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RV-8 Seats and Upholstery

AKMikey

I'm New Here
Looking to acquire seats and upholstery for my RV-8. Does anyone have any recommendations? Leather? Cloth? Carpet? Armrests? Vendor?
 
Can’t go wrong with FlightLine Interiors.

IMHO leather seats will hold up the best but it does weigh more. Had mine done with leather in two colors. Abby was great to work with. I even got a chance to ship them my seat and back heaters and they installed them when building the confor-foam seats. Custom logo was embroidered into the seat backs by them. Side panels, arm rests and stick boots all fit perfectly. They’ll send you color samples for the material you want so all you have to do is pick the colors, material and design. 5 years, 400+ hours on mine and they show zero wear.
 
Be aware that the well-known seat suppliers are running pretty long lead times right now. As of a couple weeks ago, these are the lead times I was quoted:

  • Cleaveland Tool (DJ): 2-3 months
  • Flightline Interiors: 8 months
  • Classic Aero: 22 weeks

As for the vendor comparison, all of them will work with you on custom designs if you'd like, including installing seat heaters if you'd like. Classic is definitely the most expensive of the lot, especially if you spring for the nicer Aviator seats.

My conclusion from researching and talking to all three is that you likely won't go wrong with any of them, so it kind of comes down to taste, price comparison, and whether the lead time is an issue.

With all this in mind, I placed an order with DJ at Cleaveland a couple weeks ago. After mulling it over quite a bit, I decided to go with real leather vs synthetic or cloth. I'm not bothering with any other interior accessories save for stick boots, which I consider a safety item.
 
I had a great experience working with Classic Aero Designs. They were very responsive to my inquiries, sent me lots of samples and sourced some special fabric from Hooker Harnesses so that I could get the look I wanted.
 
Oregon Aero makes a great seat and will cover them in leather. I've had OA leather seats in my 7 for about 10 years, step on them every time I get in, they still look great!
 
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