kpierce

Hello;
I have a 2000 ES 300 with normal but noticable wear on the drivers seat.

What is the best (and most cost effective) way to patch/repair?

Nothing is ripped or torn, but I don't want it to get any worse.

I found a few items on ebay that seem pretty good. I also found a local company that will come out and their minimum is $125.
http://www.leatherrepairkits.com/

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Lexus...item27afc3d9e0

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TAN-C...item2a0d9b1ded

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/PERMA...item2eb4802935

I have attached a picture so you can see the amount of wear.

thanks in advance.

DRACO A5OG

Use KIWI BRAND shoe polish, this is the old trick dealers use to touch up used car seats for resale. Use it in shaded cool area, sun and heat will make it tacky.

My neighbor actually went to his shoe repair shop and asked the shoe smith to mix up a color die to match his interior of his Nissan, perfect mtach and the dying went well . He used his girlfriend's make foundation spounge to apply it.

donbryce

Leatherique has an excellent system/products. What I see in the pic is dried, worn off surface dye. Their system cleans the leather, re-moisturizes it, fills cracks, and re-dyes. You need to find the exact color dye of your leather and send them either the code or a sample, so they can match the color. Estimate about $125.00 to re-do the entire car.
My steering wheel was worn form black to grey, and after using leatherique, it looks like a new wheel - and still does 1 1/2 years later, with no clear-coat protector either. I was able to redo all the seat surfaces, and still have enough to do them again, although mine were not worn through as bad as yours.
Leatherique requires lots of sun/heat to work properly at the cleaning/moisturizing stages, so living in Texas should work in your favor.

dthouston

I too used Leatherique to strip and re-dye the entire interior of my '90 LS400. It's not precisely "like new", but it's about as close as you'll get to new leather. But a word of caution: my car had the same wear pattern on the driver seat as yours, and after only a 1/2 year or so, the Leatherique dye wore off also. So it's not as durable as the original dye, but then you can always touch it up again...

LeX2K

Did you apply a clearcoat after you dyed the leather?

ashley1977

I had some professional leather restoration guy do the car for me, cost me about $320 for the whole car; when I sold my 2000 ES300, the leather still looks like new!!

ashley1977

more pix.....

yeldogt

If the car is in good shape and you plan on keeping it for a few years ........take it to a professional. I keep my cars a long time and I have had it done to both a SAAB and also a light colored Jaguar -- both looked great when I got rid of them a few years later.

You don't have to do the whole interior -- in fact you don't even have to do the whole seat. The good guys can match the colors. The leather in most cars is basically coated with color -- it is not dyed -- so they repaint the seats.

LexuSLP

So I did a little bit of digging on repairing replacing both my leather steering wheel and leather seats. Obviously replacing them would cost more than my 98 ES would be worth (dealer quoted me $1250 for driver's side seat and seatback OEM leather replacement cover). Here's what I've come across so far.

Options:

1) Completely replace with OEM parts (harder for dealerships to find now a days and insanely expensive)
2) Steering wheel only: Re-wrap (con's to rewraping are that you have to find an existing hide that is an exact color match which is VERY hard). Cost would be $150-300. Example: http://www.dctms.com/
3) Leather restoration (WORKS ON STEERING WHEELS TOO!) Much more likely to attain an exact match. Here are some before and after photos.

Haven't heard much on the durability of it. But just had a tear replaced on my new RX350 and it looks just like factory (matte finish and all). Only way I can tell is that when you press on the part of the leather that was repaired, its somewhat thicker.

I'm planning on getting my ES done, I'll post before and after pictures when I do!

LexuSLP

Here's that link to before and after photos!

http://www.fibrenew.com/memphis/see-...sts/?nggpage=2

It's a franchise so no matter where you are there might be one close to you. I know my lexus dealership contracts with a fibrenew guy.

crisgibb

How about for a torn seat, any ideas

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

http://www.leatherrepairkits.com/lexus.htm

BradTank

I would definitely skip any dealer-type solutions on a car that is worth so little, it's not worth spending something like $1,200 in parts and labor to rejuvenate a single seat.

I would also pass on the DIY "repair kits", I bought one of those for an older car one time, and it was a disaster. But YMMV

A good upholstery shop could probably take care of all your problems for less than $300, I would ask around a get a couple quotes and let a pro handle it.

lat21

Your seats look great. Could please refer the guy you went?

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

I would recommend a Private Message. You're quoting a post from 2011, and I don't think that person is around anymore.