Thanks for the encouragement. The diamond look is very subjective..no doubt about it. I can see it used in some applications and love it, then another, and hate it. I have always liked what Aston martin has done with it though. very tasteful single, contrast stitching, which of course is what I'm trying to emulate. Like what was done on some of the early DBS's as well as the Limited Edition cars from a few years ago. My main concern is will it begin to look "dated" in a few years? Bentley, Lamborghini ect are still offering up this look today so I'm hoping that's not the case.

The car looks good now with just the headliner finished this way.. I don't think it NEEDS more to make it look appropriate. The first generation Vanquish was available with just the headliner also..which is where I got my inspiration for the headliner originally. My favorite use of the diamond stitch look is what Aston Martin did in the DBS though.. And I'm hoping I can come up with something that works in my car just as good..

 

Their website looks great! Thanks for the info..I'm definitely not opposed to sending the seats off for this work. Obviously it's not a cheap project and finding the most capable shop hasn't been easy. If my final local prospects around here don't blow my socks off..I'll be calling C2 to at least see what they say.. Thanks again!

Has anyone in the Chicago area ever done any work with "Auto Art" in Glenview? One of the local Aston Martin dealers suggested them and I'm meeting with these guys tomorrow. I can't really find much info about them though..

 

From my friend's V8V project with them, he stated that he will not be a return customer. Their marketing vehicles look pretty good though.

Quite a few AMOC members took their AM to The Last Detail with great results. I would also check with J.R. at Ultimate Paint Shop II.

 

Looks like an exciting project - keep us posted!

 

I like the diamond even with the alcantara. I do think that if you do the diamonds with contrast stitching, you should have some contrast stitches in the seats to tie it together.

 

Definitely.. I agree. I'm considering bringing the diamond with contrasting stitching into the door cards and center arm rest but maybe not the seat. Instead keep the seats with some clean modern lines with a bit of a more timeless look and no diamond stitching. I'm just not the least bit artistic or creative..so this is a struggle for me. I'm waiting on some sketches from the upholstery shop I'm working with.. Hopefully he's got some good ideas.

 

I love it, gorgeous !

 

I chose to use an enlarged version of the new Aston diamond pattern when redoing the seats of my 09 (see pictures) and decided it was a bit too much $$$ to do the doors also. I also did a diamond pattern on a SLK 55 both seats AND doors - see pictures. In both cases I added extra bottom padding which made a huge difference in comfort - the seats on my 15 GT seems to have better bottom padding than my past two vantages.

 

Looks great! I really like the color of your leather as well. I remember reading that you didn't really like the quality of the material the shop used? Would you mind sharing what they charged for labor to do the seats in your 09? I don't know what I "should" be paying to have my seats done. Noticed that you have the same color in your Mercedes?

 

Very similar colors, but they were supposed to guarantee a color match using now I'm Aston Martin leathers and the dice seem to have changed color very quickly so it was noticeable. I don't remember the breakdown but with the extra padding and installation and everything it was about $4000.

 

Saw this on Pistonhead

 

Got the other package from the UK I've been waiting for today as well. Spring is coming and I need to get my a$$ in gear!

I'm upgrading my suspension the the Bilstein dampers from the newer DB9's and I finally got my wheels back from the shop for the color change and refinishing the machined face.

 

Make sure you paint the concave part of your disc hats with some matte black BBQ paint to hide the ugly rust that shows thru the wheels. Just did this on mine. Used rustoleum brand.

 

Funny you mention that. Just last night I took the wire disk on my 90 degree die grinder to the hub area of the rotor to get ready for paint. I picked up some flat black Hi-temp brake caliper paint.. I'll bet your Rustoleum would have been half the price.. :/ I took some time to clean up the control arms etc as well. We had some decent weather a couple weekends ago so I dragged the inner fender liners outside and took the hose to them.. I'm gonna give them a little attention with some plastic detailer next before reinstall. This is definitely a great time to give some love to the hard to reach areas..

I'll post a separate thread detailing the strut removal and install. Looking forward to diving into it over the weekend hopefully.

 

Did my liners also...wash and dress. And re-stuck the inner sound pads which had come un-stuck in several places. I mounted some new anthracite wheels to replace the stock silver ones...lot less noticeable when dirty (I hope).