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The driver seat was really bad. Over the last couple thousand miles it went from a slight rip to entirely split open. Sorry for the bad cell phone pictures - I didn't feel like getting out the DSLR for this. I'll grab another photo of the wheel and seat in the car tomorrow. The steering wheel is already in. I plan to clean the carpet under the seat rails and the side of the center console that is normally not accessible unless the seat is removed before re-installing.
- The steering wheel is a new OEM wheel.
- The lower seat cover I bought on eBay from the seller "u.s.autoseatcover". They have a 'Make Offer' and I got it down to $169 shipped. They would not go any lower than that. The leather seems to be of reasonably good quality and I'm content with the purchase. The leather seems to be much thicker than OEM, but that really doesn't say much. The factory leather is one of the thinnest I've seen. The only pain beyond knocking out the hog rings was the anchor points for the leather on the edge to the frame. It's not as good as the OEM, but again for the price it's not bad. I think the connectors will hold just fine, but some are a little wider than they need to be so it may require you to trip them slightly.
Looks nice! How many miles were on the old leather? Did you do anything to try to take care of the leather or was it in that condition when you got the car? Mine has tons of cracks but is still in one piece, I'm not sure if it's worth trying to save at this point with reconditioning or just replace as you did. Good work though, thank you for sharing!
Looks nice! How many miles were on the old leather? Did you do anything to try to take care of the leather or was it in that condition when you got the car? Mine has tons of cracks but is still in one piece, I'm not sure if it's worth trying to save at this point with reconditioning or just replace as you did. Good work though, thank you for sharing!
The car has 178k miles on it. It wasn't in the greatest shape when I got the car, but it seems that the quality of the factory leather on these cars is sub-par. You can use leather conditioners to keep the leather from drying/cracking and try to stop it from progressing, but if the perforated leather is cracking it's likely just a matter of time before it gives out.
I don't like doing upholstery, but replacing the cover is the correct way to fix it. While the cover was removed I used my garment steamer to rejuvenate the foam. It definitely feels more firm/supportive than before (even before the leather ripped). When the leather ripped I sank into the seat even more as the cover couldn't distribute the weight. I think that you could also end up damaging the heating element and possibly the foam padding with a ripped surface. I would suggest against putting a slip-on cover over the seat if it does rip for these reasons.
03-11-2018, 01:24 AM
