Leather!

[beerdog]

Here is a tip I got from a very experienced interior pro when I asked him about repading or building up the foam on my seats. He said the typical way is to not add foam foam to the top but to add it to the bottom/back of the foam and push the existing foam into the leather. I tried both ways and he was right. He said he would charge about $75 per cusion and i am sure his results would be much better than mine. I need ti go to Thantos's guy.

 

[NoLimit95]

I would try kinda what Sapper suggested but maybe a water bottle with very hot water while the seats are outside and getting some heat. Try one small spot on the back seat where you see some looseness and spray it with the hot water and let it dry. It should shrink. 180 degree F water leads to shrinkage to 7/8ths original size. I'd just try hot faucet water.

 

[thaywood]

Whats up with the front of the bottom portion on the drivers seat? Am I the only one that see's it?

Yeah. I saw it too. What is that? Looks like a piece of the leather than needs to be folded under or between the bottom and back of the seat?



Is that what you were talking about?

 

[Lownslowlsc]

Yeah. I saw it too. What is that? Looks like a piece of the leather than needs to be folded under or between the bottom and back of the seat?

View attachment 828451046

Is that what you were talking about?

That peice looks somewhat normal, it is a tad too big though and the red aint matching up. I was referiing to the front portion of the bottom. Looks like the left side is bulging out compared to the right side.

 

[thaywood]

Ah. I see what you mean. I think that may just be the angle of the shot. But it does look kinda funny...

 

[GMAN]

Yeah. I saw it too. What is that? Looks like a piece of the leather than needs to be folded under or between the bottom and back of the seat?

View attachment 828451046

Is that what you were talking about?

It's no different than what is on the stock seat that is one solid color. It only looks different because I have a two tone design.

 

[CobraStar_LS8]

It looks awesome Greg...can't complain with the price like that either

 

[beerdog]

Put the sets back in the car yet?

 

[GMAN]

The seats are in, but they are not done. The foam has deteriorated and the velcro is all torn off when the leather was pulled off. So I plan to use my other seat back and build the foam back up by adding some layers. This is how they are for now.

 

[95MkViii]

Love the leather, but It looks loose

 

[Sapperfire]

Deffinatly needs to be installed better Gregg... not trying to be mean - seriously.. but the way that leather fits looks terrible
The rear arm rest looks like its twisted, and all of the rear needs to be adjusted and tightened ..I'd hope that for $650 it would look much better

Don't frett thou man, its not useless ...it can be used as a bad example
Its just not Lincoln quality- maybe if its re-tightened and steamed it'll look better.

Personally if it were me, I'd be mad about the way it fits, rip it all out and find out who did Ultimates old 93

 

[GMAN]

Clearly you just looked at the pictures and didn't read what I said. I put them on myself, and foam needs to be added to the back to build it up, not to mention the Velcro rips out when you take the old leather out. As far as quality, it's far better than Lincoln quality. Paying an upholstery shop $200 to build up the backs and fit them is not in my budget. So they will fit better when I get to it again later.

 

[beerdog]

You can glue the velcro strips back in if you use the correct adhesive. I know it costs, but you might want to have a pro redo it. Especially if you are going to rebuild the foam. There are soo many choices in upholstery grade foam. If the leather fitting is not done correct the leather will wear and wrinkle quickly. I have been experimenting with building up the foam on my seats. Read some books. Have even gotten some tips from pro. It is not easy to get nice results. I am not too concerned with my results, but I am using my old leather so who cares. If I had nice new costly covers I would probably have somene do it.

They do look nice in the car.

 

[GMAN]

That is definately the plan. Actually sooner than you think. I knew they were going to take some finessing. I was ready to get them in the car and out of the livingroom. Least now, I can take the back out and have it worked on and not leave the car.

 

[97MarkJA]

Layers are better GMAN. The right glue and a long blade razor or a electric knife works great to get the shape you want. Belt sander works to but with the wrong foam it will gum up quick.
DAP sprayable contact cement work really well on the Velcro strips, soak the foam where it goes and a coat on the Velcro; pin the Velcro down overnight with sewing pins and you should be set.
It also works good for layering the foam, if you spray it you want to almost spider web when it hits the foam or brush on a light coat to each side; if you get it to wet it will make the foam hard.
Super 88 works good but in the heat it gets a little gummy sometimes depending on the foam.
After you build up the foam fit the seat, before you hog ring everything check the lines to make sure everything is straight and voids that are causing wrinkles.
You'll want to make sure all the Velcro is seated, this will take some finesse to get it down in the grooves after you've built up the foam. Most of the time if you fold the bolster in a little you can give the Velcro seams a few good hits.. more like a karate chop to the seam to get it to seat. Sounds funny but that's the best I can explain it.
Here is where scrap foam comes in handy. You should be able to cut the shapes you need to fill the gaps to remove most of the wrinkles and slide them in under the seat skin. Once you get everything the way you want you'll want to glue them in place.
Hope that helps.

 

[beerdog]

Markja..sound like you have some experience at this. Wish I thought of that pin trick. Definetly want to let the velcro strips sit over night to fully cure.

Personally, i think is a great starting thread. The assorted M8 sites have few if any posts on installing new leather or repairing the seats. What I recently did was I sort of rebuilt the foam on my drivers seat. I tried layering some foam on the top but the results were not exactly what I expected. I think mainly because of material selection. I think that is a key detail. Especially on the bolsters. From the factory, the bolster foam is very firm. If you just layer regular foam (even "firm" grade it does not feel right. Then I located a good condition passenger's seat back and padded up the back of the foam and that worked well, but I still think it could be better. Another step I did was to repair how the seat frame cuts into the foam. I sprayed some glue in the cuts and shoved some thin strips of foam in there to bind everything. Then layered foam over that. Seems to work but not sure if it is the professional approach. Here are a few web sites where you can mail order upholstery supplies from.

http://www.rochfordsupply.com/

http://www.duboisfabrics.com/category_s/6.htm

http://www.activefoam.com/default.aspx?Page=Home

http://www.yourautotrim.com/

 

[97MarkJA]

If you look at my Project X thread you can see I actually put a piece of trunk liner carpet over the springs in the seat frame. Glued the foam back together and then glued a thin piece of foam to the bottom of the cushion to tie it all together. Leather is tight and the seats are firm, they will relax somover time.
I know some places use steam to pump the foam back up but this only last about 3 months or so, used car dealships do it quite a bit.

 

[GMAN]

I am going to stop by some local upolstery shops and get some prices to do this for me. I'm going to let the professionals do the fitting. I'll end up having a lot of left over supplies. Still can't beat the price though.

 

[beerdog]

Glued the foam back together and then glued a thin piece of foam to the bottom of the cushion to tie it all together. .

I did the same thing. I was thinking about laying something dense over the springs such a jute. I was also thinking something dense like jute or really thick felt would be a better choice to pad between the leather and foam.

 

[97MarkJA]

I did the same thing. I was thinking about laying something dense over the springs such a jute. I was also thinking something dense like jute or really thinck felt would be a better choice to pad between the leather and foam.

Good leather kits come with thin padding and slip material already sewn in.

 

[My Great 8]

Off topic, but i like the new sig pic Greg. How about a few photos like sbcaprice did to show off all your hard work inside and out!