perished leather seats stitches.

[szat]

Hello folks,
Stitches in my leather seats are slowly giving up . Any ideas how to prevent it, and fixed those on pics?
Thanks
szat

[arouch]

Probably not much you can do to stop it once it has started, but a competent vehicle upholster can repair it for not too many dollars if you dont need new material.

Where in Aus are you? Here in Melbourne there are plenty of them. Where I am in Eltham there is a classic car restoration business who specialises in interiors, must be a bunch of them in the yellow pages.

[szat]

Hey arouch,
I moving to st. Kilda rd Melbourne next month from western suburbs. I was hoping that I can fix it by my self, do You have any idea how much that could cost (the leather is still in good condition, only those bloody stitches ).
Thanks
szat

[cdaly]

How much is a sewing machine? You'll strip off the seat base skins very easily, then sew it yourself (by hand if you have time and no money) or bring it to your local tailor /alterations place. They'll be able to re-sew the seams on their industrial machines and won't charge you too much. Try an upholsterer's shop (the kind who do sofas and stuff) 'cos they'll not charge you the rates that vehicle upholsterers are likely to charge...

I did mine on the sewing machine at home.

[szat]

I did mine on the sewing machine at home.

Sounds like a good idea.
but I think I''l leave to my wife...
or maybe first i'll try one of those upholsterer's shops
thanks for ideas.

[SteveTheFolkie]

if you decide to do it yourself, by hand, do yourself a favor and get a sewing awl like sail makers use - most marine supply shops (good ones) will at least know what I'm talking about - you can make chain stitches with the awl - it holds a spool of heavy waxed thread in the handle - makes sewing leather a LOT easier than trying to shove a needle through by hand.

Carefully remove the seat covers, spend a couple hours re-stitching the parts that have come apart (and go a few inches further on each seam if you can) - re-install the leather and you should be good to go.

You can make a functional repair with the seat covers in place BUT it'll look like a pile of doo-doo (lordy there are times the language filter is a pain - when it makes you type things like doo-doo rather than sh*t!) - Yes - the original Audit TT's did have exposed "baseball" stitching - but it was designed that way .....

Steve

[KR900]

I removed the un-stitched leather seat skin from my driver's seat. i took it to a shoe repair/luggage repair shop and they sewed it for US$10. An auto upholstery shop quoted me US$90. My brief write-up is here: http://saablog.blog.com/781697/

[arouch]

Originally Posted by szat

Hey arouch,
I moving to st. Kilda rd Melbourne next month from western suburbs. I was hoping that I can fix it by my self, do You have any idea how much that could cost (the leather is still in good condition, only those bloody stitches ).
Thanks
szat

Hi szat, I went to a classic car upholstery specialist with my Mercedes ML. To replace two panels on the seat base in leather matched in colour would have been about $400. For simple sewing it would be a lot cheaper, particularly if you took the covers off yourself.

[szat]

Hi szat, I went to a classic car upholstery specialist with my Mercedes ML. To replace two panels on the seat base in leather matched in colour would have been about $400. For simple sewing it would be a lot cheaper, particularly if you took the covers off yourself.

G'day mate,
$400 - I can't afford that,
I think I'll try with by myself, I'll see how I go.
But thank You for info,
szat

[arouch]

$400 involved some new leather and quite a bit of labour replacing panels on the seat squab. If it is just stitching and you give them just the leather covers as Steve and KR900 mentioned I'm sure any upholsterer (even a regular furniture re-upholsterer) could do it fairly cheaply. Just make sure they have experience with leather.

[AUSSIE900]

hello szat and arouch ...
greetings from fellow Melbournite .. with t16 turbo split seats .... Have been trying to spruce this car up for last few months .. hopefully have it up and down St Kilda rd next few weeks .
Thinking I might try a furniture repair shop for the sewing .. or even some one that does Motorbike leathers , anyone that had an Industrial type Singer would surely breeze thru this job , Once we have them all nicely stiched up .. what do we do to try and regain a better finish ? I was actually thinking of the leather dressings you would use on shoes ? Maybe even baby oil ? I know the baby oil sounds a bit sus .. but is fairly common practise on bike leathers to make supple . ANy ideas anyone ?


MINE are as dry as , split .. dry .. very poor in front , not too bad in back ..

[arouch]

Originally Posted by AUSSIE900

hello szat and arouch ...
greetings from fellow Melbournite .. with t16 turbo split seats .... Have been trying to spruce this car up for last few months .. hopefully have it up and down St Kilda rd next few weeks .
Thinking I might try a furniture repair shop for the sewing .. or even some one that does Motorbike leathers , anyone that had an Industrial type Singer would surely breeze thru this job , Once we have them all nicely stiched up .. what do we do to try and regain a better finish ? I was actually thinking of the leather dressings you would use on shoes ? Maybe even baby oil ? I know the baby oil sounds a bit sus .. but is fairly common practise on bike leathers to make supple . ANy ideas anyone ?


MINE are as dry as , split .. dry .. very poor in front , not too bad in back ..

Dude, I would go with the leather reconditioners for furniture. I was about to put some on but had to put my car in the shop with a bung turbo. The product I bought is sitting in the boot so I can't tell you what the name is, but it is for leather furniture. You are going to sit on this so I think you want something that is made with that in mind. For leather walking boots I use dubbin, but I think it might rub off or stain clothing if you used it on a seat.

Also, once you have reconditioned it, you can then use a protective finish, should find this from the same supplier as the reconditioner.

[blueranger]

go to a junk yard and buy a saab seat of the same color...
and if its in good condition then just replace the seat... but if its not
cut out the good leather....

now remove your old seat cover and take it to your local shoe repair place.
they will charge you about half what the upholester will charge you....


but salvage your leather from a junkyard so you can get the same color
leather..