The Upholstery Forum

Someone asked me this question a few days ago. Here is my answer if anyone else was wondering the same thing.

You always want to use automotive grade leather because it treated to withstand UV rays. Automotive leather is not sold in different thicknesses. However it is usually around 1/16" thick and will vary from hide to hide.

Is the Automotive leather available as durable as OEM leather?

Yes it is. The life of leather really depends on how well its cared for. Leather is a skin just like ours. It needs to be cleaned and Conditioned. The conditioner is like lotion for our skin and stops the leather from drying out and cracking. I did a video on this a while back if you want to watch it.

Where would be the best place to purchase automotive leather?

I like Albrights. They have a nice selection and customer service is great. https://www.AlbrightsSupply.com/?Click=3957

Hydes leather is known as the highest quality leather supplier in North America. Most of it is imported from Europe. It gets expensive though.
https://www.hydesleather.com/

This is Tandy leather supplied to me by customer. It is not what I would have gotten for a panel repair but its a full 3mm thick or just a tad more and very unflexible and stiff. Thought I would add this to the thick leather thread.

I would make sure to inform that customer that that leather was most likely not rated for automotive use and will fade quickly. Also that your happy to complete the job but you cannot provide a warranty on the job. Hate it when customers to this

@John
I installed and during the install I let them know that the leather was not automtive upholstery leather. It looks good for a wallet maybe? The dye came out of it really easy with a quick rub of leather cleaner.

Yeah that sounds about right. Tandy doesn't carry automotive products.

@John, they have a new line called Kaliedoscope. Do you know anything about this for automotive?

You can always call and ask but I doubt it is auto grade.

@John, thank you and in my experience it is not even worth the chance to try. Any Tany reps on here want to educate us that would be great!

I am NOT a Tandy rep. But I do a lot of leather work. And I buy most of my leather from Tandy . They do not sell automotive leather, their leather is NOT uv resistant. They sell upholstery grade leather for indoor usage only. I have a friend that brought me some leather he bought from Tandy and a set of seats from his car and we sewed a nice set of covers for them. 3 months in the sun and he had to replace them .

@Kra z Bill ,

Oh this is so good to know. I pretty much was going to evade it for seating but this absolutly confirms!