Source for Buick GN cloth material besides SMS?

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Goldhawg

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Mar 27, 2021
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I'm planning on recovering some Cobalt Recaro seats in the OEM style GN cloth, and my upholsterer guy says I'm going to need 10 yards to be safe for both buckets. He said SMS is one that would have the correct 80s design, although he didn't want to deal with them as they are a pain. I had no idea of what a yard of seat material is going to go for, but I call and they inform me its $169/yd, plus shipping. I had not remotely anticipated that raw material would be roughly $1800 for a pair of cloth buckets. And then I read the dismal reviews online. Are there any options that are more affordable? I can't afford to pay $3000 for a couple of buckets ($300 purchase price for the buckets from the j/y, $800 to recover and then $1800 in materials, plus the stitching to get the turbo logo in the headrest). Appreciate other options.
 

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69hurstolds

Geezer
Supporting Member
Jan 2, 2006
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The material is 54" wide, and normally sold by the yard. Lord have mercy, if you go with 10 yards, that's 30 feet. You know a GN itself is only 200" long, right? 10 yards of material is 360" long, almost twice as long as your car. For 2 buckets? I'm not an upholsterer, but 10 yards seems a tad much. It likely goes "up the roll", in other words, the pleating and what not would be 54" wide across the seat, and the pleating would just be cut where it was needed. You can likely get by with 1/2 that, but I'm not an expert on GN seats, so there may be something I'm not aware of.

The upholsterer has got to be BS'ing you about needing 10 yards of material for 2 bucket seats. First, he'll need the light gray inserts, and then the black "trimmings". No friggin' way it's going to take 10 yards unless he sucks at it and tears up the stuff trying to get it right.

As far as any other place to get the stuff, not sure. Cheap ain't good, and good ain't cheap. So if you want to play, you got to pay.
 
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565bbchevy

Geezer
Aug 8, 2011
9,590
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The seats in my Regal are from Cerullo and the material is from ACME, I bought a couple extra yards at $32 a yard from Cerullo.
I also bought rear seat upholstery to match from StockInteriors,com and they also use the same ACME material.
So you might want to see what they offer
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Goldhawg

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Mar 27, 2021
37
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The material is 54" wide, and normally sold by the yard. Lord have mercy, if you go with 10 yards, that's 30 feet. You know a GN itself is only 200" long, right? 10 yards of material is 360" long, almost twice as long as your car. For 2 buckets? I'm not an upholsterer, but 10 yards seems a tad much. It likely goes "up the roll", in other words, the pleating and what not would be 54" wide across the seat, and the pleating would just be cut where it was needed. You can likely get by with 1/2 that, but I'm not an expert on GN seats, so there may be something I'm not aware of.

The upholsterer has got to be BS'ing you about needing 10 yards of material for 2 bucket seats. First, he'll need the light gray inserts, and then the black "trimmings". No friggin' way it's going to take 10 yards unless he sucks at it and tears up the stuff trying to get it right.

As far as any other place to get the stuff, not sure. Cheap ain't good, and good ain't cheap. So if you want to play, you got to pay.
Yeh, seems high, and he said it was more than we'd need, but you want to have extra not less. Which I understand if it wasn't so expensive. Other online estimates go from 5 yards for a pair of buckets up to about 8. I was expecting cloth to be cheaper than nice leather, but its more expensive. I don't buy that if you want to play you got to pay at that level. Usually the 80/20 rule applies--you get 80% of the benefit at 20% of the cost. So who is the vendor that sells good quality cloth at a reasonable price? It may make sense for me just to recover the complete interior in a nice leather or ultra leather and put the GN seats in storage. How do the vendors get two seat covers complete for $400? GM didn't put that black and gray cloth in because it was expensive, and my stockers look pretty good @ 50k miles. Hopefully I'll be able to find another source.
 

jlat

Greasemonkey
Jan 25, 2013
241
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The seats in my Regal are from Cerullo and the material is from ACME, I bought a couple extra yards at $32 a yard from Cerullo.
I also bought rear seat upholstery to match from StockInteriors,com and they also use the same ACME material.
So you might want to see what they offer
View attachment 200334 View attachment 200331 View attachment 200332
hello people: power passenger seat. You went all out. GM never sold them like that did they?
IBBY
 

565bbchevy

Geezer
Aug 8, 2011
9,590
12,612
113
Michigan
hello people: power passenger seat. You went all out. GM never sold them like that did they?
IBBY
No they didn't I had to make them both that way
 
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mikester

Comic Book Super Hero
Mar 10, 2010
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Small town NY
The problem you might run into is SMS bought out a lot of their competition over the years. Ive bought OEM Olds and Pontiac cloths and vinyl and last time cloth was $95 a yard. Vinyl was a little cheaper. They suck to deal with. Multiple mistakes on the first order. It took months to get the order correct. Different dye lots, not the correct amounts. After all that I had to buy three different materials when I did the wagon interior. They were the only place that had all three so I took the chance all over again. It took weeks to get it but at least it was correct the first time.
 

Goldhawg

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Mar 27, 2021
37
32
18
Sorry for not updating; I was able to get some ACME fabric at much cheaper. They make the kits for G-body parts.
 
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moby92

Apprentice
Mar 27, 2017
50
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The seats in my Regal are from Cerullo and the material is from ACME, I bought a couple extra yards at $32 a yard from Cerullo.
I also bought rear seat upholstery to match from StockInteriors,com and they also use the same ACME material.
So you might want to see what they offer
View attachment 200334 View attachment 200331 View attachment 200332
Wonderful material! I'll see if my uncle would like them for his new Grand National project. Got to finish installing the rotors and motiv wheels on the Silverado this weekend before we can clear the garage and take her in.
 
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