Vinyl Seat Covers Confort- Weave

[Frank B.]

I just received new seat covers for my 71 which were ordered from Al Knoch. To my surprise the new ones arn't like my old ones in that the knit portion of the covers are not breathable like the opriginals. My orginals have little holes so to speak that allows the material to breath.The ones which I received look the same except the material does not have thes holes. I spoke to the Rep. at Al Knock and he said that is what they have always used. I thought AL Knock interiors was the best source for quality and correct interiors. Can anyone help.

Thanks
Frank

[Joe L.]

Re: Vinyl Seat Covers Confort- Weave

Frank-----

First of all, I do believe that the Al Knoch seat covers are the best. They are the only brand that I would use.

Second, are you sure that the material is not actually a woven vinyl like the originals. You might want to get a sample of the material from Al Knoch (they will usually provide these) and test it for permeability. The Al Knoch covers that I have seen have the thin pads sewn to the underneath of the seat inserts (the comfortweave portion), as original. This type of pad would be, basically, unneccessary if the seat insert material were impermeable.

Third, if the fabric is not actually a woven vinyl a la the originals, it may be that the original woven vinyl material is no longer available. If no fabric manufacturer chooses to manufacture this fabric, then Al Knoch is not going to be able to make seat covers from material that's no longer available. I doubt that any manufactuer would be willing to produce a special run of material to satisfy the Corvette applications only. They're going to produce material that current production machinery can produce.

Fourth, if the material is not actually woven and permeable, as original, but otherwise appears like original, that may not be all bad. The original woven vinyl inserts allowed body perspiration to permeate the inserts and get down into the sewn-on pad backing that I mentioned earlier. This padding was a fabric-covered, thin foam type of arrangement. When subjected to the perspiration, the fabric cover and foam rotted. Then, the ever-present "dust" in the car, caused by the rotted foam and fabric particles coming back up through the woven insert material. Once this "phenomenon" occurs, the "dust" is forever (or, until the seat covers are replaced). So, as far as the original style material is concerned, be careful what you wish for-----you might get it.

Lastly, the weight of the material used for both the comfortweave inserts and the solid vinyl portion of the seats in today's reproduction seat covers is not the same as the original. It's somewhat lighter material. Al Knoch uses as heavy a weight material as I have seen in any reproduction seat cover, but it's not the same as original. I expect that original weight material is no longer available. The original, heavy-weight solid material used for the 68-72 covers was called "Naugahyde".

[John H.]

Re: Vinyl Seat Covers Confort- Weave

And we may never know how many of those poor little Naugas had to die to make those covers

[george romano]

You need help Hinck! *NM*

[Patrick H.]

Re: You need help Hinck!

He used to go Nauga hunting when he lived in Texas. A littel easier to shoot than an armadillo, but much less common.