Body/Trim: Seat base leather cover repair

[EdmundIJones]

Following up from my previous thread, here are he before and after pictures of my DIY leather seat repair.

When I bought the car it came in this condition and I said I'd fix it, 2 years later I've finally got around to i and it cost me just the price of 30 cable ties. (£1.99 for 200)

Before:



After:



It took around 35-45 minutes to take the cover off the seat, a morning at the local upholsterers being restitched and then around 60 minutes refitting. I'm chuffed with the results. I didn't need to remove the seat from the car, I did it by:

1. Disconnect the battery and wait a file for things to settle down.
2. Remove the plastic trim from around the seat guides, it just snaps into place.
3. Disconnect the three electrical connectors under the seat.
4. Unscrew the 4 seat guide retaining bolts, one at each end of the rails.
5. Tip the seat forwards and start removing the hog rings from the back.
6. Move around the sides removing the hog rings from back to front, there are three on each side.
7. From the back again, start to peal the cover forwards and remove the hog rings from the metal wire supports which run between the foam and leather cover.
8. Once they are all free, remove the three from the front of the seat and just take the cover off.
9. Take it to your local upholsterers and ask them to fix it up. Mine did it along side other work, I left it with them for the morning.
10. Go and buy some small and medium duty cable ties (top tip from cheshired5, thanks bud)
11. No do everything again but in reverse order, connect the front of the seat cover first, then the metal wires.
12. At this point I decided to secure the rear of the cover and then the sides, not sides and rear. This should help make it more taught.
13. Connect up the sides and refit the electrics.
14. Reattach the trim.
15. Double check all the connector are firmly in.
16. Reattach the battery and test the electrics.

The cable ties make refitting a whole lot easier and as you can tension them better things appear more taught,as I said, extra thanks to cheshired5 for the idea.

[BigAl5]

Going to try this myself now. Thanks for the really detailed instructions and photos. Been a great help, really very useful indeed.

[cheshired5]

Nice work. Well done.

[EdmundIJones]

It's really easy to do, takes about 45 minutes to take the seat out and then unhook all the hog rings.

[ianu]

Fantastic - thanks. Both my front seats need doing along this seam. The leather is good, it's the thread that has disintegrated.
I had wondered how easy it would be to take the covers off, and now I know :-)
I've got the upholstery gear too, so should be able to take care of the stitching myself.

Nice one.

Cheers
Ian.

[thorjurgen]

Fantastic! Have been looking for a solution for weeks... Many thanks for posting this detailed, step-by-step instruction. I have found an upholsterer and now I can finally get down to business. Will revert with news of my experience.

Best,
Thor-Jürgen

[BestGear]

Originally Posted by EdmundIJones

It took around 35-45 minutes to take the cover off the seat

Well - after 167k miles the passenger seat split on our old wagon.

The drivers seat is still looking good, surprisingly.

Took the seat out this afternoon... and I cannot see any hog rings back or front! It looks like the leather is crimped in place.

The interior is oak/arena - which I would be surprised if it is any different!

Plan B is drop off the seat and let the upholsterer do the removal then its their problem.

Thoughts?

David

[oragex]

With some luck, I would look at the breakers for a cushion but from the front passenger seat.

[hodge911]

excellent thread thank you for posting as my seat has been like that since I purchased car in 2018 .
excuse my ignorance but what re the zip ties used for ?

[cheshired5]

Originally Posted by hodge911

what re the zip ties used for ?

They replace the hog rings when securing the upholstery back to the base.