cshanne

Like you, I want very badly to replace the seats in my vette. To say that Caravaggio Daytona seats interest me is an understatement. While I know they are pricey, I understand that you are paying for a hand made custom seat. What I am curious about is the shipping and any taxes or import costs that were charged for shipping the seats to the US and what the costs were to ship your old seats to Canada? I live in NC so if one of you had the seats shipped to the south eastern United States, that would be helpful. By the way, any recent photos of your seats installed would be great may as well get some eye candy in the thread. Thanks!!

Cyber Greg

I would ask John to get you a quote in writing, insist that everything be in writing, including the shipping costs.
Make sure the credit card you use doesn't charge exorbitant foreign exchange fees.
The weight for the two seats is 140 lbs. Shipping class 70. Check with YRC shipping for the best rates. Know that it will take several months to get your seats. Mine took 5 months. Others have taken even longer. The seats will be great once you get them. PM me for more info.

And again these are truly great seats. All my buddies with their Aston Martin's are very impressed with them. They're that good. But they are for fit people with fit butts.

ProfessorDeath

Those are pretty nice. May look into them when my seats start to wither and die.

cshanne

Thanks for the info and the photo, I love those seats. Just a note, I have dealt with John on a steering wheel, which I am extremely excited to receive. He has been very helpful, so if some feel that I wrote this to diss John, that is not the case. He has been very responsive and helpful. As far as his work, well that speaks for itself.

For some reason, my moment of stupidity, I did not think to ask him for that information.... I guess my mind was not at work when I started the thread... I want those seats so bad I can almost smell the leather already.

skxf430

Greg,

Those are great looking seats and a really nice steering wheel.

Did you install the seats yourself?? How hard was it?

Cyber Greg

I installed the steering wheel and the seats myself.
Both are quite easy. The steering wheel will take you a couple minutes. With the seats you will have to swap over the seatbelts from your old seats to the new ones. Take some photos with your iphone during the removal so you have a reference. There are only four 15mm nuts holding down each seat. I used a Makita 3/8's impact wrench to remove them. A regular socket wrench will of course also work.
Put some foam or a heavy blanket over your door sill to keep from scratching it up. There are a couple nice shots on this forum of the wire couplings that have to be separated. It's all quite straightforward.
You will need some zip ties to tie up the wires for the seat belt and air bag wires. That's about it. You can definitely do this!

CO Lightfoot

It's easy if you know what you're doing.

Start this video ~1 minute, end it ~4 minutes:

Jawnathin

Yikes.

Its been about two for mine and I'm getting anxious. Hope it isn't going to take that long...

Jawnathin

Great video, thanks for sharing. Ended up watching way more than I needed to!

cshanne

This waiting for parts is a killer. I am on two months for the steering wheel, I have not ordered the seats yet. I am using the steering wheel as a test. While the stuff looks great in photos, I just need something to touch before ripping my seats out and sending them to Canada. But wow, this two months seems like two years.

C6FirstVette

I did my Caravaggio seat project last winter (Jan-Feb 2012) since I do not drive my C6 in the winter months (crap on the roads from over zealous sanding truck drivers which are paid by the load) so amount of time was not a issue. With that said it took about one month + one week total for the seats (remove/ship/Caravaggio work/ship/re-install) to be complete.
BIG REGRET... I did not do the seat conversion years ago... a simple WOW over the difference

Shipping cost will obviously vary depending on your proximity to Concord Ontario... for me FedEx Ground shipping cost one way (Northern Virginia area to Concord) ran $76.45 and amazingly left my house on Jan 16 and arrived in Concord Jan 19. One big caution is you must fill out the Canadian customs documentation completely (I went thru FedEx as the 'broker' so it was really seamless... need 'Commodity Information' eg 'automotive parts'/weight'value/Country of manufacture/harmonized code; plus Commercial Invoice (Exporter: you Importer: Caravaggio/ harmonize code etc); Certificate of Origin (basically saying you are sending the automotive parts "Repair and Return" thus not shipping to Canada for sale etc.)
Total shipping weight (2 boxes of 70 lbs each) is 140 lbs (I did cut out 1/2" plywood the size of the shipping box, then bolted the seat (using the OEM 4 points that the seat bolts onto the car) to the plywood...basically ensures in rough handling there would be no 'wracking' of the seat frame.

Is sounds complicated (removing the seating is not difficult...packing up is more of a challenge) but taking ones time and understanding timing it really goes quickly.

Worth it... well pictures speak volumes to that question>>>






With the seats there are many options... leather type/color, alcantara, stitching type and thread color, embossed logo, seat back material (mine shown is carbon fiber but for lesser cost can go with black plastic or even painted to match color of car.

Good luck with you decisions!