The luxurious interior of the saloons were and are much talked about. Wilton carpets, walnut veneer panels, high quality leather etc, but the front seat cushion of my one-two owner Mk9, has a few tears in the leather, which reveals how thin the leather is!!! It’s an unrestored car with original Cotswold blue paint and red interior. I have done work to the driveline and brakes, and ig now has the T700 box.
I love to enter it and drive off. Not quite the same roadholding as the Mk10, but with Pirelli Cinturatos it’s not far behind (the Mk10 with Michelin XWX).
Pity about the not so high quality in the front seat cushion. All the other leather sections are fine. And with its original carpet, all glass, headliner, door cards etc, I dont want to redo the front seat. It won’t match the rest of the car
You could take the leather off the frame , and stick a patch on the back over the tears , making sure the adessive is well into the tear , once cleaned up your never notice !
I did what Ian suggests for a couple of years before I had to bite the bullet ( multiple splits on multiple surfaces) and have Aldridge trimming re-cover the whole lot.
Worked well. I used leather fillers ( search ebay ) to smooth over. One thing you would want to do is consider using a low impact cleaner and dye combination ( from Woolies in the UK).
It does a great job of freshening up without losing the patina. You can add some of the dye directly into the filler and then use it to blend in the filler with additional coats applied with a sponge. Using a sponge gives a little texture. In some of my repairs I was able to use a completely different colour leather underneath the filler & dye.
Cheers.
Dave
I’ll send you some pictures Dave. Email address?
Skinner in the UK has a leather substitute vinyl which they could provide samples for you when called upon.
Emails are promptly responded to and a sample of their leather like vinyl is MUCH cheaper if you decide to go this route. I have a leatherette compound on my front seats in my MK2. Folks always say, “nice leather”
Do a Google search for leatherette and you will see numerous examples. The link were too long to cut and paste here. No more feeding the leather and the vegans will once again ride in your chariot!
Gerard
Many years ago while on holiday in the UK I had Aldridge trimming make me up a set of front seat covers for my 3.8S for future use. So far I have only needed to replace the bottom of the driver’s seat. The rest of the front seat covers are still passable. Aldridge did a fine job for me in record time.
First time I entered pictures! Missed the text, so it’s here. All the leather is very good in all respects, EXCEPT the frontmost section spanning the entire width of the front seat. Thin, tears and lots of cracks. That section of leather did not come from the same hide!
The rest looks pretty good, but that front section looks like it needs a new bit of leather sewing in.
In the pics of the side of the seat with the severe cracks and the repaired/dyed side, how did you get it perfectly smooth? I have used “leather crack filler” several times, but never were able to get your results. Can you share your process? Thanks!
Richard
Richard, I take it your question is addressed to me.
For the deep repair areas I filled them multiple times using thin layers, then I used a spatula to spread the final layers, then when the area had no more low spots, I applied one final (thin) layer and misted it with solvent, which levelled it out.
The place I bought my materials from now offers a solvent pen for doing this:
https://www.colourlock.com/gld-pen-40-ml.html
This was the deepest repair:
Damage:
Backing patch glued in from underneath:
“Scotch” glued in on top to get area mostly level:
Sutured, sanded, ready to fill:
Starting to fill:
Unfortunately, I didn’t take all that many photos. The minor creases I just filled with a bead, then ran my finger along to smooth them out a bit.
If you know where the patch above is you can barely make it out. Not bad for a first try.
