Has anybody replaced seat covers?

[Spinnaker]

Have you looked at these guys yet? Haven't tried them, but others have reported good results.

http://colorplus.com/index.html

[Dale_K]

The ones I saw on the web at one of the companies that make replacement Boxster tops were so expensive that I ruled them out. If you decide to renovate your seats either by replacing the covers or by redying please post the before and after pics. The seats in my recently aquired 2000 S are not responding to the Meguiar's leather treatment/cleaner.

I read an item somewhere that mentioned redying leather seats with high gloss latex paint. I'm not quite that brave yet but my seats need some TLC.

[clb0099]

Funny you mention this as my seats are at the shop right now getting re-covered. The covers I bought are vinyl and are from ebay. The seller has both leather and vinyl. i figured that the leather would getting beat up again like it did and the vinyl could take more of a beating plus the sun would have little effect on it. The price for vinyl was 300 and the leather was 600-650. I am paying 100 per seat for installation so i am close to what it would have cost just for the leather covers. I just did my interior completely blk. I dyed the carpet blk with Hi-tech blk aresol spray (4) cans as it does vinyl as well as carpet. I took off door panels and sprayed them . All the plastic trim on dash,doors and everywhere else was removed and brought to the bodyshop so that they could paint them blk. My interior is going to be a shiny new blk.

[WhipE350]

Thanks for the response everyone. It's possible that 'colorplus' place stuff would do the trick, maybe some strong cleaning, conditioning, and then touch up dying.

clb, post pics of the vinyl and the rest when done, I"m very curious. Who did you get the seat covers from? I found two places on ebay that seem to sell the same covers. I'm figuring I can take the seats out and do it myself...I think

I was looking at the leather but heck like I said on mine I can't tell what is leather and what is vinyl. My car is red and seats black, I was thinking of doing the seats black with red cushions. Oh and ya the price for the leather is over $600.

[clb0099]

I will post pictures when its done... it was def a guy on ebay that i bought them from and I am getting done at a local shop. The vinyl seems very similar to the leather I figured for the money its not worth doing the leather over again.. The constant going in and out of the car makes the bolster to go to crap. I will get all the info from where I bought from and pictures probably towards the end of the week. I didn't take pictures of the seats before so kinda hard to compare.

[WhipE350]

Originally Posted by clb0099

I will post pictures when its done... it was def a guy on ebay that i bought them from and I am getting done at a local shop. The vinyl seems very similar to the leather I figured for the money its not worth doing the leather over again.. The constant going in and out of the car makes the bolster to go to crap. I will get all the info from where I bought from and pictures probably towards the end of the week. I didn't take pictures of the seats before so kinda hard to compare.

Ya I'm interested in how snug they fit, i.e. factory look would be nice. Have you ever used a black spray for plastic...my door pocket flaps are kind of scuffed and I was going to replace them...but if I could just sand a little and paint and not be able to tell the difference I might be inclined to try that.

[clb0099]

I thing the snug fit has alot to do with how the installers does the work.. I mean sure the covers can be huge and not fit but a install who has done them before can adjust and make them work without taking away from the seats look factory. I had my interiors pieces professionally painted but there is many paints that will work for your lids. What is rubbing off on them is the thin layer of rubber for protection so that they don't get scratch or whatever. I would sand them down and get a good spray paint and then a good clear coat spray. I have used a paint which you can get in Home depot. The lids are as well as every trim piece is overpriced in the boxster so... I would even go as to get them professionally painted before opting to buy news ones.. as it bound to happen again.


http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xgf/R-100670334/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053i

[WhipE350]

Originally Posted by Dale_K

The ones I saw on the web at one of the companies that make replacement Boxster tops were so expensive that I ruled them out. If you decide to renovate your seats either by replacing the covers or by redying please post the before and after pics. The seats in my recently aquired 2000 S are not responding to the Meguiar's leather treatment/cleaner.

I read an item somewhere that mentioned redying leather seats with high gloss latex paint. I'm not quite that brave yet but my seats need some TLC.

I reconditioned my seats and am really pleased, saves a ton of money. Hard to get good before and after pics in the basement with a flash but I think from the pictures you can see they look awesome.
I did all 4 steps, rejuvenate, clean, prep, dye. If I hadn't had scuff marks I would have only done the first 2 steps. For those out there with nice seats and very few scuffs I would highly recommend the first two steps, you will be amazed at the results.
Since I had to wet sand to dye, the finish comes out very smooth and satin in look. I watered down the dye a bunch so it wouldn't look like paint and wouldn't be too shiny (this was 'my' method, many thin coats). I did the passenger seat first and then the drivers, the drivers came out better because I had learned a lot from the first seat.
First pic is a BEFORE of the passenger, the next two are AFTER on the drivers seat, drivers seat had more wear but less deep scuffs. I filled no wrinkles, I like the slightly wrinkled look, has similar character to my 50 year old face
I used Leatherique (no affiliation), they were recommended by a friend at work. George is real nice and helpful.

[clickman]

whip, post a pic of the passenger side redone, the same view you had in your first pic

[WhipE350]

Clickman, seat is already back in car, but I took a pic tonight with a flash. The flash is good for showing imperfections. You can see it is much better and since it looks better in natural light I didn't add more dye, though after I see in the sun I may do some touch up.

[Dale_K]

Those reconditioned seats look pretty good to me. I have a feeling the tan seats in my car might not come out as good but I'm probably going to try this eventually. I've heard of Leatherique but I don't know much about them. Looks like their system works.

[clickman]

No kudos on the photography , but wow, what an improvement over the "before" pic. I'll have to keep this in mind.

[Disaster]

Originally Posted by WhipE350

I reconditioned my seats and am really pleased, saves a ton of money. Hard to get good before and after pics in the basement with a flash but I think from the pictures you can see they look awesome.

Agreed. I cleaned and dyed my seats and the difference is night and day. Total investment was maybe $30 bucks.