Advice on aftermarket leather please

[s.chamberlin]

I need some advice on colors, styles, and stitching for aftermarket leather for a CX-5. I just bought a 2016 CX-5 with the Touring trim, and I'd like to replace the cloth with leather in the same style as Mazda's "parchment" leather on the Grand Touring. It's a two-color design, with light colored leather on the seat surfaces and door panels, and black leather on the seat sides and back, as you can see in these photos:




The dealer recommended Classic Soft Trim in Hayward, CA. The price for the CX-5 is $1299 + tax, which includes installation. But I'm getting hung up on the style choices.

You can see the leather color choices here: http://www.classicsofttrim.com/materials.php
And stitching color choices here: http://www.classicsofttrim.com/stitching.php

For the CX-5, CST recommends leather color "Ash" 087, but the Ash sample swatch I got is definitely darker than the color of the existing beige interior roof and pillars. To my eye, the closest match is "Ice" 080, but it's still not quite right. And I think both are darker than the Mazda "parchment" leather, but I'm just going from memory and might be wrong. How important do you think it is that the upholstery color be a near-exact match for the car's inside roof, pillars, and other light colored trim? Am I better off getting a color that doesn't really try to match, vs one that almost but not quite matches?

I'm also thinking about getting contrast stitching in a different thread color. I like the way Mazda's two-color parchment style gives the interior a sporty look, but not totally over the top street-racer look. If CST can't do the same two-color split, then I'll try to create a sporty look another way, using some light beige color leather but adding a different color contrast stitching. I haven't found too many examples of contrast stitching on light leather though - usually it's a technique used on black leather.

• white leather and red contrast stitching. Maybe it's a little much? https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/7a/3a/90/7a3a90105ba65870b0e2561554014a4c.jpg
  
• medium blue contrast stitching: http://www.autopromotor.co.uk/productitempics/8786/101.JPG
  
• navy blue: http://photos3.automanager.com/020561/041e4439c866e04487ea543d27724cfe/d9edc56a8b_640.jpg
  
• black: http://www.autopromotor.co.uk/productitempics/8786/251.JPG
  
• I could also do light beige leather with full white contrast stitching. I couldn't find any photos of an example of that, though.
  

My car's exterior is red, if that matters.

Any opinions?

 

[s.chamberlin]

OK, I placed an order with CST, and I'll post before and after photos when it's done. I think their "Ash" color recommendation might have been correct for the 2015, but for my 2016 "Fog" 086 seemed like the best match overall, so that's what I chose. This will be a two-tone leather design similar to Mazda's factory leather, with light colored seat faces, perforated face centers, but black sides and backs. Unlike the Mazda leather, it will have "Dark Cardinal" contrast stitching everywhere, which should complement the red paint that's visible around the doorframes in the cabin. I hope the style and color choices look good - I'm not a great judge of style, and have been known to wear blue socks with brown shoes.

 

[Ulrich]

Sorry I did not see this before, but in my mind you should go (or have gone) with Katzkin. They work with a lot of the OEMs, including Mazda, and do a decent job matching the OEM colors.

For "parchment" you'd want their "alabaster". They wouldn't do two-tone, but honestly, I am not too enthused about that look. I swapped the "sand" cloth interior for their leather in both my 2015 and 2016 CX-5s; I don't think they hit the color quite as good this time around but I was really happy on the first car. About a grand for the upgrade, including the door panels.

 

[s.chamberlin]

Looks very nice! $1000 is a great price too. I've heard of Katzkin, but I went with CST on the dealer's recommendation as they said they do lots of business with them and are always pleased with the results. Hopefully that won't prove to be a mistake - we'll find out soon enough! Personally I like this particular two-tone style, and I hope the contrast stitching I chose adds to the overall look.

 

[s.chamberlin]

I got my car back from CST today, and it came out great! The "fog" leather color is a good match for the existing ceiling and pillars in the 2016, and CST matched Mazda's two-tone tan/black "parchment" style perfectly. The "dark cardinal" contrast stitching that I chose is pretty subtle, and looks close to black. For whatever reason, they only used the contrast stitching on the black leather areas, and on the headrests, but not on the seat faces. All in all, I am really happy. $1299 well spent.

Original interior: black cloth (sorry for the bad lighting)

New interior: fog/black leather

 

[mazdadude]

Wow, they did the door inserts too. Looks nice...but how does it feel and smell? It looks like thick and sturdy leather...

 

[s.chamberlin]

It feels good - pretty much like the Mazda factory leather in the Grand Touring that I test drove. I had a chance to see my actual leather before they installed it, and it seemed like a reasonable thickness - maybe like 1 or 2 mm I would guess. It smells like upholstery glue though - hopefully that smell will dissipate soon!

 

[mazdadude]

It feels good - pretty much like the Mazda factory leather in the Grand Touring that I test drove. I had a chance to see my actual leather before they installed it, and it seemed like a reasonable thickness - maybe like 1 or 2 mm I would guess. It smells like upholstery glue though - hopefully that smell will dissipate soon!

Nice! Glad you are happy with it, that is the most important thing!

Did you think about doing the heated seats at the time?

 

[Fasani]

Looks amazing. I looked on the website and it looked like it was $2,000 not $1,000. How did you get that price? Am I missing something? thanks!

 

[s.chamberlin]

Were you looking at the Classic Soft Trim web site? I don't think there's any pricing info on there. I called their local installer office, which for me was in Hayward CA. They quoted me $1299 + 9% sales tax. I later negotiated it down to $1299 total by paying cash. In retrospect I maybe could have bargained it down a bit more - I didn't initially realize the price was negotiable.