earossi

I am new to this forum but need some advice on the restoration of leather seats. I just purchased a 993 with the partial leather interior in cashmere beige. As is usually the case with these older cars, the drivers seat back bolster is in sad, but perhaps salvageable condition. The leather is worn on the bolster and the dye job is thin; however, there are no tears in the seat leather. But, there are two very small tears in what I call the "beading" which is the stitched area where the vinyl seat back covering wraps around the seat bolster and is then joined to the leather facing on the front of the bolsters. That joint has two very small worn/torn areas between the stitches The two small tears are about 1/2"apart from one another along that stitched seam. Each torn area is no larger than 1/8" by 1/8" and the tears do not spread beyond that very small worn area.

I took the car to an auto upholstery shop and they do not believe that they can repair those two areas and have recommended a complete reupholstery of both front seats so that they match. Cost for that work was quoted at $2400!!

If I can do a "passable" repair of those small cut areas, I would like to try and use the Leatherique process to re-dye the leather as a DIY.

Comments, suggestions, or recommendations on how to proceed would greatly be appreciated.

Marine Blue

Ernie put up some pictures. Many owners have repaired rip/tears and broken seams but it really depends on the condition of the leather. Without at least seeing pictures it's hard to say if it can be repaired.

I would also say that if you're **** and want it looking perfect the only option is replacement. Repairs only look ok IMHO and repainting doesn't always match since the rest of the interior may have experienced fading.

MoeMistry

+1...great advice and pictures would help.

earossi

Finally figured out how to post pictures on RL. Here are some pictures.....close-ups of the damage I would like to repair. Any help would be appreciated. I did contact George at Leatherique.

MoeMistry

Unfortunately due to the deep cracks on the side where the seam is, I'd say that bolster leather needs to be replaces, and the rest of the seat needs to be refinished to match the new leather. Better left to a pro in your area.

TOGWT

+1 Good advice, I'm usually the first to advise a DIY fix but...

earossi

MoeMistry - Good sage advice. Unfortunately, the local guy wanted $2400 to reupholster BOTH seats (so that they would match!!).

So, are you suggesting that I just have the seat back reupholstered and then redye both seats to get a good match? If that is your suggestion, do you have an educated guess as to what I should be looking for in pricing?

I would probably remove the back to the seat and carry just that part into a shop to have the work done. Little paranoid I guess in that when you drive in with a Porsche, you can hear the cash register sing! I'd rather just drive in with my Yugo and the seat back!! (just kidding, but you get the idea).

Thanks.

earossi

So, after some thought, here is my tentative plan. Since the car is a daily driver (not a garage queen), I think that I will interchange the seat backs (driver to passenger). That will put the passenger seat, which shows practically no wear....on the drivers seat. Then, if I can do some minor repair and redye of the "new" passengers seat back, the car may be presentable. At least it would be more cost effective than a $2400 reupholster of both front seats!

In looking at the two areas of cracked "beading", a big improvement would be to glue the two tears back together. Is there a fast set leather glue on the market that will allow me to do that? In playing around with the damaged areas, I found that if I pushed the torn areas back together, the entire seam straightened up and was passable (except for the need of a redye).

So, I am thinking about repairing the torn leather with a strong glue (if one exists), and then redying not only the repaired area, but the entire seat. This would then lead to the need to redye the other seat as well.

Your comments would be appreciated.