Leather Seats and Columbus Retrofit Advice?

[timmy]

Hi All,

Just wanted to see if anyone has any ideas about upgrading to leather seats from the cloth and the Columbus Unit from the Audience System... (2008 Octavia Elegance)

I know the Columbus unit is easy enough to get but I'm not sure about reprogramming the car to accommodate it and a good place to find a well priced one...

I also would have loved leather in my Octavia but had to buy with stock seats..... can you get leather seats as just parts and have them fitted or maybe I should choose to get them reupholstered? I would choose the reupholstery but I'm concerned about the airbags and warranty.

Any advice would be great!

[K1W1]

In the old days it was quite common to reupholster seats in leather you tended to get a better job for less cost than what the factories supplied.

Google threw up numerous links for Upholsterers here is one. I'd ring a couple and just ask the air bag question.

[BlackSuperb]

When I was looking for my car, the dealer was searching his database to see if there was one in the country that had all the bits I wanted. When the issue of leather came up he said it wasn't a problem because they could fit it after market and it would look as good if not better than the factory fit. I didn't need to though because the car I wanted was in Aus anyway with leather fitted. Dunno where he was going to get it done but ask a Skoda dealer where they recommend.

[IBN]

Shouldn't be a problem. My Scout had aftermarket leather fitted through the dealer.
All good. I'm sure your dealer can point you somewhere to start looking for an upholsterer.
I suspect "factory" leather on imported cars is quite often fitted here locally to minimise costs to the dealer.

[K1W1]

I suspect "factory" leather on imported cars is quite often fitted here locally to minimise costs to the dealer.

No it's not except on Holdens and Fords.
Most factory leather these days is only partial leather anyway. The surface you sit on is leather but the backs and sides of the seats are generally pretend leather (used to be called vinyl but the technology has moved on somewhat).

[Golf Houso]

Hi All,

Just wanted to see if anyone has any ideas about upgrading to leather seats from the cloth and the Columbus Unit from the Audience System... (2008 Octavia Elegance)

I know the Columbus unit is easy enough to get but I'm not sure about reprogramming the car to accommodate it and a good place to find a well priced one...

I also would have loved leather in my Octavia but had to buy with stock seats..... can you get leather seats as just parts and have them fitted or maybe I should choose to get them reupholstered? I would choose the reupholstery but I'm concerned about the airbags and warranty.

Any advice would be great!

As has been said before, VW leather is of a notoriously low quality and is really just designed to look great in pictures but is monstrously bad when compare to most other manufacturers let alone aftermarket. VAG leather is also painted, not dyed like even the lowest of available aftermarket leathers.

EVERY, and I mean EVERY auto-trimmer knows how to safely remove and re-install air-bags, and the vast majority of their work is in air-bag repair and the restoration of vehicles deemed repairable write offs.

And once you sit in a car with a custom interior job, you will never go back...