This message is marked as Important.

Subject: Front seat refinishing,pretty long Author: bob91750 : member since November, 2007 : 182 posts Posted on: 2009-07-25 00:13:52

My initial post back in June.
Here we go. I used Davidc's writeup to get me started.
Thanks David.
This details the whole procedure and a must read!

Things you will need:
I purchased from Leatherique kit #2 in BMW LRP Medium Grey close to BMW Silver Grey their 0438. I also added to the kit a 4 oz container of crack filler of which I only used about 1/8th so the 2 oz size would have been more than adequate for my all my filling needs and I had plenty of needs! This #2 kit easily provided all the materials needed to refinish both front seats including head and arm rests .Price was about $120 including the 4 oz crack filler and shipping.

Various grades of emery paper,


and

Air brush from Harbor Freight
with hose and pressure regulator setup.
My setup

Lacquer Thinner at least 2 quarts for my job and lots rags. (The reason for the Lacquer Thinner, years ago all leather was finished with Lacquer paint, the thinner allows you to more easily break down that layer of lacquer paint to open up the leather for reconditioning and the new dye to bond to.)
This is what I used

and lots of rags

And finally, plenty of time and patience. Each finishing step has a certain amount of waiting/drying time in between. It took over a week for me to get it all done.
Driver’s seat was very badly cracked and weathered from being in Texas heat up until March ’07 when I acquired car and shipped it north to its new home in Michigan. The passenger seat was not nearly as bad and required way less crack filling and sanding.
Drivers seat

and a different view

Removal of driver’s seat was text book per Johan and Sean’s instructions and Peter K, in particular the ease of removing the seat backs. If you are a weakling like me then removing the seat backs before attempting to remove the seats from the car turns this awkward job into child’s play! (You have to take them off on the bench anyway so why not make it easy on yourself and do it in the car?)
Thanks to Sean and Johan
Thanks also to Peter K
I did however have some difficulty with the connectors on the seat memory control module breaking. As others have noted, the plastic connectors were brittle from age and the backs broke off during removal.

I pieced them back together and glued as best I could. I use rubber bands to hold together while the glue set. (They stayed together during reassembly so the glue worked!)


The driver’s seat had the common seat back twist problem ever since I owned the car. Refinishing the seats gave me the opportunity to pull the seat and fix that problem so I used the cable lengthening procedure shown in the above link.

Next came the passenger seat removal. I found that the seat motor cables were only working on the left side of the seat. Some time ago, I had moved the passenger seat in line with the driver’s seat for symmetry and hadn’t moved it since. It did work at that time. Apparently, the cables had shrunk since then. (I only knew of the driver seat twist problem since the passenger seat never gets moved.) With only the left side cable working and by not being able to move the seat up on the right side of it, I was unable to gain access to remove the seat belt anchor bolt. The seat cable had to be repaired in order to disconnect the seat from the car! I was able to lift the seat up off of the front hooks and then tilt it back onto the rear seat to access the motors to perform the cable lengthening procedure shown above. Once repaired, I could then move the seat up to remove the seat belt anchor bolt and then lift the seat out. So as others have mentioned, it is possible to fix seat cables in the car at least on the passenger seat without having to remove it.

During removal of the passenger seat, I put a nice nick in my dash trim above the glove box. Working alone truly has its limitations! Although the seats are fairly light, they are bulky and awkward to maneuver without help.

Next to the bench and disassembly, remove seat plastic side covers, then the backs and arm rests. (Arm rests are secured to seat swivel mechanism with a roll pin.)

Next conditioning with the rejuvenator oil from the kit and setting seats outside in the sun to bake. This has to be done many times to return the leather back to suppleness.On this day the sun was out otherwise I would have waited overnight for it to work.

Next prepping with Lacquer Thinner and wiping with rags to remove top layer of Lacquer then sand with Leatherique prepping fluid.

Seats prepped and ready for filling.



Arm rest ready for filling

Next is the filling.




Filling arm rest

Next sanding of filler, I liken this step to doing body work and I actually used a body sanding block to even out filler.

Worst cracks.
Before

After

After filling and sanding smooth, seats are now ready for dying



Dyed arm rests

Seats are now finish dyed and ready for reinstalling the plastic side covers and reconnecting the seat motion switches.

A quick light coat of Carnauba wax

Next, install the plastic side covers and they are ready to be put back into the car.
No seats how nice!

I decided to make it easy on myself and install the bottoms back into the car without the backs.

Was that easy or what? (And no nicks!!)

Next install the seat backs. They just simply snap into place! Unbelievably easy!!


Completed!

Here is the end result:
Driver's seat before

and after


What I have learned. Listen to the gurus who have walked the path before you. Remember Murphy’s Law when moving your seats around inside the car and cover everything. (Remember my nick. Ouch!) Finally, have realistic expectations. It would be nice to be able to have a 100% perfect refinish job on the first try but, that is just not going to happen. Though my seats are 1000% better now than they were before I started and I am really pleased, I rate this, my first attempt, at 85-90% of being perfect. My next refinish job hopefully will be in the 90% range with luck.
A word of caution about using the air brush sprayer, I got so occupied when applying the dye that I didn’t realize that I was fogging up my whole garage! That fog turned into dust which then accumulated all over everything including my cars!! It just washes off but, it sure makes a mess. Please ventilate spray area accordingly!!

(Remember to expect the unexpected and don't get discouraged!!)
Thanks, Bob
'91 750IL DC78993 10/90 (126k miles)
'91 Allante (151k miles)
'38 Dodge (Hot Rod Project torn down)

• Front seat refinishing,pretty long (pic) (url) - bob91750 2009-07-25 00:13:52 (333 views)
  • Nice job, you and others are going to shame me into trying that (nt) - htrdbmr 2009-07-27 08:11:27 (54 views)
    • Re: Nice job, you and others are going to shame me into trying that - bob91750 2009-07-27 08:42:45 (57 views)
  • Couple Questions - cvillebimmer 2009-07-26 23:20:21 (80 views)
    • Re: Couple Questions,Okay I'll try to answer. (url) - bob91750 2009-07-27 09:19:47 (64 views)
      • Thanks for the reply - cvillebimmer 2009-07-27 12:08:59 (51 views)
        • Re: Thanks for the reply,You're very welcome! - bob91750 2009-07-27 15:24:33 (49 views)
          • Woohoo! (pic) (url) - cvillebimmer 2009-08-16 22:33:20 (21 views)
            • Re: Woohoo! They look great!!! Very nice indeed!!! - bob91750 2009-08-27 20:32:50 (11 views)
              • Thanks Bob! I guess I need to find some 800 grit emery paper... - cvillebimmer 2009-08-28 14:05:06 (3 views)
  • Great job on the seats! (nt) - bcweir750 2009-07-26 20:24:13 (48 views)
  • I've seen enough of these seat resto threads! (pic) - cvillebimmer 2009-07-26 14:18:24 (122 views)
    • Re: I've seen enough of these seat resto threads! - bob91750 2009-07-27 09:28:09 (52 views)
  • Nice work, Bob! They look great. (nt) - DavidC 2009-07-25 04:03:00 (52 views)
    • How long do these chemicals take to 'cure' before you can move on to next step? (nt) - bcweir750 2009-07-27 11:46:02 (61 views)
      • Re: How long do these chemicals take to 'cure' ? - bob91750 2009-07-27 14:51:51 (72 views)