George,
you hit the nail on the head - did we ever have discussions about jute and foam backing!
Tom Colitt insisted on foam, whereas Franz at Silver Star, who restores cars to a very high level, preferred yellow jute.
I tried very hard to come up with a 4-5 mm thick jute but had no success. The closest is a product made for older Jaguar and other British cars called Hardura sold by Heritage Upholstery (
http://www.heritagetrim.com/m_aboutmaterials.htm). Unfortunately, it is only 2mm thick or a bit less. According to their web site it is milled in the UK but I could net get any information whether they make a thicker product. My hunch is that the material for the aftermarket pads that are sold by SLS are made by the same company.
One possibility is to buy one of those sets from SLS or Buds Benz and glue our material on top (w/o the felt of course). We did that on one prototype that was sold later on eBay to test the market.
Nate,
I agree, having to separate versions for 230SL (and European 280SL) and US 280SL would be nice but then we would have had to pay for another die and then ponder how many of each to make. That was the reason why we have the VIN cut out only in the felt backing. Now if someone wants to order a set with the front already cut I think that for a small fee the wish could be accommodated.
Any other suggestions/ recommendations out there?
