Seats... covers? Or reupholster?

[Mcdeviant]

Howzit!

Black MR-S, Red seats and wall panels.
My seat covers are tatty and worn, holes starting to show and fading where I washed out the years of grime.

I'd like to cover them, since covers offer choice and easy cleaning/swapping, and affordability, but I suspect this may not be an option if I want a neat fit.

Thoughts?

[DravidDavid]

If you've got the money, reupholster how you like it.

I considered covering mine, but imagined them on the seats and what they would look like after a month and saved my money. I just know I wouldn't be happy with it. I'll save until I have enough to get both seats in my MR2 redone in full leather.
I was quoted $2K for both seats fully reconditioned in custom genuine leather. If the holes in your fabric/leather aren't too bad, I'd take some pictures and get a quote on a restoration first though. Mine are too shot to bother.

Good luck!

[goufcustom]

If you've got the money, reupholster how you like it.

I considered covering mine, but imagined them on the seats and what they would look like after a month and saved my money. I just know I wouldn't be happy with it. I'll save until I have enough to get both seats in my MR2 redone in full leather.
I was quoted $2K for both seats fully reconditioned in custom genuine leather. If the holes in your fabric/leather aren't too bad, I'd take some pictures and get a quote on a restoration first though. Mine are too shot to bother.

Good luck!

wow!!! 2k!!!! I wish I could do that but ran out all my budget after had repairs.

I also had this problem with mine as soon as I bought my car.

I had a look around second hand seats and those are around $500-$1000, depends on condition.

So I assuming $2000 for Full leather is not that bad price.

[DravidDavid]

If you've got the money, reupholster how you like it.

I considered covering mine, but imagined them on the seats and what they would look like after a month and saved my money. I just know I wouldn't be happy with it. I'll save until I have enough to get both seats in my MR2 redone in full leather.
I was quoted $2K for both seats fully reconditioned in custom genuine leather. If the holes in your fabric/leather aren't too bad, I'd take some pictures and get a quote on a restoration first though. Mine are too shot to bother.

Good luck!

wow!!! 2k!!!! I wish I could do that but ran out all my budget after had repairs.

I also had this problem with mine as soon as I bought my car.

I had a look around second hand seats and those are around $500-$1000, depends on condition.

So I assuming $2000 for Full leather is not that bad price.

Not really, but too rich for me. I don't drive my MR2 to be comfortable, I don't see the leather when I'm driving either. But comfort on trips longer than 2 hours and not having to apologise to friends about the tattyness would be a bonus. Not sure if it's a $2000 bonus!

I contacted a repair company twice with a detailed description and pictures with no reply. I think the company was Fibrenew.

[Benckj]

Lots of aftermarket type seats available but they do take some time to find and know how to fit. Evo or S2000 seats are very nice and can get full set for under $1k. This is a set I looked at buying a couple of years back for my SW20 but already had black Recaros. Think they sold for around $500. Not sure how they would fit or look in a Spyder.

[Mcdeviant]

Hmm thanks man,

I was hoping for $200 to maybe $400 just to replace them with a nice synthetic, up to a grand for nice tough leather.
Sounds like that's out of the question. The material is pretty far gone- in some parts, it's worn right through to the under-layer.

I went over them with a Bissel cleaner, it did a great job, can't blame the machine for this, but the material was in such bad condition I wondered if it might be a bad idea. The washing and suction made them go from dirty old seats to clean very old seats. On good new seats, I'm sure it would have been fine- they were just too far gone. Like socks the day before the material gives way to a hole.

Customs would be nice, but then you need to consider paying a few hundred more to get the compliance check done. If you're going to do that, might as well wait until you do some other changes too, get it all done in one charge.
I'd like to get a body kit on but not until I move, since the driveway has a massive hump at the top. I'd also like to add a spoiler, and get the whole thing repainted, when I get around to doing the former mods, but then I add up those costs and realise I'd be better off getting a different car haha!

It's a chicken and egg situation. I can do the spoiler and seats now, regardless of the driveway- spread the costs out, but then I'm probably going to be non-compliant/WoF-less from the end of this WoF until I move house and get compliance checked.

[goufcustom]

Hmm thanks man,

It's a chicken and egg situation. I can do the spoiler and seats now, regardless of the driveway- spread the costs out, but then I'm probably going to be non-compliant/WoF-less from the end of this WoF until I move house and get compliance checked.

I was on same boat as you, a chicken and egg situation. In fact, I had driving with those MR-S with body kit fitted but I found out that those were very unpleasant to drive despite great looking. Every time when I see those speed reducer(hump), I get nervous and especially there is no way you could drive into those massive supermarket or shopping mall. So I decided to just get a stock body.

I had an alternative idea, which was get a lip on stock bumper but then, it costs just as $1000 or more for front and back.

Speak of cleaning your old seat, I did that as well, with carpet spot cleaning and it sucked a lot of things(red to orange lol). Then it became fresh old car seats. haha.

So I bought a seat covers and I do know it is not cool as leather or normal clean seats but it does a job and I could change to any other patterns, with money that doesn't cost more than $100.

[Mcdeviant]

Hey Goufcustom,

Could you do me a big favour and flick me a photo of your seats? I'm looking into covering mine now.
Thinking that since I want to put on a bodykit and spoiler, and get the car certified after that, I need to go cheaper on the seats lol!

But I really want to see how they look first, so I know what I'm likely to end up with.

[Mcdeviant]

If anyone here is using covers, could you send me a picture. Keen to see how others do with theirs.

[rocco26]

Hi Lee, I got some leather custom made covers from eBay .you have to remove the original covers and with the help of some hog ring pliers or cable ties reupholster the covers on .
I paid $170 U.S. Plus postage .from memory they made mrs covers too.
Check out Rocco's red sdub for photos

[MIKEP]

Heres the link to MR2 Leather seats .com

https://www.leatherseats.com/leathersea ... 255D=LS101

Im thinking of buying a set from him

Worth a look

[Benckj]

Should come out very nice if you go that way, especially if you get matching trim ( door cards, gear boot, etc). Not a bad price, all things considered.

[EssDub]

Buy and fit GT86 seats.

You can thank me later.

[Mcdeviant]

Thanks for the ideas guys!

I got a quote a year ago from Upholstery Specialists, it was estimated $1750 incl GST both seats dependent on fabric. I don't think this was for leather. TBH that's about $1k more than I was planning to spend for a re-upholster, so I don't think I'll go that route in the next year or more.

Has anyone had better prices for decent work? Got any recommendations? That LeatherSeats.com group is US based, so I guess the DIY option is more suitable, but I'll be honest- I don't want to do that myself. I don't trust myself to do a good enough job. And I don't have pricing yet.

I know maybe I'm expecting too much, and if that's the case, maybe I need to forget about doing my seats. I really want to get it done professionally for <$1k, or get covers (that look good).
If this is unrealistic, feel free to put me in my place!

[rocco26]

eBay are selling some leather seat covers (leatherseats2017) $550nz plus postage.very good quality.
Wait till they run an auction .i got mine for about $180us .
It isn't that hard to to do .i have done it a couple of times .All you need is some snips and some cable ties ,but if you can borrow some hog ring pliers even better.
Just do them one at a time, so you have a reference.
They give your can a very high quality smell !