Anybody use the Acme Auto brand from Hawk's? Did you like it?

It's interesting how they are up front in saying that the fabric will not match the original nor other manufacturers. I went to other places and, of course, they all say they are factory accurate.

I will be using the Blue Encore velour.

I found some references to Lethal Interiors but I discovered they don't make the high back covers any more. I was curious as to how much more expensive their covers were going to be. I was willing to pay more for a quality product.

 

While I'm at it, what's the consensus on their door panels?

 

Far as I know, there is not yet a manufacturer that offers factory correct seat covers and door panels?

Besides that, the typical stuff I've seen installed on cars at local shows seems to fit well.

 

I bought Hawk's interior about 20 years ago when I first redid the beechwood cloth in my 89. I was not impressed. Just looked cheap. -and of course, it was. Probably worth the cost honestly, but it wasn't quite what I was after. That being said, it served me well, and "most" people didn't know. The door panel material matched the seat exactly, which of course wasn't remotely close to OEM. Finally redid it all in 2018 from Princess at Lethal. I want to say it was about $2000, but it looked excellent!!! She WAS able to find the exact materials that GM used, however I chose houndstooth over the factory woven material.

 

Hawk's. You can see it's all basically the same material, just made to "look" textured. -and of course, different color.

 

Princess/Lethal!

 

Her work is NICE! I'm a little bummed that she won't do my seat style.

 

I bought the Hawks door panels last year. HORRIBLE. I have a thread about them somewhere.




Where is this lady located? Any Lear Siegler options with her?

 

Is this it?:
1987 Iroc Deluxe Door Panels

 

I didn't pay close attention to the small photo at Hawk's. Not close. They are correct when they say, "Please note fabric/material & carpet are not OEM materials, they are reproductions velour’s, vinyl’s and carpet. They will not be 100% to the original material".

 

Yes. WAY different than OEM. Like WAY different.

 

So now I'm thinking, besides being faded, I think the carpet and fabric are savable. I can make my own panel, maybe out of Coroplast, and figure how to dye/paint the fabric and carpet. I wonder if SEM has the same colors?

I should have paid more attention to you!!

 

Ok, I lucked out and found some used panels on eBay. Way better than mine. Even the top rails don't look bad. I already have some NOS, (I think they are), top rails if need them.

I may or may not try to recolor them as they don't look bad in the photos. The cardboard has a little bump on one of them and there is a wrinkle or two in the fabric. The local upholstery guy said wetting the cardboard with water and weighing it down sometimes gets good results. Worst case scenario, he could resew them back on new water-resistant board.

I'll make a decision when they get here.

 

So, does anybody have any experience with Hawk's upholstery?

Or, has anybody tried any other companies?

 

So, i re-did my 82 ta interior. I used hawks carpet. It was black so it was pretty easy color wise. It fit well but required work to make it just like every other carpet Ive installed. The door panels were a totally different deal. I couldn't find any door panel from any manufacture that was right. They were all missing stuff. Again, they were black so color wasn't an issue, but every thing else was. The trim, the inserts and the patterns were all way off. I ended up bringing my old/ugly door panels to a guy that makes interiors for really high end vehicles. He replicated my old panels perfectly. The metal trim from the stock panels was cleaned up and resprayed. They came out perfect. I really happy them. But!!!! They were expensive. I payed 1200. The closest panels i could find to the ones that were on my car initially were 600 and shipping was 250. So, i got what I payed for. Its too bad there isn't a better option. For what its worth, i searched for 5-6 months for panels prior to going the custom route.

 

I recently installed the Acme Chino Velour light charcoal upholstery for my formula (from Rockauto, same as what hawks sells), the Chino is supposedly closest to the original 85-92 firebird pallex that you can get , it's not an exact match for the cloth pattern but very similar texture and color, and it fits well and was very easy to install.
I cant speak to the camaro encore velour pattern, but as an easy replace kit I was overall very pleased with it. The prices keep going up up and up, here's a comparison picture

keep in mind my factory covers we very sun faded and dingy, so the color is probably much closer to it as it came out of the factory.

 

That looks pretty good to my non-discerning eye. I think anyone aside from the strictest 3rd gen purist would have a hard time finding an issue with them once install.

How was the install? I need to replace a lower cover on my wife's outback, sounds like good practice lol

 

thanks - I am one of those people that would immediate notice it, but it's so close that its well worth it to me, would do it again in a heartbeat.

the install was very easy at least for the formula seats, I had no prior upholstery experience. it's all pull on/zip and then Hog rings in the same locations as the originals, and punch out holes for bolts and levers.

Just be careful disassembling everything and take your time, especially with the seat tracks. Some of the seat belt fasteners are loctited in so they can be tough.

If I was doing it again I would probably get a better set of hog ring pliers than the ones that came with it, but they did work fine. Knipex makes a really nice set.

 

Maybe I'll give Acme a try. Based on your photos, I think they look great! I think I can tolerate a fair difference in material. I have a sample and it looks good to me.

I think I might go with Rock Auto. Hawk's doesn't say "No Returns" due being a special order but Rock Auto has 36 month warranty.