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This process took 1 month to complete however the amount saved was more than enough.
Many of the prices quotes would go $300+ to just fix that rip in the vinyl because only the face of the seat is actual leather.It's crazy how the driver's seat in black can be found complete for $100 in good condition. Shopping online was a failure due to how different red/burgundy/wine look with different lighting.
Found a local shop that was able to get me a yard for $20 + foam + yarn.
For the work I ended up finding out a co-worker did interior repair and cut and sewed that piece in. Spent under $75 to fix the seat. I learned that the lower part of the lumbar uses velcro to hold the skin to the foam and over time it looses it's grab. Hence why the lumbar looks a bit saggy.
1) really nice work renewing that seat it looks great, glad one of these rare red seats got saved by you...that thing looks like it was in a knife fight
2) I moved this to a new thread with a new title...seemed like it wasn't in the right place.
1) really nice work renewing that seat it looks great, glad one of these rare red seats got saved by you...that thing looks like it was in a knife fight
2) I moved this to a new thread with a new title...seemed like it wasn't in the right place.
Weird, where did I ended up this in? I meant to post it on the in the members rides
Where the heck is that? I see the seats for $250-350 per and just the upper leather/pleather cover for $125.
Here's one example, https://offerup.com/item/detail/701798730/. As time passes and these cars get older, they're easier to find. Those seats are an easy 75lbs each which is why it's better to find them local.
Here in South FL American Auto Export buys the majority of G's and have many of these. What I would do would be to buy the skins separately.
The hardest part for me was removal.
I'm in Charleston, South Carolina. Car scene here seems to be kids with 90s Hondas and gangbangers. Can't even sell stuff on Craigslist - had the aftermarket 20"s on my car listed for a while and the best offer I got was $50/wheel.
I think I'll wait till I see another G37 in the LKQ here and pull the covers off so I can make templates. I see leather-rated HD sewing machines for sale for >$100, and that way I can replace all of it except the center back with the Infiniti logo with whatever I want - suede, better leather, whatever.
Talked to a local shop about doing the same, was quoted $750/seat, with me breaking down and reassembling the seat. (IE, go-away money). Only seems to be infiniti for source of new seat covers (the seat surface, not a cover over that) which is more money that I want to spend to fix a crack or three.
A little frustrating - I'm at the point where I'd rather pay someone to work on the car for stuff I don't have the time to do, but they charge 3-4x what I think it would cost me to do it, including my labor costs. Or no one will touch the job at all.
Last edited by rotarymike; Oct 10, 2019 at 11:44 AM.
I’ve got the same red leather seats and I have the rip on the same side that you had. I have a guy that can fix it but still have not got the price. I hope I can get the job done for the price you paid. I love my red seats but the rip on the side is driving me nuts
I’ve got the same red leather seats and I have the rip on the same side that you had. I have a guy that can fix it but still have not got the price. I hope I can get the job done for the price you paid. I love my red seats but the rip on the side is driving me nuts
Post pics!
Note: de skinning the seat is not your average job. Expect to pay more labor for disassembly than for the skinning.
This process took 1 month to complete however the amount saved was more than enough.
Many of the prices quotes would go $300+ to just fix that rip in the vinyl because only the face of the seat is actual leather.It's crazy how the driver's seat in black can be found complete for $100 in good condition. Shopping online was a failure due to how different red/burgundy/wine look with different lighting.
Found a local shop that was able to get me a yard for $20 + foam + yarn.
For the work I ended up finding out a co-worker did interior repair and cut and sewed that piece in. Spent under $75 to fix the seat. I learned that the lower part of the lumbar uses velcro to hold the skin to the foam and over time it looses it's grab. Hence why the lumbar looks a bit saggy.
I’m looking at the first picture and looks like your interior is having the exact same problems that mine is. The arm rest on the door panel is cracking. I see that you put something over it but it is driving me crazy. Like I said I just bought the car from a friend of mine and I am planning to do a few things but the interior is pretty much on the top of my to do list.
I just completed a seat restoration on my car - I got a bunch of sport seats locally and was able to combine them all to get myself 1 good set for my car. I had to deskin all the seats, take the best parts and put it all back together. For the passenger seat I had a perfect condition tan seat that I used a paint / dye I got online which was an exact color match. I did black, not red... but same idea.
2 of the seats, Forgot to take a pic of the other 2.
Deskinning the seats (this is a pain in the ***)
Black seat with a blown bag (had to stitch this up)
This is what a fully deskinned seat looks like
The good passenger seat BEFORE black dye.
The completed driver seat after combining the upper skin from one seat and the lower from another:
The passenger seat mid-dye (still drying)
Finished product.
From the condition of your seats you might want to try the dye as well to refinish them - I got it from here: https://autoleatherdye.com/
I’m looking at the first picture and looks like your interior is having the exact same problems that mine is. The arm rest on the door panel is cracking. I see that you put something over it but it is driving me crazy. Like I said I just bought the car from a friend of mine and I am planning to do a few things but the interior is pretty much on the top of my to do list.
Man what a grim reminder, my rips looked exactly the same. The red does not age well at all and it's unfortunate the good thing about it is that it can be repaired somewhat easily.
My best recommendation is to pull the skin at a JY from another car and try to separate the seams to copy the patterns. This will give you the best chances of it fitting good.
The other choice is dye however our reds turn burgundy on the leather parts and the sides and back that are vinyl will turn pink. It really all depends on how much these affect you.
FYI for the door, that leather part unscrews from the panel so If you find one at the JY you could unscrew it intstead of the whole panel. I paid $7 for the leather instead of $35 for the panel.
Hey Icrap, did adding newer foam help with the stiffness of the bottom area of the sport seat?
I spent a weekend driving a Journey and man the bottom of that seat feels so comfty! I read somewhere here people cutting into the webbing of the seat to help improve this.