definetly the best in Bangalore in terms of transparency and quality. You really get what you pay for.

[zoombiee]

You could try Ceralli at Banashankari too. My brother had got his car seats done there. Came out pretty decently.

[audioholic]

Me too vote for Ceralli. You can check my review on the Bangalore TBHP directory. Fit and finish is too good. WRT durablity, I am not sure since i got it installed a couple of months back only. Given their range and your budget, you will surely get the best of quality they offer. Do visit their showroom to have a look at images of dusters they have done before and you shall get an idea of what I am talking about

[csentil]

I got Ovion done on my Civic 7 years back! Napa leather mostly. Cost me 30K odd those days. Still looks great. Ovion was just becoming a name in the market then. Again it was TBHP which guided me towards them then. A lot of folks have asked me if its Stanley.

Keep the leather cleaned regularly. Works wonders. No loose ends or splits till date.

[rjstyles69]

^^ Agreed.

It's about 4 years and I still have the Ovion's which are in excellent shape. Not a single loose thread from any of the stitches made, except for the loss of a little luster on the steering wheel cover.
Here's the thread (Review : Ovion Seat Covers)that I put up when I got the Ovion's in my scorpio.

[premc44]

I have leather seats in my VW Vento. Got it done at Karlssons in Bangalore. The beige Scandinavian leather blends well with the interiors and the quality and fitment are superb. For the last 18 months, they have survived with hardly any care and still looks and feels good.

[tabrez]

Folks,
has anyone heard of Schon here in Bangalore ? I've scouted the forum for any feedback on them but couldn't find any. If anyone could kindly enlighten me with their experience with them. Their website is as below:

http://www.schonennovations.in/

[KevinP]

Originally Posted by tabrez

Folks,has anyone heard of Schon here in Bangalore ? ]

I checked out the web site and made some calls, they do some very good work. They have been recommended by a friend who was with Stanley before, he recons the leather they use is if top quality and says their work impeccable. Have had initial email conversations.

To quote their email -Genuine Leather (Zurich 1.1mm thick) price starts from 35k onward for the seats and for a full job cost you approximately 40k. Nappa leather would cost you approximately 58k for a full job.

Looking at getting my seats done, will be visiting them when i'm back in town will keep you updated.