jmgtp

Hi All,
Thought I'd share a few pics and tips on how to replaced my worn out leather with a nice new set:


I bought the skins from Interior Innovations at the suggestion of another forum member. I'm super happy with them, they were not over the top expensive and the quality is impeccable, far superior to the stock stuff. Anyway, on to the fun...

Tools:
Small Bolt Cutter
Needle Nose Pliers
Hog Ring Pliers
Scissors
Utility Knife
Heat Gun
Electric Knife (yep, the turkey carving kind)
Steamer
Sharpie Marker

Materials:
New Leather Skins
High Density Foam
Hog Rings
3M Super 77 Multipurpose Adhesive

I won't go over removing the seats from the car. It's easy, intuitive and covered in the FSM if you're unsure.

Right to it now... you're looking at the underside of the passenger seat bottom. The leather is secured by steel hog rings all around and some adhesive as well. The first thing I did was marked the foam with a red Sharpie to identify where all the hog rings are, this will make it easier later when you're reinstalling to know exactly where to place new hog rings. Also pictured, a pair of bolt cutters used to clip each hog ring and a small pair of needle nose to fish the pieces out.


Here is what it will look like once the rings are removed:


Next you'll want to roll the leather back from around the foam:


Flip the foam over and your left with something that looks like the below. Don't just go trying to pull it clean off the foam at this point! There's adhesive to contend with that secures the "flat" sitting part of the leather to the foam. We'll get into that in a moment.


The leather has a thin layer of foam bonded to it, and that layer is what is also glued down to the foam cushion. You'll want to slowly peel the leather away and use your other hand to suppress the cushion foam right at the "edge" of where your pulling. You're doing this to hopefully prevent chunks of the cushion foam from tearing away. In the below pic, the green drawn in fingers represent what my right hand would be doing during this step, obviously I needed that hand to snap the pic. Your fingertips are pressing down right at the edge of where your tearing - I placed the Sharpie marker there for reference as to where you are pressing.


As you pull the leather away, expect some of the foam backing bonded to the leather to remain on the cushion foam.


As you can see, quite a bit of that backing foam will remain adhered to the cushion foam:


I used a little heat to soften the adhesive. Pictured here is a Wagner heat gun. If you go this route, use common sense, heat guns put out a tremendous amount of heat and will melt the foam, even on the low setting.


Hold it at a distance, move frequently to a new spot. I used nothing more than my fingers and some heat to end at the below result. You'll have some remaining foam fuzz here and there and thats OK to leave. You can see a few areas of damage to the cushion foam, noted with the red marker. This was the result of where I was a little overzealous, we'll get into those repairs a little later.


Next step is plumping of the foam to restore as much of its original shape as possible. Given its age, its in good shape and not breaking down, but surely is compressed somewhat. To do this a steamer is employed. Dig through your closet, your wife has one somewhere! Get it going and let it really start pumping steam out before trying to use it. Obviously take caution, steam will mess you up!


You'll want to hit most every surface of the foam and spends some time in each spot. Unlike the heatgun, the steam wont damage the foam. You can literally see the magic happen as the foam just expands in front of your eyes. Areas you didn't even think were compressed will rebound and surprise you.


Note the area circled in red in the above pic, see the wrinkles and dimpled foam?
Now check out that same spot on the below image, after steaming:


I have a small video clip where you can see the foam expanding but the forum doesn't seem to like the iPhone .mov file format, not sure if I can get it in here but the pics above should give you a good idea of what the steam does - and yes, once its puffed out it retains the restored shape.

Ok, so remember that bit of damage from a few pics back where some foam pulled off the seat? The next few steps will cover that repair, here is what you will need: I deposited my mancard at the receptacle by the door, stepped into JoAnn Fabrics and picked up this High Density Foam for around $10. Also, a can of 3M Super 77 Multipurpose Adhesive (HomeDepot) and that useless electric knife that you have never used from the bowels of your deepest kitchen cabinet.


To refresh you, here is a repeat picture from above where the damaged foam is visible. The long narrow piece that pulled off I was able to save, that I'll just glue back down.


You'll want to cut a few chunks of foam to roughly the same two dimensional shape as your damage areas, test fit shown here:


Close enough, put the pieces on a piece of cardboard with the contact side facing up and mist them with the 3M spray, mist the seat foam as well. Per the directions wait a bit, the adhesive needs to be tacky but not wet to work. Then stick the pieces on precisely as you really only get 1 chance. Press them down good, the bond is instant. Next, trim with the electric knife, you can't really mess up because you can always glue more foam on and try again. Just make every effort not to slip and cut into the cushion foam.


Continue to shape with the knife until you have something like this:


Now, it doesn't need to be perfect. Just like the old leather, the new stuff has a foam backing that will gloss over any imperfections. That said, I wasn't quite happy with the above, I glued another chunk on and reshaped to this:


And lastly, the final repaired foam product laying next to the new leather skin.


Next, lay the leather face down and slip one side of the foam into place. In the below pic, the left side is in place.


Next, compress the foam and being to wrap the other side of the leather around, one corner then the next. I found it easiest to place the side already in the leather on the ground so I could push down and compress the other side. Use some muscle, but just be careful too, you don't want to overstress and bust any seams. Then turn the cushion right side up.

Now you need to work to position the leather to its correct spot. I found that massaging the side bolster upwards while using my other hand to pull the leather back worked best - as poorly demonstrated in this pic:


When you think it is well placed, stick your hand in and verify that the diagonal seam is positioned to tuck into the recess in the foam. If it isn't keep working. Obviously in the below, the red line is where the seam and foam recess are located.


Once you are positioned correctly, place the foam bottom side up, its time for the hog rings.


I'll say this part up front - don't place ANY hog rings on the back edge of the foam. We'll get into the reason why in a bit.
Start at the front, poke a ring through the center of the flap - this is also your last chance to preposition the leather so make any final tweaks now.


The hog ring pliers I have are spring loaded so its easy to clip onto a ring, then push the hog ring into the metal wire in the foam and squeeze closed:

Finish up this flap using your markings from the old rings as a guide, I did put extra rings here and there as I sought fit:


Then place rings on the left and right sides, do one side at a time. I'll mention again - no rings on the back yet! You'll end up with this:


Flip the seat over and observe that the flat part where your butt sits doesn't sit flat on the foam. Push down on it, you'll find its sitting as much as an inch off the foam. Something needs to be done about this and that is why hog rings we're placed on the back edge yet.


The factory used adhesive to secure the leather to the foam, and we will too. Roll up 2 pieces of cardboard and stick them between the foam and leather to hold it open. Then spray the 3M inside. I was pretty liberal. Take care not to overspray onto the leather surface. Since I used a good amount of spray, I let it sit for about 5 minutes to tack up.


Now that its tacked up, put the seat on the ground and note that i left the cardboard rolls in place for now. Work from the front and press the leather down into the foam. When you get near the back remove the cardboard and then continue to press the leather into the foam.


Last step, turn install the hog rings on the back edge. And your finished seat bottom:


Theres a wrinkle here and there but I expect them to settle out over time. I did a good deal of research before tackling this and found many other people to note the same the same and found that it just took time to settle out.

Thats all for today. Will reserve the next post for when I get to the seat back. The completed pic at the top is the drivers seat, the pics of the process the passenger. The seat back is the more challenging bit.

jmgtp

I probably should have prefaced the above by saying: I'm an amateur, this is my first attempt at re-skinning seats, I did do a decent amount of homework, but keep in mind that this covers the way I did it and it might not necessarily be the "right way".

Before we get into the seat back, I have one more pic of the seat bottom that I forgot above. When I was done, I glued down a very stiff and heavy piece of felt to the cushion bottom where it sits on the suspension. Just a little reinforcement:


Onto part 2, seat back:

Here the existing seat back sits next to the new skin. I recommend unbolting the seat back from the bucket base, it will make things much easier to manhandle.


The first thing you want to do is stand the seat upside down and using your thumbs pry the plastic channel apart with your thumbs. The front and back halves lock together with a U shaped channel on one side and a flap sewn to the other side that folds over into the channel. Hard to explain, easy to figure out, hopefully this pic helps:


Once you've undone the flap along the entire bottom edge, that gains you access to the zipper, undo it all the way down to the headrest.


Now begins one of the most tedious parts of this whole process, separating the front side of the skin from the foam, its pretty much bonded with glue from top to bottom. Just like the seat bottom, the leather on the seat back has a thin layer of foam bonded to it, and that layer of foam is what is glued down to the seat back foam. I used a utility knife to cut the layer of foam bonded to the skin straight across, peel down a little, cut again, peel and so on. To cut the foam I applied no pressure, just a really sharp knife grazed across will cut it. Remember, the idea is to cut the foam bonded to the skin, and not the seat back foam.


Repeat this process until you make it to your first hurdle... the bolster.


Once here, you'll want to start to roll the cover off the bolster. On mine, it was glued down really good on the bolster edge and took some effort and care with the knife to separate. Eventually, you'll be able to work the skin off the bolster, I did one side, then the other. You'll have progressed to around here:


Once past the bolster, keep on with the grazing method of dragging the knife. In the below pic you can see all the "stripes" in the foam from the countless drags of the knife. Progress is slow.


This brings you to your next pain, the valley between the top of the bottom bolster and bottom of the top bolster. Again, this was really glued down well here and takes effort/care to undo with the knife. At the bottom of the foam you can see a foam casualty - yep, seat foam torn off. I'll get into that repair in a bit. For now the focus is on removing the skin.


The below is the left side bolsters, again more foam casualties, its glued down really well here. It's hard to escape without damage. Not ideal, but its nothing that can't be repaired.


Keep up the knife method and eventually you get to the diagonal seam in the leather and the recessed channel that it sits in.


This part sucks. Use your finger, use the knife, use a little heat from a heatgun or hairdryer, and use liberal amounts of swearing. The aim here is to get the leather seam out of the foam recess without damaging the foam. Eventually, you'll work your fingers under part of it and then you can get a good handle on it to pull it out. Be sure to suppress with your other hand the foam near the edge that is tearing, otherwise you risk tearing a chunk of seat foam out.


One past the seam, things get easier. I was able to just pull up the rest without using the knife much. The exception is where the C4 flag is embossed into the headrest, that seems to also be bonded down pretty well. You now have the cover off and can access the damage caused by removal:


I was able to salvage the larger bits, you'll find them on the seat skin. Use the knife to separate a corner, then they peel right off.


and peeling:


The salvaged bits will be glued back on. For other damage, same method is employed as was done on the seat bottom. The high density foam is cut to fit and glued on:


And here we are after everything has been glued and shaped with the electric knife:


As you have noticed, quite a bit of the skin foam is left bonded to the seat. It doesn't really matter, it compressed to nothing and you wont notice it, but I still chose to knock down some of the high spots. Did so by sanding with a coarse block. It makes a mess and needs to be vacuumed clean after.


Next, steam the the entire piece. Spend time in each spot. You'll notice the most foam fluffing in the bolsters.


The steam adds a lot of moisture. Especially if you are working on the floor since condensed water can't run back down the steamer hose and instead dribbles out the working end. You want everything to be dry before moving on. I used the heat gun to speed that along. Again, be cautious you don't want to melt the foam.


Now that its dry, time to start fitting the new skin. I want to mention that my new skins from Interior Innovations didn't have the hole cut in the back of the headrest for the tilt forward lever. Not a problem for now.


Drape the new skin over the foam and begin working it down. I stuck one hand under the skin to compress the headrest foam and used the other hand to massage the leather downward. The challenge throughout this process will be to move the leather down.


Turn the seat so it is facing you. Stick your arm and hand in through the opening in the bottom and push down on the headrest foam from the front (what the red hand is doing underneath the leather). With your other hand, work the leather down along the side.


With the side of the side of the seat facing you, spend time massing the leather down along the side edge:


The below is the bottom of foam, with the side facing you. The goal is to work the leather down far enough so that the foam isn't visible:


Keep working both side of the seat, massaging the leather in a downward motion. You gain very little on each pass, its a repetitive process.


When close, I turned the seat upside down (headrest on floor) and worked the front/back/side upward.


When the bottom of the foam is hidden by the leather, you're good.


Next, you'll be zipping it up. Be aware of this piece of foam, which has certainly fell out and you've placed it to the side. Pop it back in:


Use one hand to squeeze the two halves together and the other to zip down. Don't just try zipping... you'll be asking a lot of that zipper to draw the to halves in if you do.


About half way down, again squeeze together the two halves, then you should be able to zip all the way.


Invert the seat, and start working on closing the plastic U-channel to secure the front and back halves of the leather together. I did find it easier to unzip the back about half way. Also, I started the channel at the corner, once started I just kind of slid it in towards the center.


One side in place:


In the below pic, I'm working on the other side, you can see what I mean about starting it in a corner. Now, I goofed and drew the arrow the wrong way, it should be pointed down. Start in the corner, slide it to the center:


Once the channels are secured, rezip if you unzipped to do it, then turn the seat over. There is still some fitting work to do, and its more of the same, massaging the foam and encouraging the leather to move where it needs to be. Straight away I noticed that the C4 flag was not sitting even.


I straightened it out by massaging and walking the leather over, the red arrow demonstrates where:


Next I worked on fitting the bolsters a little better. I didnt like the dimples in the leather. I hit it with a LITTLE heat:


Then pinched and held the shape I wanted while it cooled. It works slowly, and really over time the wrinkles and dimples should mostly settle out on their own.


Just like the seat bottom, the seat back stands off the foam. It needs to be glued. Once you are happy with the position of the leather, open the U channel back up and spray a liberal amount of the 3M glue in there. You want to hit the seat foam, the skin, high and low.


Make sure you give it time to tack up without skin contacting the foam. Then, put the seat face up on the floor and make sure you are still holding the opening at the bottom so the skin and foam do not touch. I applied pressure as follows, Red arrow first, Green arrow second, yellow arrow third - at which point you have released the bottom edge so the skin is in full contact. Keep applying pressure in the downard sweeping motion to ensure good contact:


You're left with something like this:


Secure the U channel now:


Time to cut the hole for the lever in the back of the headrest, identify where it is. Know that you've been working the leather downward this whole time, so your best guess is that the lever is also in its down most position:


Using the plastic cover as a guide so you don't cut too big, make your cut. Clear out some of the foam backing too, it just gets wrapped up in the screw threads if you leave it:


Install the cover:


Turn the seat over and admire your work, your're done.


You'll notice some wrinkles in the above. Inescapable, but they diminish with time. My drivers seat, which has been done for a week, looks better each day as the wrinkles settle out. You can still massage things a bit if needed, just keep in mind its glued down now in the center. My seats are in a warm and I think that is expediting the de-wrinkle time.

johno504

Good read , Nice job

gdl2165

Great job of documenting this, I've wondered about how this process was done. My seats are still in pretty good condition for their age but I figure eventually I'm going to have to do this too.

dizwiz24

Mr. Peabody

Wow, thank you for doing such a great job documenting all the steps you're taking. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your progress. Will be interesting to hear your impression once you get them mounted back in the car .... if you feel that you are sitting an inch or so higher in the seat .... due to the "re-plushed" foam!

Maldini

Awesome job. Thanks for taking the time to document.

jmgtp

post 2 updated with seat back process