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Thread: Reupholstering sport seats

  1. #1
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    Reupholstering sport seats

    This is more like report with pics post. I always liked how new upholstery looks. I know I can get seats reupholstered "profesionally" but it's no fun. This car for me is all about DIY, not about paying someone for labor. It is easy to pay, but it's not easy to learn and do it yourself. 2 things I always wanted to do myself: paint and upholstery. Upholstery happening now.

    I did post before how I restored my current comfort seats via repaint. But those seats had pretty decent leather. About 6mo ago I got 3 sport seats. Leather also not ripped but was pretty stiff/old. And it would rip if you pull it. I figured it is not a good candidate for repaint. And I figured it's time to learn new skill.

    So far I got proper sewing machine, spent about 40-50hr reading books, watching videos, researching materials. Now that machine under control I'm learning on how to take templates, sew stuff. Practicing with cheap vinyl, this is what you going to see on pictures. After I get good with this - I will get real leather and complete project.

    So far I made 7(!) headrest covers with various degree of "niceness" ) Hardest part I guess.


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  2. #2
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    Beautifully done!


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  3. #3
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    Impressive! I definitely don't have the patience for this lol

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by bblazen View Post
    Impressive! I definitely don't have the patience for this lol
    Yeah, it's very tedious. When you think good upholstery place charges too much - don't!

    After doing 4 headrests I was almost ready to give up. But then I uphostered my shop chair, did some other practice pieces and I felt like I'm getting better. I think by the time I complete whole seat in vinyl - I will be ready for leather. I also see lot of issues with my work, but then I look at factory stuff - they have same problems! So, that tells me it's not that bad afterall. And new leather will be better than old for sure..



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  5. #5
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    Love this thread!

  6. #6
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    Wow, this is impressive!

  7. #7
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    11/88 E32 750iL+98 E36M3
    Nice work.
    Here are some other samples of E34 leather DIY incl. dash, maybe it helps
    http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/707946/ http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/707947 http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/708718
    Text copied: Subject: Goodness, thank you for all your nice comments! Author: rick540 Posted on: 2009-09-21

    To try and answer your questions in one post...

    1) I had never sewn or stitched leather or anything else in my life before. I borrowed a 20yr old conventional Elna sewing machine from my mother and practiced with offcuts. I discovered one can turn it by hand doing literally one stitch at a time and get very straight lines this way. I used a Pizza cutter to score straight lines on the back of the leather as a guide and then glued the two pieces together on the visible side with contact, stitched it and used thinners to remove the contact once it was stitched. (The thinners did not harm the leather surface at all surprisingly)

    2) The leather is about 1.2mm thick and the back was folded over both sides and glued down after stitching, used an old Coke bottle to flatten it. Leather compresses very well and stays that way when the glue dries.

    3) The centre vent, upper vent, both speaker covers had to be sanded smaller with a belt snader and resprayed to fit the holes, wasn't too much of an issue. The cluster, I used an old one shoved in with leather offcuts and then heated the plastic dash with a hot air gun, this enlarged the hole enough that the cluster fitted the leather covered hole afterwards.

    4) Gluing straight lines, used heaps of wet contact on the back, this gave me about 5 min to massage the leather into place allowing me to get perfectly straight lines and flat surface before the contact glue dried.(The trick is not to use it as contact, just a kind of setting slime)

    5) I had a few dashes lying around, destroyed the first by trying to cut the surface off to give more space didn't work, second one (the one I used) I sanded with a handheld belt sander with 60 grit sandpaper to give a rough surface for the glue and even things out. I had eight door linings and destroyed about four trying to get them apart, found out lots of Acetone allowed me to get the vynyl off and then used the wet contact technique to shape the leather onto the panel. I did the sills first and then the door lining working top downwards. The front doors were Hell where the pockets are and took a few attempts. Fortunately one can drench the leather with thinners and retry.

    All the separate little bits were all glued together before stitching and cleaned up with thinners afterwards. The door linings use two different types of foam rubber as the backing to get the surface flat. Special nylon thread was used. The leather was purchased from a local supplier called Woodheads. I used grain corrected leather (the grain is stamped on) as this hides any uneveness in corners.

    If I can do it, you can! Just took lots of common sense thinking and a few retry attempts. No it wasn't easy, but if you refuse to give up, you will eventually get it right. (I gave up and got desparate a few times, had bits of car interior all over the house, and thought many times "Damnit I can do this, some guy in Germany or Italy did")

    E34 540iA M60 , 1997 E39 540iA M62, Capetown South Africa
    Shogun tricks and tips for the E32 series are HERE!

  8. #8
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    Awesome "thread!"



    Those vinyl covers look great!

  9. #9
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    Yeah, those seats look as good as some professional jobs I have seen - jobs that made me not want to get my seats reupholstered, but professional nonetheless. =p

    Keep it up. That would be a neat skill to have.
    Current Fleet:
    E34 1991 M5 Macaoblau on Complete (ruined)Leather Champagne - http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1705166

    Past:
    E34 1989 535i 5-Speed AlpineweissII on Natur - Parted
    E34 1992 525i 5-Speed Islandgrun on Pergament - Parted
    E34 1995 540i 6-Speed ShwarzII on Shwarz - Sold to Sneezy.
    E34 1995 525i 5-Speed Calypso Red on Parchment - http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1748143 - Sold locally.
    E39 1998 528i 5-Speed Black on Black - Sold locally.
    E34​ 1993 M5 Alpinweiss on Black - http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...lpinweissII-M5 - Parted


  10. #10
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    Made another headrest. Those are PITA. Now it looks pretty good, just like original was. Didn't hit it with steam and it's not leather but I can tell it is right.


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  11. #11
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    Then I wanted to check how French seam will look on those. HORRIBLE. So far I tend to keep it simple, like original with no decorative seams.

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  12. #12
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    Looking good. Let us know when you are ready to move on to leather and start taking orders! I could use a sport seat bolster or two...

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sir Montalbon View Post
    Looking good. Let us know when you are ready to move on to leather and start taking orders! I could use a sport seat bolster or two...
    I'm almost out of vinyl so I may get a hide from Tandy's for $90 to practice with real leather.

    Here is a thing (re: taking orders): Probably not going to happen for multiple reasons:
    1. I'm perfectionist and I don't think I will reach that level simply due to lack of time. I wouldn't offer my service if it's not perfect.
    2. My time worth much more than trimmer's time. May sound like show off, but thats a truth and if I took on doing something - it's just for fun and maybe pay for supplies/tools.
    3. If you want GOOD quality - you need to have good leather. Good leather is at ~$10sqft(for example leather from Tandy's comes at $2-2.50sqft). Cheap auto leather is at $5. I will need a hide for what I do (centers will be in suede). If I did all leather - that would be 2 hides $600+ each.
    There is so much about leather - it's whole different topic. Basically there is no good cheap leather. Good vinyl may cost more than cheap leather.
    4. Leather comes colored and sold by hide or 1/2. So I would need to order at least ~$400 worth of material (Thread is like $12 per.. + sew foam). Economy of scale does not work well Half hide will be good for bolsters on 2 seats.
    5. Making covers is one thing, but proper install also important. Steaming, stretching, etc - all make difference on final look.

    WorldUpholstery can do whole set (2 seats) for $1600 I beleive. 600 per hide and $1000 their labor. I would think theirs should be good. This is place where I'm going to get leather. They sell german leather and samples I got look very good.
    There is seller on eBay and they can sell just parts - bolsters were at $70 but I can't beleive there is good leather and or quality on those. They also didn't respond if they have sewfoam (aka scrim foam) on theirs. It's harder to sew with foam but it makes difference in final look/feel.

    So yeah. This stuff is not simple or cheap. I also don't think replacing one or 2 bolsters will look good. 25 year old leather is REALLY old. BTW, I have 2 seats of good leather in this "brownish" color. Will put them up for sale later.

  14. #14
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    copy of a thread from the E34 forum moved to E30 forum for info
    Shogun tricks and tips for the E32 series are HERE!

  15. #15
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  16. #16
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    No e30s, again :(
    nice!
    No e30s again.

  17. #17
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    Been awhile! I'm still working on a project. Right now I am working on skiver resto project. This is machine which allows to make leather edge "thinner".
    I need to have this machine before final work with leather.

    I also got very good deal on 2 sewing machines. Both post bed, one regular and one 2 needle. So, any "french" seams should not be a problem. And with machinery I got now - my skill is the only limit.

    I had a questions in PM how I started and what I used to learn about upholstery. Books, etc.

    This message board and specifically topic will give you all help you need choosing machine, adjusting, fixing, any advice, etc, etc.
    Proper sewing machine is one and most expensive piece to start working on a project. You need to start with finding proper machine.
    https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/25239-the-type-of-sewing-machine-you-need-to-sew-leather/

    This message board is specific to upholstery, people very helpful and many good info. You will get answers to any questions quickly.
    If you want to purchase learning materials - they sell video courses but it's not necessary also useful.
    https://www.theupholsteryforum.com/index.php

    YouTube is my main source of info. I watched 100s of video's about people reupholstering seats and doing any other interior works. I think 100s of hours spent for sure.
    It's all there. And some channels will show you very detailed videos on all aspects.
    This one is most detailed, pretty much all you need to know is here. It's Mexican channel so some things will be a question since we have different brands, materials, sizes, but in general it's the best IMO
    https://www.youtube.com/user/Cechaflo/videos

    I did buy some books but those are all not very useful since we have YouTube.

  18. #18
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    Thank you!

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