Has anyone had seats recovered(or done your own)?

[Jferr006]

I'd like put some fresh leather on the seats I just got for my 944. The only professional place that would quote me w/o lugging them in said $2100 for two front seats in black leather. I just about choked..especially considering they dont make the covers but, buy them from someplace else. you can get custom leather seat covers for $300 on ebay for the set like these Porsche 924 944 911 85 94 Seat Kit New Sport Upholstery Black Kit New Beautiful | eBay

So my question is this a typical price for recovering seats?

Can it be that hard to buy pre made custom seat covers and install them yourself? I'm a cheap bastard and don't like paying for stuff I can do myself.

[Tervuren]

Since I've got torn up seats, I asked a friend who used to be in the used car export business what I could expect $$$ wise to recover seats.

He said it was north of $1K when he was doing it years ago, and with costs having gone up, to expect about $2K.

So it looks like he was right.

For that price, you could get nice set of Recaro's.

[kcoyle]

I just went through this last year.
924Board.org :: View topic - My interior redo (pic heavy)

The lowest price for custom cloth/vinyl seats from a local guy was 900 bucks , highest was almost double. (front and back seats) Thats for vinyl/cloth and he would have to make them from scratch. Stripping and recovering them is relatively easy, even I could do it. It's pretty straightforward and I took lots of pics just in case.

[Grandad#3]

Hi Janet, The seats you bought are they in fact true Sport Seats? The ebay seats says his are
for Sport Seats 1985 - 1994 and they are made of vinyl not leather. I would ask a lot of questions about them from the seller. There other sellers on ebay that do sell all leather seat covers, but they are in the $800.00 price range.

Cheers,
Larry

[Jferr006]

I just grabbed a link to show the type of covers. Ill happily pay 800 for leather vs. 2100.

[v2rocket_aka944]

i got leather on the seating surfaces and vinyl backs for $900 in 2006.

[POPS 83 944]

Here are the seats I just had my neighbor do for me (does it for a liveing , yes I'm lucky). Front are leather and rear are vinyl.


And the before

[dsmithwc04]

Local shop in Indy charges $150/seat to install seat kits. I guess they are actually pretty cheap.

I was seriously thinking of buying one of the $300 vinyl sets and having them install them. $600 aint so bad. Any word on quality and fitment with the ebay venders

[VOTS89]

I recovered seats in a Datsun 240Z I had a few years ago. I used an aftermarket seat kit, I also bought new foam. Visually they turned out pretty nice but they were too soft. I don't know if it was the foam or something I did but I wish they had turned out a lot firmer. It's not that hard of a job, IMO.



I'm going to redo the seats in my 944 when the time comes and I'm going to figure out how to make them firm like a sports car seat.

Bruce

[16vCorey]

Removing and installing the covers is not that hard of a job. You will need hog ring pliers and some rings, but that's about it. I recently recovered a vinyl/script seat on a friend's '87. I pulled the cover off and gave it to my mom (who's a retired seamstress) and she replaced both side bolsters on the seat back and the seat bottom, then I put the covers back on. If you know a good seamstress, they're pretty easy to work on. Well, at least the vinyl is, I couldn't tell you about leather. That might be a little harder to work with.

[S Decker]

Get a set of 8 inch bolt cutters from Harbor Frieght to cut the old hog rings off. I got a set of hog ring pliers and hog rings from Eastwood. I have done a few seat in other cars and redid the back of the front seat on an 87na. Let the material set in the sun so it becomes warm before putting it on. It is earier to work and it will stretch better.

[Jferr006]

Originally Posted by S Decker

Get a set of 8 inch bolt cutters from Harbor Frieght to cut the old hog rings off. I got a set of hog ring pliers and hog rings from Eastwood. I have done a few seat in other cars and redid the back of the front seat on an 87na. Let the material set in the sun so it becomes warm before putting it on. It is earier to work and it will stretch better.

Already have the hog rings/pliers but, that is great advice about letting the material get warm. I assume if it's cold outside a few mins in the dryer on low heat would have the same effect.

[acorad]

My guy here in CA did mine in leather for $800.

[gacook]

A buddy of mine had the seats in his Camaro (leather) redone at a local place and said the dude charged him $250. That's who I plan on checking out when I get to the point of being ready to recover mine.

[ideola]

Best bang for the buck:
http://garage.ideola.com/prod-Appearance.html#seatkits

These kits are done by Classic 9 Leathershop. Top notch stuff, much better than 98% of what you'll see on eBay, and reasonably priced for what they are.

[apriliaguy]

Where in indy. I'm in pendleton off 69

[dsmithwc04]

Originally Posted by apriliaguy

Where in indy. I'm in pendleton off 69

I live in Ingalls and my wife and I are building a house in Pendleton so were are in each others backyard! I'm about to send you a PM with info. Don't want to look like an advertiser or anything.

[dsmithwc04]

I was actually going to brave it out and try it myself but I just got a heck of a deal on some Corbeau racing seats with sliders. They're black so of course I now have to now recover the rear seats in black vinyl and install black carpet. My tan carpet needs a good clean anyways. Which reminds me, anybody need tan carpet for super cheap? Or the full electric front seats?