Katzkin vs. Roadwire Leather seats

captainzombie · October 17, 2020

I've been calling around a few of my local upholstery shops to get some quotes on getting the cloth seats changed over to leather. I have a 2018 Silverado Crew with the jump seat/underneath storage. If I didn't have a regular job and a business that we own, I'd try to tackle this myself but that darn jump seat appears time consuming and I just don't have the patience.

I have checked a few local shops, they are recommending going with Katzkin, Roadwire, Alea, or Nappa leather seats in this order of preference depending on how much I want to spend. Everything that I have read, best bang for the buck seems to be Roadwire. I had one shop quote me roughly $1700 for the install and leather seats (materials), they are about 40 miles away and another shop which is 5 minutes from my house in the $1800 range. I am fine with a local shop doing this as I don't have time to take these out and try to do the install myself as I've never done it before, plus I know they will do the job right.

I plan to keep the truck for another 3 years, waiting to see what the 2022-2023 Silverado brings before I consider selling this one. I test drove the 2020 Trail Boss last weekend and it was very nice, but there are a few things still lacking that I hope the new redesign brings in the next 2-3 years.

I have heated seats, I would only need perforated leather seats if these were cooled correct?

Between price and the different types of leather seat manufacturers out there, who would you guys recommend?

silveradosid · October 17, 2020

i went with the katzkin , i didnt have heated seats, but i had them install the heating pads. i have them wired to factory switches thanks to another posting. i am a diesel mechanic and constantly in and out of my truck with dirty overalls on. the leather has stood up very well over the last 2 and half years and is very easy to clean

jake241983 · October 17, 2020

The shop I had install mine used leatherseats.com kits and it was $1400 installed. He did say the jump seat took a whole day to do by itself. I think I'm going to do the center console swap eventually, but didn't know it was possible at the time.

dieselfan1 · October 17, 2020

Katzkins in both of my 18's. They look stock. They are perforated. $550 off eBay each. I had them installed at a local auto upholstery shop for $450 each.

When a Chevy dealer swaps cloth for leather , they usually use katzkins.

captainzombie · October 17, 2020

10 hours ago, silveradosid said:

i went with the katzkin , i didnt have heated seats, but i had them install the heating pads. i have them wired to factory switches thanks to another posting. i am a diesel mechanic and constantly in and out of my truck with dirty overalls on. the leather has stood up very well over the last 2 and half years and is very easy to clean

That is cool that you did get the heating pads installed on a non-heated truck. The heated seats are a plus and we use ours all the time in the winter months. I first had them in my Elantra a few years back and never used them. Then bought a Colorado which I used them from time to time and when I traded that in towards the Silverado they have gotten their use.

Good to hear that the leather has stood up very well with the dirt, which is huge.

2 hours ago, jake241983 said:

The shop I had install mine used leatherseats.com kits and it was $1400 installed. He did say the jump seat took a whole day to do by itself. I think I'm going to do the center console swap eventually, but didn't know it was possible at the time.

I hear that leatherseats.com is really good too and I checked their site out too. Everywhere I have checked that stupid jump seat has taken people 5-6 hours or so which makes the whole process that much more expensive. I have 4 kids and from time to time we do use the truck to go places, so the jump seat comes in handy when all of us cram into the truck for a ride. Except when I see the 2019 and newer trucks now finally have a much nicer and safety wise jump seat when compared to our older trucks. When I get my next truck I plan to just go with a center console, they're so much sweeter than the jump seat.

1 hour ago, dieselfan1 said:

Katzkins in both of my 18's. They look stock. They are perforated. $550 off eBay each. I had them installed at a local auto upholstery shop for $450 each.

When a Chevy dealer swaps cloth for leather , they usually use katzkins.

That is pretty cheap to install at $450 each. All of the shops I have called in my local area and even one that I called out in Indiana all want around the $1700-$2000 price point. I wonder because of being in the southwest suburbs of Chicago they are charging way more. Back in 2018, I had called a local shop and they had told me $1500 at the time and I should have done it then. Guess maybe the prices went up a bit due to that jump seat.

For heated seats, though you don't need perforated correct? That is only if you have cooled seats.

dieselfan1 · October 18, 2020

That is pretty cheap to install at $450 each. All of the shops I have called in my local area and even one that I called out in Indiana all want around the $1700-$2000 price point. I wonder because of being in the southwest suburbs of Chicago they are charging way more. Back in 2018, I had called a local shop and they had told me $1500 at the time and I should have done it then. Guess maybe the prices went up a bit due to that jump seat.

For heated seats, though you don't need perforated correct? That is only if you have cooled seats.

The price has gone up on almost everything in the last six months. This is probably no different although that's a bit too much. Keep shopping around.

Try a straight up upholstery shop. Not a "auto" upholstery shop. Never know.

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captainzombie · October 18, 2020

17 minutes ago, dieselfan1 said:

The price has gone up on almost everything in the last six months. This is probably no different although that's a bit too much. Keep shopping around.
Try a straight up upholstery shop. Not a "auto" upholstery shop. Never know.

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I agree on that with almost everything having their prices going up in the last six months. I'll check a few straight up upholstery shops this week and see what they say. I just fear they may not do the same quality job as an auto shop that knows their ins and outs on vehicles especially if I decide to sell the truck in 3 years or so.

BTW, thanks for the pictures. Your interior looks very nice.

Edited October 18, 2020 by captainzombie

dieselfan1 · October 18, 2020

I agree on that with almost everything having their prices going up in the last six months. I'll check a few straight up upholstery shops this week and see what they say. I just fear they may not do the same quality job as an auto shop that knows their ins and outs on vehicles.

I am glad I finished my black truck just before the covid bull$hit started.
Big lift kits are 2&3 months out on backorder. Some wheels are the same.
The price of everything I bought last December would easily be $500-$750 more now if you can even get it.
The Katzkin kits are still $550 on ebay . Buy it yourself and find someone to do it for as cheap as possible.

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captainzombie · October 18, 2020

6 minutes ago, dieselfan1 said:

I am glad I finished my black truck just before the covid bull$hit started.
Big lift kits are 2&3 months out on backorder. Some wheels are the same.
The price of everything I bought last December would easily be $500-$750 more now if you can even get it.
The Katzkin kits are still $550 on ebay . Buy it yourself and find someone to do it for as cheap as possible.

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I am also glad I did get my tires and wheels last November and didn't wait till this year. I've seen some Katzkin kits range from $550-800 for our trucks on eBay. Even some of the auto upholstery shops I called even told me if I wanted to buy the leather kits and they would install them, but they were still quoting me around the same price range. I will take a look like you said at non-auto upholstery shops this week to see what they say.