Replacement Leather seat covers - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

DarkStar · 09-03-2015, 05:36 PM

1997-2004 Porsche Boxster 986 Custom Real Leather Seat Covers (Front) - Lseat.com

Has anyone done this before? I have what seems to be pretty rare interior and cannot find oem replacements. Heat and water from a damaged rear window has killed the red portion of my seats. The black parts are perfect. But I have the black and red leather seats and most of my interior is perfect minus the seats and shift boot. Found this online and the price is awesome. 399 for dual color.

Also on a side note, has anyone re died the rest of the interior... I was thinking of cleaning the heck out of the dash and what not and re dye it red. Some areas on my door panels are a lil faded.

Anyway, ideas. Thoughts? Pic of my interior when I got the car in my garage. Thanks

hancock1701 · 09-03-2015, 06:59 PM

I recently dyed my seats with a leather seat repair kit. Dyeing is probably the wrong word they use, because it's basically sanding and repainting the leather. I don't know how bad your seats are or what color they'll need. If you plan to dye your interior using the dye kits that are available, it might involve sanding and you might lose the texture on the surface.

Those seem pretty nice. But I think getting the old covers off and putting these on will be a heck of a fight.

Pdwight · 09-03-2015, 07:03 PM

I have never seen leather skins even remotely this cheap...at this price I may do my 986 and my E36 next year

jsceash · 09-03-2015, 07:15 PM

They don't have Porsche colors listed only generic color. So are they going to match

Pdwight · 09-03-2015, 07:23 PM

close enough on a 12 + year old car you probably couldn't tell. I would ask for a swatch sample before ordering

tommy583 · 09-03-2015, 08:04 PM

The covers aren't that hard to remove. I took the back off of one of my old seats in about ten minutes. My buddy used the passenger cover on his drivers side. As we all know the drivers side takes a beating compared to the passenger sides.

As far as the dye goes I have dyed my dash and door panels from faded red to black. Came out pretty good and shows no wear since I did it this spring. No one can tell I did it if I didn't tell them.

Gelbster · 09-03-2015, 08:45 PM

Before you buy from LSeat,I suggest you do a careful Internet search - particularly the BMW Forums like E46 Fanatics. Some of the reports are not good.Yes, the price is great but there are issues of how much of the seat is actually leather/pleather and fit problems.

DarkStar · 09-04-2015, 01:23 AM

Both seats are trashed. The inside black part is fine. Soft and plush. The outsides are hard and brittle. I saw colors that look similar. But that's why I asked about dying cause I could just get pure red and redye the rest of the interior to match.

Lseat doest have to be the company. I've purchased these skins for my old 97 eclipse years ago in black with blue stitching by some eBay company and they were nice and fairly simple. If anyone knows a company that's been used by porsche owners I'm all ears. I just can't find my seats anywhere. I find all red or all black. But not 2 tone like mine and 1200 dollars for used seats... I'd rather pickup some Recaros. But rather my seats above all. Oem above all.

Pdwight · 09-04-2015, 05:29 AM

Hey Josh, got a pic of your seats

dagdisco03 · 09-04-2015, 07:02 AM

I used one of the flee bay seller and had custom seat covers made. The price was crazy good and I had them do two tone black and beige with black top stitching on all and the Porsche emblem embroidered in the headrest. The seller made it clear he could not match the factory savanna beige. I went for it anyway due to the very poor shape my seats were in. Once they arrived the color clashed so bad I couldn't use them. After more searching I ended up saying I have nothing to lose and ordered the dye/paint kit to match the factory color. I recolored them which was very easy with new materials. It took about 10 hours to complete the color change with the proper number of coats. Then only maybe 2 hours to install them on the seat frame, it's not that difficult. While I was at it I added seat heaters at the same time since they were min additional time to add those under the covers during the install. Also in my case I was very pleased with the leather I felt the leather was much better then OEM. I bought mine about 4 years ago so I couldn't tell you the flee bay seller or if they are still around. It was one of the cheaper ones. I know I paid under $500.

Pdwight · 09-04-2015, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dagdisco03

I used one of the flee bay seller and had custom seat covers made. The price was crazy good and I had them do two tone black and beige with black top stitching on all and the Porsche emblem embroidered in the headrest. The seller made it clear he could not match the factory savanna beige. I went for it anyway due to the very poor shape my seats were in. Once they arrived the color clashed so bad I couldn't use them. After more searching I ended up saying I have nothing to lose and ordered the dye/paint kit to match the factory color. I recolored them which was very easy with new materials. It took about 10 hours to complete the color change with the proper number of coats. Then only maybe 2 hours to install them on the seat frame, it's not that difficult. While I was at it I added seat heaters at the same time since they were min additional time to add those under the covers during the install. Also in my case I was very pleased with the leather I felt the leather was much better then OEM. I bought mine about 4 years ago so I couldn't tell you the flee bay seller or if they are still around. It was one of the cheaper ones. I know I paid under $500.

Wow those are the same seats I have

DarkStar · 09-04-2015, 12:45 PM

Sure thing.

This was when I got it. It now has a new deck relocated to the bottom pocket. And working on molding in an 8.4in tablet in the dash.

DarkStar · 09-11-2015, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dagdisco03

I used one of the flee bay seller and had custom seat covers made. The price was crazy good and I had them do two tone black and beige with black top stitching on all and the Porsche emblem embroidered in the headrest. The seller made it clear he could not match the factory savanna beige. I went for it anyway due to the very poor shape my seats were in. Once they arrived the color clashed so bad I couldn't use them. After more searching I ended up saying I have nothing to lose and ordered the dye/paint kit to match the factory color. I recolored them which was very easy with new materials. It took about 10 hours to complete the color change with the proper number of coats. Then only maybe 2 hours to install them on the seat frame, it's not that difficult. While I was at it I added seat heaters at the same time since they were min additional time to add those under the covers during the install. Also in my case I was very pleased with the leather I felt the leather was much better then OEM. I bought mine about 4 years ago so I couldn't tell you the flee bay seller or if they are still around. It was one of the cheaper ones. I know I paid under $500.

Wow IDK how I missed this post. Besides being on mobile. I love it! The colors I saw on that site I posted, well one of the two off reds look to be close. But I too agree they wont be able to match. I don't wanna just get pure red. I'm thinking about doing it, 400 Bucks. Maybe even get a custom logo like yours. And see if they can ship me some of the left over red leather to re wrap my center dash piece where the switches were. hehe.

I'm very impressed and love it.

Gelbster · 09-11-2015, 01:12 PM

The great upgrade would be to add ventilation to the seats. Not saying a/c air but just ambient air would help in a hot climate.
Anyone successfully added a seat ventilation system?
Perhaps used 987 or 997 seats are the better option?

Porsche 997 987 Leather 12 Way Power Seats Heated Ventilation Lumbar | eBay

DarkStar · 09-11-2015, 01:21 PM

To hearty of a price tag for just plain 987/997 seats. Good idea tho. My seats already have warmers in them but the area where the ventilation or warming comes from is not what gets damaged soo easilly. If I were to spend soo much money on seats I'd go a Lil further with some gt3 seats or recaros and some harnesses.

Here are my seats now.

Sent from my SM-G925T using Tapatalk

Pilot2519j · 09-12-2015, 07:12 PM

I had my leather seats redone in black leather and incorporated the porsche logo on the headrest. Everyone likes the look of the new seats now. Look in my posts for the pictures of the work.

DarkStar · 09-19-2015, 12:52 PM

Did you buy skins like these replacement skins? Or did you have an upholster do it?

silver-S · 09-19-2015, 08:44 PM

DarkStar, I'm having my seats redone next week by a place on east Comanche. I'm taking it in Sunday 9/27 (!) and I'll have it back Monday afternoon. I'll let you know how they come out, or you can come by and see them if you want to. The shop is working on a 60s Cadillac resto and the seats for that looked great, so I was convinced to give it a try. (Inserts only, in grey leather that matches the Arctic Silver, but obviously they can do the whole seat, too.)

DarkStar · 09-20-2015, 03:55 AM

I get off at 3. I see the Insert as being the easy part, but If the price is good to do my whole seat I am down! lol I am just in tears my interior is taking a crap on me.