Beil Auto Upholstering

Was referred here by another trusted shop and couldn’t be happier with the pleasantness of the people or the quality and expeditiousness of their service.

Beil’s came highly recommended and they lived up to the expectation — ordered a new top for my Audi A4 and installed in a day and a half, whole process took a week. The staff members I dealt with were all knowledgable and courteous. When there was a price difference in the top options they called and recommended the less expensive version, in the interest of saving me money. I highly recommend this establishment!

My Buddy recommended this place, had all his cars upholstered here!
I have an 04 Cavalier (original owner) & it just turned 10years old with only 32K miles on it. Wanted a new look so I came here, had old OEM fabric inside. Spoke with Trevor who helped me out with swatches & stuff. Chose what I wanted & was quoted 1500 for the whole thing. Materials finally arrive a week or so later, left my car & in 2days seats, bench & headliner were all redone! Car looks great very happy with end result, total price was 2G’s, but well worth it! I HIGHLY recommend Beil’s, they actually care about customer satisfaction, speak to Trevor! Pics to follow…

Short sport-​touring or sport bike riders, rejoice!!!
I say this, of course, because I stand 5 foot 3 inches on a good day, and if I happen to be wearing my motorcycle boots, I stand 5 foot 3.5 inches. And if I were proportioned so that my legs were longer than my torso, finding bikes that fit me wouldn’t be a problem. But alas — this is not the case, as I have much more length from my torso up than I do from my legs down. As such, even motorcycles such as mine (2004 Kawa ZZR600) present slight problems with its demure 30.7 advertised seat height. Onto the review:
Location: 3 out of 5
Out of the way if you live in the loop, but because they came at a recommendation from Motorcycle Mania, the entity that I trust with all of my motorcycle needs, I made the trip to Edgewater. The Granville Red Line stop is a bit of a trek, although the Clark bus is right out in front (or across the street, depending on which way you’re going).
Customer Service: 5 out of 5
The first person that I talked to on the phone was a very nice gentleman, who is the now-​proprietor of the shop. I believe his name is Paul. I dropped my seat off, and he gave me a conservative estimate of when I could expect a call regarding my motorcycle seat. The original intent was to have them shave about 1.25 inches out of the existing seat to get me closer to the ground. I was given a conservative estimate of 3 working days. But I got a call the next business day letting me know what could, and could not be done. As it turns out, 1.25 inches in the front of the seat basically brought the foam all the way to the plastic, which is not ideal. I made a trip after I got the call and interacted with Paul’s son, named Trevor. Now, Trevor and Paul are both only about 5 foot 5, and they are built in a similar manner — shorter legs in comparison to their respective torso. Trevor actually came up with a decent solution: he would cut out 1.25 of the stock foam, and replace 1 inch of it with a softer foam. Although ¼ inch may not be much, because of the compression ratio, the seat would, in theory, get me closer to the ground, which would help me when backing up the bike. After speaking to Trevor, he showed me lowered CBR600. It’s a pretty nice set-​up. The summary here, is that interacting with both Paul and Trevor was as easy and as amicable as it got.
Shop Amenities: 4 out of 5
I’m not in tune with what should go into an upholstery place. But they have a very large working area with multiple long benches and work stations. Things aren’t exactly «organized» in a traditional sense, but I could tell by watching the people who were working in the shop that all of them knew exactly where everything was. They also have large open spaces to work on their current car projects.
Selection of Services: 5 out of 5
Very impressive. Again, because I don’t know what all goes into an upholstery place, what I saw may be narrow in scope. On the day that I picked up my seat, Paul gave me a tour of the place. At that moment, they were working on an old GTO (new convertible cover, new seat upholstery, restoration, etc.), and old school Bentley, a boat seat, various couches/​sofas/​chairs, and a few other vehicles that were replicas of cars that I see in «antique» car magazines.
Pricing: 5 out of 5
I had called to get a quote from Paul before I dropped off the seat. He said «anywhere between 75 and 125 is what we usually charge.» This seemed reasonable, as other places in Chicago (including Orlando’s Glass) gave me ballpark quotes of 175 — 200. Well, I picked up the seat and the bill was a whopping 25 dollars. Not 125. Not 75. But twenty five dollars. Paul’s reason was simple: «Trevor didn’t have to do that much… the hardest part was just cutting the foam.»
Final Product: 5 out of 5
After about 400 miles on the new seat, I can say that it was a complete success. Placebo effect or not, I feel like I have a bit more leverage, particularly when backing up the bike. Also, the mixing of softer foam with a bit of feathering juxtaposed with the stock foam didn’t present a problem at all. Since I ride in heavily padded biking shorts under my jeans, the addition of the softer foam was, in essence, like putting a pillow there for my gonads. In other words — the seat is very comfortable.
Overall: 5 out of 5
This place is frequently featured in local and national magazines, and may be listed as «Biel» instead of «Beil.» I would highly recommend them based on their work products, ethics, and amicability. And if you happen to be a short motorcycle rider, they can probably do wonders for your seat to make it a little more accessible.