Smilez

I have a wear hole in the bolster of my driver seat. Its fairly big, has anyone had a shop fix one of these? Does it make better since to just have them recovered? I'm not concerned with the wear look on the seat, I' just don't want a hole anymore.

Thanks,
Jeff

Flybye

If you try to patch it up it will look ugly. You're best bet is to take the seat to a shop and have them replace that one section alone. It will usually cost around $100 or so to have a shop do it, and if a shop gives you any BS and tells you you need to redo the entire seat for like $500, tell them to stick it and take your seat someplace else.

MIKE-P-28

iTrader: (1)

Yeah i was told $65 by a shop

Smilez

Cool, thanks guys, I think I'll probably either do this and dye the leather, or just have them recovered in suede.

RonKMiller

Suede is very nice looking, and insanely expensive.......
it also stains very easily and shows wear marks.
You might want to try to have it repaired to match the existing leather. Re-doing the seats in quality leather is
$$$$ - and there are MANY grades of leather out there.

The leather that Mazda used is a good - not great - quality leather, much better than used in most American cars. Even if you take excellent care of it 10 years of use is pretty darned good.

Don't be fooled by inferior grades and sub - par dying techniques. What you are looking for as a MINIMUM of quality is drum-dyed using tansparent aniline dyes, then enhanced with clear and pigmented finishes for protection and color uniformity. It should also be treated for resistance to stains and spills. Generally speaking the smoother the surface texture, the higher quality the hide. The really good stuff (called Plonge or calfskin) that feels like butter is used for garments, but would be totally unsuited for car interiors since it is not abrasion resistant and very thin and "drapey". What you are looking for is a medium thick and uniform skin, with smooth texture.

If the upholstery shop you are dealing with is not familiar with these terms, and is not willing to show you
professionally mounted swatches from an established leather producer that they deal with on a continual basis, run - do not walk - to another shop that does. You are just pissing away your money.

$65.00 sounds too good to be true for a quality repair - even if it is just a small section. You will need new foam on the bolster as well as on the bottom of the seat to return it to like new. Your butt will thank you.

Smilez

Thanks a lot for the advice, so can a good shop do a good restore on the seats, if so, does it last very long (assuming its a good job)

RonKMiller

I would think you would get tired of the car long before the repair would give out. Shop around a little - it's worth the time.

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Just FYI, my father's Vette has tan leather seats. He had his repaired last summer. The repaired section matches exactly to the rest of the seat. It ran about $175 for the repair.

I'm personally still debating whether I'm going to repair my seat or purchase aftermarket seats. I'm not a fan of leather, but I have gotten used to these over the years.

Smilez

Yeah, me either, I really want something else, but I would like to restore these since it will be 3-4 years before I can buy replacements

djantlive

someone sells the r1 seats here for $400/pair, i am surprised no one has jumped on it. Leather sucks in a sports car with high bolster.

Mazda leather sucks! American car leather is actually pretty good - at least on my Buick. Nice and supple and don't rip (probably bc they don't have bolster).