Will it look ridiculous?

[Rockledge]

Been thinking about my interior a little bit again. It's the full leather mocha, which is looking pretty good.

However, at some point I'm going to need to replace one or two of the leather "panels" on the driver's side seat. Pretty much the usual wear going on there, from what I've heard. So I have a few options, as I see it:

1. Try and have the panels repaired in the same leather scavenged from my old mocha back seat;

2. Have the panels repaired using a more durable synthetic material which matches the original texture and color of the mocha leather pretty well;

3. Here's the option with a twist: I can get another seat from a mocha half-and-half SHO and put it in there instead. That's right, I'm wondering how it would look if I put a a cloth-style driver's seat in with the rest of the "full leather" interior? Would the contrast of the two front seats make it look stupid?

I like the idea of the cloth driver's seat for a few reasons, primarily because it will help hold me in a little better during our regular "exercise" sessions . Also, I like to wear shorts when it gets hot up here in NE and I'm not a very tall person, meaning the back of my bare legs often rub against the leather (especially when shifting), which is not a good thing when I'm hot and sweaty, or if the leather seat has been baking in the sun for a while before I sit down and buckle up.

So, what do all you SHO interior experts have to say? Please feel free to comment on any and all of the options I have set forth above, or mention other options if you can.

TIA

 

[oh_SHO]

hhhmm, interesting approach. I never thought about mixing full leather and 50/50 seats. Probably wouldn't look that bad if you did both front seats. But if you find two good front seats chances are that the back seat will be even nicer and relatively cheap. I've checked into having mine recovered (50/50) and it was close to $300 just for the fronts!!!

 

[AutoSHO]

I would definately say do both front seats. I prefer the 1/2 cloth over the full leather seats as well - Much cooler and they grip you better as well.

 

[Rockledge]

Thanks for the feedback.

I actually did the same thing (priced out fixing my original back seat, which had (has) a few small tears in it) and got back some crazy numbers. So, I decided to look around, and I was fortunate to get hooked up with Dan Barbush through another transaction I was doing with him, who just happened to have a mint mocha leather back seat available for sale, which I grabbed (thanks again Dan!). A case where the SHOforum WTB section really worked out well for me.

Also, my passenger seat is in excellent shape, I'd rather not do anything with it. I'm considering replacing only the driver's seat. So I guess this is where my thinking gets a little funky...

 

[91taurisho]

When I first bought my car it had the 50/50 cloth/leather seats. My drivers seat hada tear in it and I didn't like the cloth. I also had a 1995 Taurus SE with full leather(only one small tear near the inside bolster on the drivers seat, passenger side had no tears/rips). I Liked the leather better so I swapped both front seats. I now have 50/50 in the rear and full leather in the front and it looks good IMO. No one has ever said anything about it unless I said something first. They all have said it looks factory. It matches almost perfectly too!

 

[Rockledge]

It's good to know that I could probably get away with keeping the back seat full leather and putting 50/50s in the front. If I were to do that, I suppose I could always sell my leather passenger seat to someone who needs it.

I think maybe a plan of action could be to wait until I can score a decent deal on a driver's side 50/50, then put it in and see what it looks like. If OK, then fine. If not OK, then I can go from there. My driver's side seat really isn't as bad as some others I've seen, so I can be a little patient.