Alcantara Upgrade

[Madisonswartz]

If you haven’t heard of RoadDefined before check him out on instagram, and see the incredible work he does. He’s done multiple projects for me and every time he knocks it out of the park. His work more than speaks for itself, see how he recently transformed some of my interior pieces.

Once I have all the pieces installed I’ll upload additional photos.

[Dzmitry]

Nice! Appreciate your post, I'll look into this. I know Sweidit was doing incredible work like this way over in California. But he seems to have slowed down or mostly gone away. I love the look of Alcantara and have always wanted to have a couple pieces properly covered with stitching. Really gives the car an upgraded look to me.

[Racecomp Engineering]

Those look like good pieces. I do love my alcantara steering wheel but man I should clean it more often.

- Andrew

[RToyo86]

Quite happy with my suede trim overlays(purchased elsewhere)

Wouldn't mind a center console in suede but honestly suede sucks on common touch points with Daily's

[Madisonswartz]

Originally Posted by Dzmitry

Nice! Appreciate your post, I'll look into this. I know Sweidit was doing incredible work like this way over in California. But he seems to have slowed down or mostly gone away. I love the look of Alcantara and have always wanted to have a couple pieces properly covered with stitching. Really gives the car an upgraded look to me.

I remember JPM coachworks was the go to for the first gens until he went a different direction with his business. I wanted something that would be Porsche quality as the generic kits and companies producing alcantara items don’t seem to fit very well and the quality of fabric didn’t seem that great, especially for the price point many charge. I found road defined one day on instagram, and first had him re-trim my cayman steering wheel and shift boot which came out spectacular, Porsche oem quality. I later sold my cayman and wanted to make the brz feel a bit more “premium” on the inside. This was his first project this large (center console) but he knocked it out of the park and was able to pull off my design idea. He is a one man shop and lives in Canada as such his lead times can be a little long, however I was more than willing to wait for quality. His prices as well are beyond reasonable. I’m not sponsored or anything by him, or paid to post. Just want to spread the word about a small business owner who actually takes pride in their work.

Just an FYI if your BRZ is a daily driver like mine, I bought spares of all the parts I send to him either used off e-bay or new from the dealer as they are usually fairly cheap. That way your car isn’t torn apart and still drivable while you wait to get your parts back.

If you do get some work done from him feel free to mention that you found him here.

[Madisonswartz]

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

Those look like good pieces. I do love my alcantara steering wheel but man I should clean it more often.

- Andrew

There is a great cleaner made by Pinnacle called black label suede soft cleaner, which I have used regularly to clean all my alcantara. I also use a very soft bristle brush as well to help stand the fibers back up as well after cleaning.

see the link below:

https://a.co/d/feYcJs4

[Madisonswartz]

Originally Posted by RToyo86

Quite happy with my suede trim overlays(purchased elsewhere)

Wouldn't mind a center console in suede but honestly suede sucks on common touch points with Daily's

That’s fair, when I looked there wasn’t a company who made all the pieces I had re-trimmed and didn’t want to have mismatching fabrics. Plus at the end of the day I felt a bit better supporting a small business owner, but again to each their own.

[Desertnate]

Originally Posted by Madisonswartz

There is a great cleaner made by Pinnacle called black label suede soft cleaner, which I have used regularly to clean all my alcantara. I also use a very soft bristle brush as well to help stand the fibers back up as well after cleaning.

see the link below:

https://a.co/d/feYcJs4

I've heard good things about that stuff.

I use Dr. Beasely's Microsuede Cleanser it works great for me. They also make a microsuede protectant that has keep my interior looking really good so far.

[RToyo86]

Originally Posted by Madisonswartz

That’s fair, when I looked there wasn’t a company who made all the pieces I had re-trimmed and didn’t want to have mismatching fabrics. Plus at the end of the day I felt a bit better supporting a small business owner, but again to each their own.

My post wasn't meant to knock the products, supporting small business is great.
On anything other than a daily I would love suede everywhere.

[Madisonswartz]

Originally Posted by RToyo86

My post wasn't meant to knock the products, supporting small business is great.
On anything other than a daily I would love suede everywhere.

Oh no worries! I get it, Luckily for me my interior doesn’t see much abuse from being my daily.

I am sure he could replicate the vinyl leather used elsewhere in the car or real leather might be better options.

[Ernest72]

Great products for sure. My oem pleather ones still work. Maybe when they look old I could do a refresh. Although I am not really looking for a high end feel in my BRZ daily. It is a Subaru you know.

[Dzmitry]

Originally Posted by Madisonswartz

I remember JPM coachworks was the go to for the first gens until he went a different direction with his business. I wanted something that would be Porsche quality as the generic kits and companies producing alcantara items don’t seem to fit very well and the quality of fabric didn’t seem that great, especially for the price point many charge. I found road defined one day on instagram, and first had him re-trim my cayman steering wheel and shift boot which came out spectacular, Porsche oem quality. I later sold my cayman and wanted to make the brz feel a bit more “premium” on the inside. This was his first project this large (center console) but he knocked it out of the park and was able to pull off my design idea. He is a one man shop and lives in Canada as such his lead times can be a little long, however I was more than willing to wait for quality. His prices as well are beyond reasonable. I’m not sponsored or anything by him, or paid to post. Just want to spread the word about a small business owner who actually takes pride in their work.

Just an FYI if your BRZ is a daily driver like mine, I bought spares of all the parts I send to him either used off e-bay or new from the dealer as they are usually fairly cheap. That way your car isn’t torn apart and still drivable while you wait to get your parts back.

If you do get some work done from him feel free to mention that you found him here.

Appreciate it! I contacted him and he actually mentioned you before I did.

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by Dzmitry

Nice! Appreciate your post, I'll look into this. I know Sweidit was doing incredible work like this way over in California. But he seems to have slowed down or mostly gone away. I love the look of Alcantara and have always wanted to have a couple pieces properly covered with stitching. Really gives the car an upgraded look to me.

Nope, Aaron is still cranking out the super high quality work he has been for years.

But I know he prefers to be contacted through IG (Sweidit) for quotes/work vs Facebook for example.

Once I finish my exterior upgrades on my '23, I'm going have him to some interior stuff for me.

After recommending one of my buddies out there to him, drives a mint a E30 M3, he's done a bunch of other BMW work as well.

[Dzmitry]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

Nope, Aaron is still cranking out the super high quality work he has been for years.

But I know he prefers to be contacted through IG (Sweidit) for quotes/work vs Facebook for example.

Once I finish my exterior upgrades on my '23, I'm going have him to some interior stuff for me.

After recommending one of my buddies out there to him, drives a mint a E30 M3, he's done a bunch of other BMW work as well.

Yeah I don't know what happened when it came to me... I asked him about doing a bunch of pieces via IG. No response on IG for an entire year. I wasn't in a rush and had other things to spend on so I didn't follow up. Messaged him on FB a year later and he responded. I listed all the parts to be done and he told me he'd back to me that night. I didn't hear from him for several days. He then gave me quotes, to which I followed up about shipping costs. He once again let me know he'd be getting back to me soon and I never heard from him after. I tried messaging him again as a reminder a week or two later and got nothing so I just kind of started to fall back from the whole thing.

I'm very aware he does quality work, but I assumed he was just falling off. Around that same time I noticed he stopped posting photos, updates, everything. So I assumed that was the end of that.