Anyone had experiences with leather repair as opposed to reupholstering?

[Evil Empire]

Hi all,

Just wanted to know if anyone has ever had their leather seats repaired for cracks, fading and rips etc, instead of going the full reupholstered option?

The seats in my VE Calais have some colour fading and slight cracking that has started to appear, and the rear seats have two small surface tears, where the top layer of black leather has kind of 'chipped' off, if that makes sense? The damage is not huge and the foams all still seem to be in good nic, but my OCD flares up every time I look at them, and I'd prefer to get them repaired early to prevent further damage, so I'm exploring my options. I clean the seats regularly with special leather wipes, but obviously this can't repair fading and cracks that have already occurred.

I've heard of some places that say they can repair this kind of thing to look new again, but I don't know anyone who's had it done, nor have I seen any examples of it. Has anyone had something similar done and are you able to shed some light on the process, as I'm a little confused as to how it can be done without actually reupholstering the seat? Is it worth it, and does it work/look good? I also wanted to know what the cost comparison is to reupholstering, and if it is a cheaper and effective alternative to costly reupholstering?

So if anyone can help, and maybe provide pictures, it would be greatly appreciated. I'm also in SA, so if you know of anyone that does this type of thing in SA, please let me know. Cheers.

 

[ari666]

weve had the vinyl patches replaced before. its been around 250-800 dollars depending on the patch that needs to be replaced. notice i say vinyl, cos thats what it it is.

i had my steering wheel recovered in genuine italian leather. was 250 bucks "mates rates" cos we did a fair bit of work with this guy. looks like leather, feels like leather smells like leather, charges like bull.

he quoted me 3 grand to redo the front and rear benches in leather thats still at mates rates.

there is a compnay here in vic thatll redo a sedan (rear bench, front buckets) for 1000 bucks in the OEM vinyl.

 

[Evil Empire]

Cheers for the info ari666.

Yeah I'm well aware that reupholstering in a good leather is $3+ grand, hence why I was curious about these repair blokes out there and the price difference. Although it would be nice, I can't justify that kind of money on reupholstering a VE. If it was a show car, and something like a HT Monaro (drool), then I can justify it, but sadly my car is no show car. Just a daily, but thought if repairs were reasonably priced, I could prolong the aging process and avoid further damage, as it has low km's and I plan on keeping her a while yet.

Can you clarify your first sentence for me? When you say vinyl patches, do you mean each separate section is $250-$800? And by separate section, I mean the individual bolsters either side of the seat, the center section for the royal tush, and so on. Is this what you mean? If so, sounds like it would become an expensive exercise, and not worth it.

Still interested to hear any other experiences or advice as well. Cheers.

 

[ari666]

yeah, so for example the drivers side lumbar would wear out, but the rest of the seat would be fine, or sometimes ciggie burns on velour base padding while the rest of the seat was mint, so the apolstorer would just unstich that section and replace it. it wouldnt be 100% cos' it looks newer than the rst, but doesnt take long to blend in.

250 bucks is pretty cheap when you think about the fact its a few hours SKILLED work and then materials on top of that price.

but yeah, other than that, no expierence with any other repairs. sorry mate.

 

[Evil Empire]

Thanks for the advice mate. Although $250 sounds reasonable at first, I guess it can quickly add up if you want a piece repaired here and there, and then you run the risk of it not matching and maybe looking a little off. I will still consider it, but I might shop around and see if anyone in SA offers a similar deal to the one you mentioned, $1,000 all seats completely done. Definitely better value, rather than spend $1,000 for only 4 pieces at $250 a pop.

Cheers for taking the time to respond.