Hi guys.
Just thought I'd formally introduce myself. I'm Alex Knight and I work for Toyota GB in Portbury, Bristol as a leather trimmer.
Me and a colleague have decided to start trimming leather in our spare time and have decided to start on MK3 MR2s.
At the moment we are just gauging interest, and if many people would want a leather kit retro fitted by us.
We are only doing the MK3 MR2 at the moment, and there is a vast choice of colours, and mix 'n' match colours (ie: Red outside edge, and Black inside). Basically, we can do whatever you want.
The kits themselves consist of both front seats, and both door panels.
I am just sorting out a price at the moment, but rest assured, it will be competitive.
So, if you would like, or are interested in this service, stick your name down so we can gauge some interest.
Many thanks guys.
Alex Knight.
Quote me happy! s:lol: :lol: s:lol: Have you got any pics of previous work?
Would you do the retrimming at your Toyota Garage or at home? The reason I ask is would you have access to the MR2 stamp!
Also I don't want full leather, i'd ideally like black leather middles and red Aclantara suede on the side bolsters..possible???
Cheers,
Mike
Could be intested depending on price and quality......
Me too!
The right price and you've defo got a sale,
How about doing heated seat to boot, i think i read an aticle on how to do it on here or spyderchat, seemed easy enough.
Just doing leather at the moment guys.
Errrm, as for previous work - just go and look at ANY MK3 MR2 with leather in it. There is a 50/50 chance I will have leathered it!
I do this, day in-day out for Toyota as my job, and I have been doing it for over two years now. There will be NO quality issues I can assure you.
so does that mean you can do the Roadster embossing as well?
Ineed it does. It will come on all the kits that we fit.
Very Interested...
Ooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh...NOW I am interested............. s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:
Sorry guys, forgot to mention that the work will be carried out my colleagues workshop in Weston-Super-Mare, which is where we live. It is a few miles south of Bristol in South West England.
I am aware that Toyota Dealers charge £700 for this kit inc. fitting, and it will be safe to say that we will definitely undercut this price quite easily, although the price has yet to be finalised.
£100, go on.
Sounds better each post! Still interested in full leather, primarily wanted suede on the bolsters to prevent the leather cracking getting in and out..no biggy.
So it will be the same leather supplier as Toyota? Sorry for all the questions but i'm getting excited!..but could you also do stitching as per the Audi TT IE baseball stitching..
(http://www.thecarplace.com/audi7.jpg)
£100 s:lol: :lol: s:lol:
Errrm... Not quite that cheap mate. Tis a lot of work involved!
Another question, how long would it take? i'd be coming over from London you see...
Yup, same supplier that Toyota use. Very nice leather indeed. Can't do the stitching on the seats as yet, although I could talk to our supplier and maybe try and see if we could do something similar in future.
As for how long. It will probably take around 4-6 hrs start to finish.
Typical, just after I get mine sorted!! s:roll: :roll: s:roll: Nice offer though
I would be very interested in a deep red for my silver 2! Let us know the price and I will see if I am defo interested!
Will sit down and work out a price with Andy (my colleague) tonight, so we should be able to let you guys know tomorrow.
You will probably have a full order book for the next year Alex by the looks of it.
Please hurry with the price s:lol: :lol: s:lol: I'm currently in the middle of emails to buy a set of second hand seats].
When would you be in a position to start on any orders?
Fingers crossed, should be able to start taking order next week! Gotta jet now guys. Will be back online tomorrow (with a price hopefully!). s8) 8) s8)
I would also be interested if the price is ok.....
ditto as well, may be interesested for the right price.
would you do a straight swap for the seats as well. i.e. a newly covered set for the existing unleathered seats?
if the price is rigth "then come on down" s:lol: :lol: s:lol:
Dave, you are too young to remember that program surely?
Can you do the leather arm rests like in Darth Paul's car?
m http://www.mr2roc.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=51777#51777 (http://www.mr2roc.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=51777#51777) m
Quote from: "cstevens"Dave, you are too young to remember that program surely?
i think we studied it in history s:lol: :lol: s:lol: s:lol: :lol: s:lol: s:wink: :wink: s:wink:
We could probably do the armrests and gear gaiter, but we wanna fit a few normal kits first and let people gauge opinion on our work.
Sorry, but we cannot swap seats around. We need to work on the actual seats from the car.
As for prices, our supplier is no letting me know on monday, as his boss is at the motor show, and as such un-contactable for today.
Sit tight guys.
I would also be interested in the armrests when you look to start doing these.
I'd definately be interested if the price is right. I'd just be interested in black as per Toyota standard.
Any prices yet? Pretty please... s:D :D s:D
Hi guys.
Supplier is being a bit elusive at the moment, and I don't know why. s:? :? s:?
I will give him another call now, and find out what is going on. Sorry for the delay guys, won't be long now.
Right then guys, we have a price!
The price will be £580 fully inclusive of fitting. s8) 8) s8)
As I said, we can do a whole range of colours etc.
What do ya think guys?
I think leather is £500 option when new, and Toyota would be making money at that price.
Hows about a list of colours, or even better pictures?
..
Well Toyota charge £700 for the exact same leather kit that WE fit. The kits are horrendously expensive trom the supplier. Believe me, we are making a very small margin on this.
This is factory fit standard for £120 less than Toyota charge. I'll leave it up to you guys.
Oh,
and just to clarify things, Toyota charge £500 for standard black or red leather as a new option.
They also charge £700 for custom leather, which is what we will be fitting.
The stock red/black leather is very poor quality, and no where near the quality of the custom leather.
I should know, this is my job!
..
Quote from: "Alex Knight"The stock red/black leather is very poor quality, and no where near the quality of the custom leather.
I should know, this is my job!
I don't mean to sound doubtful about your knowledge on the subject my friend, but my stock red leather seats withstand the tests of time and mileage quite nicely. Over 18k and they're like new.
It also feels better than the leather on my previous car. Seems pretty good quality to me (just about the only good quality item inside the cabin)...
Quote from: "Alex Knight"Well Toyota charge £700 for the exact same leather kit that WE fit. The kits are horrendously expensive trom the supplier. Believe me, we are making a very small margin on this.
This is factory fit standard for £120 less than Toyota charge. I'll leave it up to you guys.
The problem is this:
Toyota charge £600 + £100 dealer commission so i'm sure you can get it a bit cheaper. Then you drop the car into you local Toyota dealer and collect it a few hours later.
To goto you would mean a 2-2.5 hour drive each way and a tank of petrol and then being in Weston while you fit the seats. That's about £40 onto the cost and 10 hours. Most people value their leisure time at more than £10 per hour and so the dealer fit feels better to them.
There's also the fact that Toyota would offer some form of warranty on the seats (maybe you do aswell, but it would still mean another drive down to you and more hassle).
Maybe you could try beating the supplier down on price?
AFAIK, Toyota dealers CANNOT fit leather kits. It is a factory fit option only.
Btw, I have already beaten the supplier down. Twice. He will go no lower.
Believe me, we have VERY small margins.
Basically, the crack is this:
We are doing factory fit standard leather kits for £120 less than Toyota charges. As far as I can see you have two options:
1. Go to Toyota. They will charge you £700 and bring your car to us at the Toyota GB Import Centre to have leather fitted by us.
2. Come to us. We will charge you £580 for you to come down to see us in WSM to have leather fitted by us.
Same result, same people doing the work, £120 difference.
We cannot go any lower on price. If we did, it would start costing US to supply and fit your kits.
If you are still interested in a custom leather fit, please PM me.
..
£580's out of my price range, especially when you add the cost of petrol to get over there.
Guys,
I regret to inform you that, due to unforseen circumstances, we can longer offer this service. Please accept my sincerest apologies.
May I also take this opportunity to renounce all links, past present or otherwise, with Toyota GB Ltd.
Mmmmm seems like Mr T isnt happy , not surprising really I suppose all facts considered
Spooky,
Right, what we need is some dye and a couple of cows, whose with me?
I've known a few dogs in my time s;-) ;-) s;-) but cows? you've got me there matey :-) :-) :-)
Quote from: "perry190"Mmmmm seems like Mr T isnt happy , not surprising really I suppose all facts considered
It would seem he has a definate dislike to moonlighting...
Shame Alex had to lose his job over it though.*
*
As I gather from the 'renouncing all links' part.
Quell surprise!!
Mr T IP addresses are regular guests on this forum apparently s:wink: :wink: s:wink:
It would appear that, contrary to popular american songstress Leanne Rimes, you can actually fight the moonlight...
Been looking for somebody to supply black leather padded door arm rests. the original ones are hard as hell.- is this possible, or too small a job for you? Tate
You might try asking Darth Paul really-really nicely, but I warn you that he has quite clearly stated he won't be doing anymore armrest kits, so prepare yourself to be disapointed...
m http://www.mr2roc.org/forum/viewtopic.p ... r+armrests (http://www.mr2roc.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4433&highlight=leather+armrests) m
Heres an example of his products:
(http://www.spydermagazine.com/files/Red%201.jpg)