stangs-R-me 120 Report post Posted January 31, 2014 Did not realize until today that real "KNITTED" comfortweave vinyl has not been produced for quite some time. "Original woven vinyl Comfortweave has not been manufactured in a long time. TMI has faithfully reproduced the look and feel with a precision embossing die roller and extra thick expanded vinyl for a crisp Comfortweave texture." I got my replacement Mach 1 / Shelby type upholstery from Pennsylvania Mustang back in 1985 ... their supplier had the correct comfortweave and made one of the better quality upholstery kits at that time. Pennsylvania Mustang specialized in / and sold only 1969 & 70 Mustang parts (anyone else remember them ??). Prior to getting it from them, I had checked various upholstery shops around Chicago and none could get the exact knitted comfortweave pattern (had similar stuff, but not '69-70 correct). As my car is a Coupe, the kit I had to buy was for a Shelby Convertible and I had to bring the back seat upholstery to a local shop so they could modify it to fit the wider Coupe lower cushion and the slightly different at the top back cushion (thankfully black vinyl, so easily matched). Anyway, after reading about this TMI "Premium Mach 1 Upholstery" kits being available for Coupe applications, I was seriously thinking of replacing my almost 30 year old upholstery and still original seat foam. The Premium TMI upholstery sounds very nice and now has solid extruded piping ... mine has the vinyl-wrapped cord which looks nice but is less durable and not correct. ** That is until I saw the note about the comfortweave ... my upholstery is still in excellent condition, so I now see no point in spending that kind of money to basically gain a bit of comfort that "new seat foam" might provide. The lower "burlap" foam support is shot on my drivers seat (feels ok on Pass side) which is what made me think I need to "do something". If I were to just replace seat foam & burlap, would I be one of the 1st ever to do so and then re-use existing 30 year old upholstery ?? Pics of my existing interior here: http://www.1969stang.com/gallery/stangs-R-me-Deluxe-GT-Hardtop?page=3 Let me know your thoughts !! Doug Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jmlay 80 Report post Posted January 31, 2014 SMS make the comfort weave. YOu may buy it from them & have it shipped to TMI or have your local shop sew them up for you.: http://www.smsautofabrics.com/ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stangs-R-me 120 Report post Posted February 1, 2014 Thanks, that's good to know. Checked out their site, and they show a lot of very unique styles of vinyl in their Gallery ... Ford comfortweave is not shown, but a few others that appear to be "knitted" are and it states that it is just a partial selection of available styles. Since it IS actually available, you'd think the MCA judges would not have TMI's comfortweave-like embossed vinyl approved as stated on CJ's site ... http://www.cjponyparts.com/tmi-premium-upholstery-mach-1-interior-1969/p/U70-V/ Surprising that TMI states it is no longer made ... true that it is no longer made by the original mfr., but a false statement none the less if SMS is reproducing it. Visited TMI's site, and the listing for this same upholstery set has none of the details spelled out like CJP does (was hoping to maybe see MORE details not none at all). Doug Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jmlay 80 Report post Posted February 2, 2014 If you go to the "Request Samples" you can see the comfort weave. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Midlife 814 Report post Posted February 2, 2014 Thanks, that's good to know. Since it IS actually available, you'd think the MCA judges would not have TMI's comfortweave-like embossed vinyl approved as stated on CJ's site ... http://www.cjponyparts.com/tmi-premium-upholstery-mach-1-interior-1969/p/U70-V/ Doug MCA abandoned the reproduction approval process prior to 2000. It's a shame vendors are still trying to use MCA's name to sell their products. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BuckeyeDemon 211 Report post Posted February 2, 2014 I had ordered some of the knitted vinyl from sms. It looked really good. I had never unwrapped it ( just a corner) and TMI claimed there was a cut in the middle of the roll. So I had to get more from SMS. The second batch they sent looked like they put it through an oven and melted it together. I don't know what happened on that second batch. Perhaps they used another source, had some leftover defective material or melted it on purpose. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stangs-R-me 120 Report post Posted February 2, 2014 Boy this subject just gets more & more interesting ... did not know that about the MCA, and a new twist as far as SMS goes !! So Buckeye, what was the end result of your adventure in upholstery ... do you have real woven comfortweave, TMI's variation, or a combo ?? Doug Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BuckeyeDemon 211 Report post Posted February 2, 2014 Boy this subject just gets more & more interesting ... did not know that about the MCA, and a new twist as far as SMS goes !! So Buckeye, what was the end result of your adventure in upholstery ... do you have real woven comfortweave, TMI's variation, or a combo ?? Doug i had SMS send the replacement directly to TMI. so I received mach 1 seat upholstery made by TMI using the SMS knitted vinyl (melted looking knitted vinyl). at least it breathes. i have pictures out there of both materials somewhere. i guess you could get a sample of the material, but i'm not sure that guarantees you will get the same thing when you order. and in my experience it took forever to get the material. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BuckeyeDemon 211 Report post Posted February 2, 2014 left: my original seats right: first batch of comfortweave from SMS (very happy with this one and the one i saw first hand). top: my original seats bottom: second set of material SMS sent to TMI (there was an intermediate step as SMS f***** up). SMS said it was legitimately the wrong color of material. top: my original seats bottom: final batch of material (and the material my seats are made of) it was so disappointing knowing i had a very nice material in my own hands, only to end up with garbage (not cheap at the end of the day). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
