Seat Covers vs Re-Trim

[The Tall Luthier]

I love my Cali Ocean but let us be honest, the interior is decked out in a blind man's shade of lifeless grey, that seems to suck the colour out of my own skin, not only that it gets dirty very quickly!
I'm in the market for a little splash of colour, an injection of life, a durable bright and comfy future with my Cali.
Specifically, I want ivory leather seats with green highlighting to complement the two tone green and white VW styling, maybe a funky carpet and definitely some vinyl wrap to cover the kitchen doors nothing garish you understand, just brighter. So I have two options, seat covers OR a complete re-trim, both may have the same effect but one is reversible and one is professionally finished and will look like a proper job.

I need your opinion on reselling; if I can offer a fully functioning Ocean that has been brought up to an overall permanent, polished, design , will it attract a larger or smaller market than the , 'I nearly made it look really brilliant but if you don't like it its not a problem' implementation?

All thoughts welcome please.

 

[Boomer]

These are still seat covers but lots of different options, including leather and might be a good halfway house in terms of price. You can design yourself so can add colour etc. I've not used them but have seen plenty of posts from people who have. Their Facebook page also had plenty of photos etc on as well. Plus they can do the fitting for you as well. Based on the North West.

Individual Auto Design ( or Seatskinz).
The links below but it's showing a bit funny.

Home

 

[66tim99]

These are still seat covers but lots of different options, including leather and might be a good halfway house in terms of price. You can design yourself so can add colour etc. I've not used them but have seen plenty of posts from people who have. Their Facebook page also had plenty of photos etc on as well. Plus they can do the fitting for you as well. Based on the North West.

Individual Auto Design ( or Seatskinz).
The links below but it's showing a bit funny.

Home

These are great. Paid about £1100 for some premium ones. The company are very helpful in making choices of fabrics, sending out swatches and talking you through it, and fitted them well. Of course they also protect your original seats, so when scruffy, or you sell, can just remove them and reveal spanking new seats. So new seats for about 2/3 the price of a re-trim.
Only issue is just a single seat back pocket. The 6.1 originals have 2 small pockets at the top. Individual Auto Design were interested in recreating them so I’d recommend pressing them to do that.
Photos in post #14 here
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/seat-covers-any-recommendations-photos-of-your-covers.

 

[WelshGas]

Personalising any vehicle might decrease the market when selling and I doubt if you would be able to cover the cost when selling.

 

[The Tall Luthier]

Personalising any vehicle might decrease the market when selling and I doubt if you would be able to cover the cost when selling.

That was my thought, that the market may be reduced because of the personalisation.

If done well though surely it would be more attractive than Spitting Image’s John Major grey throughout?

I guess your point is that people who are looking for a Cali instantly exclude any that look like a conversion?

 

[WelshGas]

That was my thought, that the market may be reduced because of the personalisation.

If done well though surely it would be more attractive than Spitting Image’s John Major grey throughout?

I guess your point is that people who are looking for a Cali instantly exclude any that look like a conversion?

Seat covers , not a problem. Re-trim? Personally, if there were 2 identical Californias and one had a full leather re-trim, I would buy the other. I don't like freezing seats in winter and burning hot seats in summer, wearing shorts.

 

[ArunAlec]

That was my thought, that the market may be reduced because of the personalisation.

If done well though surely it would be more attractive than Spitting Image’s John Major grey throughout?

I guess your point is that people who are looking for a Cali instantly exclude any that look like a conversion?

I’d play safe and go for seat covers. I just have a waterproof cover on the rear seat to provide some protection from the inevitable splashes from cooking.
I don’t rate the upholstery material in my T5. I can live with the grey but it doesn’t seem to wear well compared to my budget Peugeot 207 with twice the mileage and a fraction of the TLC!

 

[The Tall Luthier]

Seat covers , not a problem. Re-trim? Personally, if there were 2 identical Californias and one had a full leather re-trim, I would buy the other. I don't like freezing seats in winter and burning hot seats in summer, wearing shorts.

Thank you. I always prefer white leather for exactly that bum scorching reason.

 

[Jester]

Seat covers , not a problem. Re-trim? Personally, if there were 2 identical Californias and one had a full leather re-trim, I would buy the other. I don't like freezing seats in winter and burning hot seats in summer, wearing shorts.

Your to old to wear shorts!!

 

[The Saint Essex]

I've got seat covers on Bertie (which came when I bought him), but tempted to go for re-trim as the covers occasionally come off a little and then look scruffy. I definitely want something wipeable even if it's just to tidy up the rain that blows in when the sliding door is open. Obviously with a re-trim you want something tasteful that would appear to a wide audience and I guess some people might think, why have you had re-trim, did you not look after your Cali?

 

[WelshGas]

Your to old to wear shorts!!

Not yet., but I doubt if I’ll be wearing them on my forthcoming Norway jaunt.

BOREALIS LIVECAM NORDKAPP 360

 

[Joker 1299]

Not yet., but I doubt if I’ll be wearing them on my forthcoming Norway jaunt.

BOREALIS LIVECAM NORDKAPP 360

You’re definitely too old to not wear them!

 

[The Blue Merle]

I love my Cali Ocean but let us be honest, the interior is decked out in a blind man's shade of lifeless grey, that seems to suck the colour out of my own skin, not only that it gets dirty very quickly!
I'm in the market for a little splash of colour, an injection of life, a durable bright and comfy future with my Cali.
Specifically, I want ivory leather seats with green highlighting to complement the two tone green and white VW styling, maybe a funky carpet and definitely some vinyl wrap to cover the kitchen doors nothing garish you understand, just brighter. So I have two options, seat covers OR a complete re-trim, both may have the same effect but one is reversible and one is professionally finished and will look like a proper job.

I need your opinion on reselling; if I can offer a fully functioning Ocean that has been brought up to an overall permanent, polished, design , will it attract a larger or smaller market than the , 'I nearly made it look really brilliant but if you don't like it its not a problem' implementation?

All thoughts welcome please.

Camo seat covers, cheap and colourful.
Had them for years and are still good as new about £50 I think.
Plus I have a dog so great at protecting original seat.

 

[B J G]

A selling option would be to offer a retrim (costed first) of the Buyers choice included in sale price.

 

[Perfectos]

Seat covers , not a problem. Re-trim? Personally, if there were 2 identical Californias and one had a full leather re-trim, I would buy the other. I don't like freezing seats in winter and burning hot seats in summer, wearing shorts.

Theres a myth, regarding leather seats, Quite often spread by those who have not experienced Quality real leather seats, they are not freezing in the winter nor burning in the summer. Maybe PVC not leather.

car manufacturers provide them in high end vehicles, if they were inferior to cloth seats they wouldn’t be a premium product.

As far as leather vs retrim, I personally would rather have hard wearing, wipeable leather seats over the beige self staining cloth seats offered up by VW as standard. I presume that’s why there is such a third party market for uber expensive fit over covers though.

I wear shorts for about 9 months of the year never frozen or burned myself yet despite having leather seats in many vehicles to date.

personal choice is a good thing and the world would be a very boring place if everyone drove around in a Bog standard vehicle in fear of the effect it might have on resale in future.

 

[Jay586]

Camo seat covers, cheap and colourful.
Had them for years and are still good as new about £50 I think.
Plus I have a dog so great at protecting original seat.View attachment 91834

I'm just selling a set of these on ebay from my T6 kombi. They were on for 2 years and tho we didn't go very far, I do have dogs and my van is always filthy. They look as good as new. I just wish they did the rear seats in Calis...

 

[Jay586]

They don't fit Cali seats tho, as the seats are fatter. The Caravelle ones are bigger.

 

[WelshGas]

Theres a myth, regarding leather seats, Quite often spread by those who have not experienced Quality real leather seats, they are not freezing in the winter nor burning in the summer. Maybe PVC not leather.

car manufacturers provide them in high end vehicles, if they were inferior to cloth seats they wouldn’t be a premium product.

As far as leather vs retrim, I personally would rather have hard wearing, wipeable leather seats over the beige self staining cloth seats offered up by VW as standard. I presume that’s why there is such a third party market for uber expensive fit over covers though.

I wear shorts for about 9 months of the year never frozen or burned myself yet despite having leather seats in many vehicles to date.

personal choice is a good thing and the world would be a very boring place if everyone drove around in a Bog standard vehicle in fear of the effect it might have on resale in future.

Sorry, but I have had experience of high end leather upholstery in high end vehicles from BMW, Audi and Bentley and I stand by my comments.

 

[B J G]

Sorry, but I have had experience of high end leather upholstery in high end vehicles from BMW, Audi and Bentley and I stand by my comments.

I don't have leather for the same reasons as you, cold not too much of an issue as winter grade trousers give protection.

 

[The Blue Merle]

I'm just selling a set of these on ebay from my T6 kombi. They were on for 2 years and tho we didn't go very far, I do have dogs and my van is always filthy. They look as good as new. I just wish they did the rear seats in Calis...

Turtle covers sell the material so you could get one made up for rear.
Someone on here had one made for there bench part of there 2seatee beach can’t remember the post though.
Ive bought the rear kombi seat cover to adapt for my joker seat as very similar apart from bed bit.

 

[Jay586]

Turtle covers sell the material so you could get one made up for rear.
Someone on here had one made for there 3seater beach can’t remember the post though.
Ive bought the rear kombi seat cover to adapt for my joker seat as very similar apart from bed bit.

Yep, I've seen the posts. I'm waiting for my camo grey front seats...

The Transporter ones don't have the airbag seams.

 

[The Blue Merle]

Yep, I've seen the posts. I'm waiting for my camo grey front seats...

The Transporter ones don't have the airbag seams.

The joker doesn’t come with seat airbags so all good.
Don’t forget to post pic of new covers.