DIY: seat repair and dye for $100

3599 Views 24 Replies 13 Participants Last post by burntoutrubber, 4 d ago

JohnH1978

Discussion Starter · 5 mo ago

11

Long story short, the seats in my 2001 M3 convertible were cracked and worn bad enough that it really made my car look rough. I checked prices around Atlanta for seat repair and got nothing (maybe too much manual work I guess). A total reskin with new leather was quoted at $3K - $4K so that was a NO way for me. So I took on the job myself as I had nothing to loose. After watching a bunch of YouTube DIY videos, I ordered some products and jumped right in. Both seats were out of the car for about a week as I worked on them a few hours each night after work. This was actually a fun little project. The real kicker is that I did all this for about $100. Here are the products I used.
1) Simple Green, Isopropyl Alcohol, Blue scotch bright, Sponge and some lint free towels.
2) The crack filler was from VIPER. XR-11 was one of their thicker 'air dry' fillers.
3) My Dye came from 'Seat Doctors'. Amazing stuff and super easy to use.
4) Other items : Blue masking tape, Heat gun, Sand paper (500 grit, 200 grit, 120 grit)

Feel free to reply or hit me up with questions about the actual process.

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Reactions: 5

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Lesslaw

· #2 · 5 mo ago

Does the Seat Doctors Dye seal the leather so it can no longer be treated/conditioned like leather?

JohnH1978

Discussion Starter · #3 · 5 mo ago

Lesslaw said:
Does the Seat Doctors Dye seal the leather so it can no longer be treated/conditioned like leather?

I'm almost positive that you can still add conditioner to the seats, I'll double check the bottle when I get home. It may even be on their web site...
JH

BMo

· #4 · 5 mo ago

Nice work. Please post again with your take on longevity.

Reactions: 1

JohnH1978

Discussion Starter · #5 · 5 mo ago

Here's a video that 'Andy' from Seat Doctor made on the process he recommends. I followed this for the most part. I used a little more of my Heat Gun on low temp to speed things up.

TüftlerMatt

· #6 · 5 mo ago

That turned out great! I've been eyeing Colourlock's kit, but this seems like a cheaper alternative.

Did you use the Viper filler on the larger hole on the bolster, or did you have to use any other materials there? I have a large crack that's gotten bigger and am curious if I can just get away with using a filler to close it up versus using a patch or some other means.

JohnH1978

Discussion Starter · #7 · 5 mo ago

2

TüftlerMatt said:
That turned out great! I've been eyeing Colourlock's kit, but this seems like a cheaper alternative.

Did you use the Viper filler on the larger hole on the bolster, or did you have to use any other materials there? I have a large crack that's gotten bigger and am curious if I can just get away with using a filler to close it up versus using a patch or some other means.

Matt - Yes, in two places I used some 3M epoxy and 'glued' a 2"x3" piece of vinyl under the crack. One large rip in the drivers bottom seat cushion and one in the drivers side bolster. The filler isn't strong enough to hold those large rips together. If you can see the foam or the leather is so thin that if feels like it will rip at any moment, you need some reinforcement below. Once you add the vinyl, will hold everything together tight and then you can fill in the cracks.

On the blown out bolster, used some extra epoxy to keep it all hard and firm. I went over it 7-8 times with light coats of the Viper filler building it all back up. In order to make the seam and stitching look somewhat correct and match the bolster groove above and below the filler, I took some 80 and 120 Grit sand paper and sanded a groove into the filler so it looked like a seam. Once it was all sanded smooth and shaped, I went over it with 4-5 coats of Dye. Its not perfect but 90% of the people looking at it wouldn't notice it.

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The_Fixer

· #8 · 5 mo ago

Looks great.

On my e60 I "restored" the seats with seat doctor dye and a filler.

They looked new but eventually the dye wears off and the filler comes loose.

After two years they looked completely worn out again.

Sooooooo.... it's a great temp fix that isn't bad if you don't mind refreshing every year or two. Maybe longer if it isn't your daily.

It's also still way cheaper than replacing. 100 dollars or less every couple years isn't that bad.

TüftlerMatt

· #9 · 5 mo ago

JohnH1978 said:
Matt - Yes, in two places I used some 3M epoxy and 'glued' a 2"x3" piece of vinyl under the crack. One large rip in the drivers bottom seat cushion and one in the drivers side bolster. The filler isn't strong enough to hold those large rips together. If you can see the foam or the leather is so thin that if feels like it will rip at any moment, you need some reinforcement below. Once you add the vinyl, will hold everything together tight and then you can fill in the cracks.

On the blown out bolster, used some extra epoxy to keep it all hard and firm. I went over it 7-8 times with light coats of the Viper filler building it all back up. In order to make the seam and stitching look somewhat correct and match the bolster groove above and below the filler, I took some 80 and 120 Grit sand paper and sanded a groove into the filler so it looked like a seam. Once it was all sanded smooth and shaped, I went over it with 4-5 coats of Dye. Its not perfect but 90% of the people looking at it wouldn't notice it.

This is helpful, thank you! Good to know about the small patch being placed under the tear.

JohnH1978

Discussion Starter · #10 · 5 mo ago

I'll report back on how well the Seat Doctor dye holds up. I can say that it's super easy to use and touch ups or a complete coat on the cushion or bolster is an easy 15 minute fix at this point. My car only gets driven a couple of times a month so I may not be the best example of daily wear and abuse...

///Mark_D

· #11 · 5 mo ago

Nice results! The color match looks really good, was that a custom matched dye, or did you just buy the standard BMW gray based on interior code?

I'm also interested to see how it holds up. For 100 bucks though even if you had to add more dye every few years that would be worth it.

JohnH1978

Discussion Starter · #12 · 5 mo ago

///Mark_D said:
Nice results! The color match looks really good, was that a custom matched dye, or did you just buy the standard BMW gray based on interior code?

I'm also interested to see how it holds up. For 100 bucks though even if you had to add more dye every few years that would be worth it.

Mark - I did give Seat Doctor my VIN and I had a code that my BMW dealer gave me (N6TT). To me the seat color is more of a Silver. Anyway, Andy at Seat Dr. said it was his 'off the shelf' color of Grey with no custom blending. I did a color match on both front seats and in two places on my back seat and it was 100% dead match.

Reactions: 1

///Mark_D

· #13 · 5 mo ago

JohnH1978 said:
Mark - I did give Seat Doctor my VIN and I had a code that my BMW dealer gave me (N6TT). To me the seat color is more of a Silver. Anyway, Andy at Seat Dr. said it was his 'off the shelf' color of Grey with no custom blending. I did a color match on both front seats and in two places on my back seat and it was 100% dead match.

Good to know, thanks for the info. I've got a gray sport seat with the same color code in my wagon that could use a similar repair. That is great their stock BMW color is a dead on match and they didn't have to custom blend anything.

resunoiz

· #14 · 5 mo ago (Edited)

///Mark_D said:
Nice results! The color match looks really good, was that a custom matched dye, or did you just buy the standard BMW gray based on interior code?

I'm also interested to see how it holds up. For 100 bucks though even if you had to add more dye every few years that would be worth it.

the problem is that dye dy dye ( 😅 ) you will loose totally the natural leather "grain" making it quite ugly. And adding layers to layers won't assure you a perfect adhesion and a potential major tendency to cracks in the leather above.

I did on my seats 2 years ago and did a second refresh this year, you can see (and vote

😂 ) here.
The seat are quite perfect, but if you're a perfectionists the difference with a brand-new leather is evident. That's why I'm planning a rebuild.

JohnH1978

Discussion Starter · #15 · 5 mo ago

After 22 years and 100K miles, that natural leather 'grain' is long gone. If leather is properly cleaned and lightly sanded, the dye should soak in work just fine. Yes, it will need a 'refresh' down the road but that is to be expected. Brand new Mercedes and BMW's with 30K miles need the leather refreshed. Just ask any OEM Dealership what they do to their Certified pre-owned cars and the detail work they put into them.

Reactions: 1

resunoiz

· #16 · 5 mo ago

JohnH1978 said:
After 22 years and 100K miles, that natural leather 'grain' is long gone. If leather is properly cleaned and lightly sanded, the dye should soak in work just fine. Yes, it will need a 'refresh' down the road but that is to be expected. Brand new Mercedes and BMW's with 30K miles need the leather refreshed. Just ask any OEM Dealership what they do to their Certified pre-owned cars and the detail work they put into them.

our leather hopefully is way better than BMW new ones: if well mantained, the "grain" is still present, so is mine on the non scratched parts.

drakesrevenge21

· #17 · 4 mo ago

Awesome job! Looks great!

Landlorder

· #18 · 3 mo ago

How is the dye holding up? I've dyed my seats a few times, doesn't last long long. Feels like it needs to be done every year. Your dye also appears to be a little glossy, isn't it supposed to be a matt finish?

JohnH1978

Discussion Starter · #19 · 3 mo ago

Landlorder said:
How is the dye holding up? I've dyed my seats a few times, doesn't last long long. Feels like it needs to be done every year. Your dye also appears to be a little glossy, isn't it supposed to be a matt finish?

So far the dye and seats show no wear. Keep in mind that our Georgia weather has been cold and raining so I'm not driving the car much. The next 4-5 months will be the real test. As for the Glossy look, the photos I took under the garage LED lights didn't help. They look less glossy in the car and outside in the regular day light. Now, I've been told that if I 'blot' or 'dab' the dye on the leather vs more of swipe and drag process, it would have come out with more of the Matt finish. If I do touch them up, I'll try the Dab-Dab method. So far, I'm pretty pleased with my $100 spend.

dlmrun2002

· #20 · 3 mo ago

I got a kit from Autoleatherdye. The initial dye color they sent me was a off just a hair so I sent them back a swatch and they match it up perfectly. Kit held up pretty good but two years later I might give it another dye since I have some left over. The seat was messed up real bad 1st time I did it.
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