Seat cover repair, 308

How bad are the dye, can you post some pics? Also if you can afford it now, reupholster it as it’s always nice to have fresh leather.

 

I think you options are to remove the tan and restore the original black (are the doors also dyed?) or reupholster the seats with new leather.

I don’t think re-dying the seats ran again will give good results.

Putting new leather in my car was one of the best things I did to my car. I too had a terrible dye job.


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As a contrary opinion, I had my seats professionally re-dyed 6 years ago and they still look quite good.

Having said that, it is really hard to tell what condition your leather is in. The layers of coating on your seats look so thick they look more like "paint" than "dye". A professional refinisher may still be able to assess the condition of the leather through the thick layers.

I'm no expert, but my 2-bit judgement says your tan color has been applied directly on top of black dye. One of the first steps in a re-dye process is to completely strip off the old dye with a solvent (acetone?) and inspect the leather. The refinisher then saturates the naked hides with moisturizers and only then sprays on new dye. Dye is a surface coating but is porous so still allows the leather to absorb moisturizers (… and sweat).

In my case, the refinisher also replaced the leather in the left side driver's side seat bolster and re-craved new pieces of foam there and elsewhere before re-dying. I had them do every piece in the car that was covered in leather to ensure uniformity (seats, door cards, center console).​

 

I meant replacement of new upholstery

 

On my 328 the seats were cracked and really rough looking. I looked into new leather costs and decided that I had nothing to lose by taking it to whomever the Chevy dealer in your area uses to fix used cars. For $ 500 in 2012 I had them redyed and the carpets redyed which I think is actually paint. But they look good. Before and after.


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Yes, that was my thinking but if the rest looks undyed then I guess you have one black seat, badly dyed.

In which case, then I would find a local upholsterer to see if he is confident of redying to match the other seat. You *could* do it yourself... as mentioned, the old dye has to be removed, then the leather has to be conditioned/cleaned/repaired, then a new dye has to be sprayed on. I did my steering wheel like this but a seat is a bigger job obviously but the technique is the same.

Or the upholsterer can recover both seats with new leather... And if you do recover the seats, they too end to make the rest of the leather/vinyl look worse and in need of restoration too.

Some here have a contact for good replacement seat covers. I used a local guy to make them from scratch and two seats were less than $3000.

Regards
David

 

I would not recommend him. In the end his work was good but it took an awful lot of effort and aggravation on my part to get it there.


Regards
David

 

It's just leather.....although the quality of our original seats is very fine. no wrinkles.

GAHH or World Upholstery are two vwndors that must have made a ton of them by now...
ReOriginals has a ton of interior trim and carpets too

 

I recently ordered a set of covers for my 78 308 GTS. I ordered the saddle 3218 color with the three black stripes. I also ordered the leather seat backs. The price is cheaper than most other places and the quality of the leather is really nice. Hides are provided by an Italian company, Pasubio. Vic is a great guy to do deal with. He answered my questions and solved some fitment problems I was having. Once the seats are in, you will want to change out the other leather in the car. Plan on spending more money that you original budgeted, especially if you are not doing any of the work. New leather is worth it. It transforms the car and is very noticeable.

A couple of suggestions:

After many decades the foam has changed. It may have shrunk, compressed, ripped or shifted. Chances are it will need some refurbishment. I would recommend that you send your cushions to Vic and have him do the install. This way the foam can be refurbished and the covers will have a perfect fit. I had to send my bottom cushions to him because my installer could not get the black stripes to line up correctly. However, the installer did fit the covers on the back cushions really well.

Once the seats are done, your door panels and console (if covered in leather) will stand out and you will notice the differences. Vic can provide new door leather door coverings or a hide of matching leather. I choose to order a full hide of leather, 44 square feet for $297, to cover my door panels. If you do that, you have to find someone to make the piping that goes around the edge. I used a strip of leather 1 3/4" wide by 6'. I used weed wacker nylon line for the inside of the bead. (measure the diameter of the bead before hand and then wrap the leather around the nylon line-the bead diameter can be adjusted by changing the diameter of the line). Having the installer prepare and glue the leather can be expensive because there is a lot of labor involved.

Here are the steps.

1. remove the two metal trim pieces from you door (door lock button trim and window crank grommet). They will both come off by bending the metal back with a punch, screwdriver and small pair of pliers. Then use a small hammer to reshape the metal so it will fit back in the hole on reassembly. Re-assembly involves bending back the tabs of the door lock trim and on the window crank grommet by gently hammering back the grommet over the metal ring that secures it from the back. Luckily, the leather covered "button" covers the ring. (the grommet does get a few scratches on it when you have to start to peel it back with the small screwdriver or tool. The rest of the metal can be peeled back with a small pair of pliers).

2. remove the black window scraper felt. It is riveted to the backside of the fiberglass door panel on top of the leather. Once removed, mark the hole locations on the fiberglass about an 1" down the panel.

3. remove the piping from the front, bottom and rear edge of the door. Its glued to the door leather along the inside edge of the door panel and is about 6' long. Not how it its fitted at each end as it meets the top edge.

4. remover the door leather. It is attached at the door speaker in my 78 308 and around the inside edge of the fiberglass door panel. Essentially the leather "floats" on top of the foam.

5. mark hole locations for perimeter screws on fiberglass panels

6. deal with the old foam: scrape off old foam or add new foam over the old (much easier)

7. clean off old glue from speaker area and inside edge

8. start reassembly process: very time consuming process. There are the two metal grommets to install, rivet on the window felt, glue on the perimeter piping, recover the round, door crank cover and "U" shaped cover that goes around the bottom of the door pull.

I took off all the trim, door felt, leather piping and leather from my door panel. It took my installer 2 hours per door to clean up the old glue, add new foam and put on the new leather. I did the rest of the re-assemply. I estimated it would take 5-7 hours for a complete disassembly and re-assembly. Many tasks need to be done slowly and carefully if you want it to look right. This is not a job where a 3 pound hammer and an impact gun is needed. Careful planning, precision and finesse are the tools you want.

In summary: great leather, seat covers are true to the original version, reasonable price and excellent customer service.

 

Good move. I'm sure you will enjoy them.

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login Vic at Topsonline did the complete interior in my old 82 GTS including the horse insignia in the headrest and couldn’t be happier with the whole process. Terrific guy to deal with.

 

Interior is complete. New seats and door panel leather. Very happy with the quality and feel of the leather. Vic at Topsonline has an excellent product.

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Wow, those are beautiful!

 

How did they do the horsies?

 

Its embossed into the leather.

 

Do the Tops On Line seats you buy on line have the head rest horse or do you have to ask and pay extra? I almost just added to cart on purchased them. Just wanted to be certain.

 

I think there was no charge.

 

Seats look beautiful but the stitching detail on the passenger seat bottom looks backwards.