Has anyone had the leather repaired on the driver seat of their C4? Or installed the Ecklers mounted leather seat covers?

 

I haven't personally, since mine are in excellent shape, but I've seen several other Corvette owner's cars that did. They looked great, just like stock!

 

First of all - WELCOME to the forum!!!

:party: :party:

I just had my lower drivers side seat cover repaired on my '95.
They replaced the piece of leather on the cover that was worn.. It looks like new again and only cost me $120... That was much cheaper than replacing the whole seat cover!!!

 

I went down to Costa Mesa Upholstery and they wanted $550 for one seat. Needless to say they didn't get the job.

I then redyed the seats myself using dye I bought at one of the Corvette houses. That didn't work as it cracked. Lousy dye.

I am in the process now of redoing the seats. I found that leather (especially hard, dried out leather) can be sanded smooth to remove the cracks, rejuvenated and redyed.

After stripping that lousy dye off with lacquer thinner, I sanded the flat seat part with Norton 3X pad #150 and that remove 90% of the cracks. I reconditioned the leather with Leather Rejuvenator from Griot's Garage. Killer stuff. After letting it dry for a few days, I'm now in the process of redying the seats with Fiebing Dye, the dye recommended by all the top leather people. "Buckskin" was the closest color match to what they had in stock to the Light Saddle interior that's in the car.

I'll post more when the project is done.

BTW, as you might know, although you can't swap the seat frames around you can swap the upholstery. My driver's seat was the worst while the passenger seat was almost like new. I put that side on the driver's seat so I can drive the car while I do one seat at a time. The upholstery comes out in about 10 seconds if you know where to grab and push.

BIG JIM


[Modified by BIG JIM 54, 7:44 AM 6/10/2003]

 

My local trim shop told me that the foam was glued to the leather and that they could not repair the worn portion of the drivers seat.

 

My local trim shop said the leather was glued to the foam and they could not repair it.

 

Thanks for the info! I am leaning towards the mounted leather replacements.

 

I did not know that. I might swap mine around. Thanks for the tip!...now, to try and figure out where to Grab and Push to get them changed :confused:

 

http://www.leatherrepairkits.com/

click on Chevrolet in the list of manufacturers, then once the Chevy frame loads, scroll down and find the color code for your year range, then select that color code if you order their kit.

The kits from them have been discussed on the forum before and apparently their dyes are a very close match and the quality of the repair materials has been reported as good.

 

If I am not mistaken, most of the large Vette suppliers outsource the mounted seat covers to a Tier 2 supplier. Either way, I got the red leather ones in my '88 and they look awesome. ALSO, BE PREPARED TO MOUNT THEM!!! I didn't catch what year your car is, but trust me - the seat backs are a bi*&# to mount. You need to get a long screwdriver and file a notch in it to use as a tool for catching and holding the seat back bar, while you push it behind the clip. Good Luck - you'll be very happy with the results. :yesnod:

 

I tried the leather repair kit from http://www.leatherrepairkits.com. The repair is itself is great, but the dye just do not match 100%. I also have the Saddle color leather seats and their closest match was Beechwood color which was way too light when applied. I then tried their Ford color called Saddle which was a close match but not 100% (i would say about 85% match).

If anybody here knows where to buy exact leather dye for the corvette Saddle color leather, please let us know. :crazy:


[Modified by ktlee, 7:39 PM 6/10/2003]

 

Had a worn bolster on my 87 driver's side sport seat recovered along with the center console at the local upholstrey shop. Now it looks great and is not the "Oh look at that. Why doesn't he fix that" eyesore. :blueangel: Cost me $87! :cool:

 

Well - then your trim shop su**s... My trim shop heated up the leather to get it off the foam and changed the worn piece of leather for $120...

I would check around for other trim shops.. Someone is going to do it... It's a lot of money that you could possibly save!!


[Modified by GrandSportC3, 2:59 PM 6/10/2003]

 

Can you elaborate on how to remove and install the seat backs on a C4?

 

If it's mostly the drivers seat, left side bolster that one always slides across, and it's not the sport seats, you can always just swap the seat bottoms and spread the wear and tear.

 

I still haven't found a place around here that'll replace the leather panel. The local Dr. Vinal will only use a leather repair kit, which I really don't want to do. I'd rather get a new leather panel installed.