# Reupholstering seats?



## M3UMH (Nov 4, 2018)

Hi All,

I'm slowly working through my to-do list on my new (to me) car. On the interior front I have changed the head unit and had the steering wheel re-trimmed but next on the list is the seats!

The bolsters are fairly worn and have some discolouration as is fairly common by the looks of things, i'm a bit of a perfectionist so I need to get this sorted,I have made a few enquiries online but must admit I was shocked by how expensive some of the quotes I got back were.

Here are a few pictures of current seats:




























My question is has anyone had their seats reupholstered, if so how much did it cost?

I'm trying to work out whether I should look to get these seats reupholstered or just look to buy some good condition wing backs. I should add I brought some leather cleaner and conditioner and spent a whole day on the front seats since I took these photo's they do look marginally better (and less shiny). I'd also be interested to hear if anyone has been able to improve the look of worn bolsters using a particular product?

Thanks in advance for any advice on this.

Mike


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## Jsimba (Sep 15, 2018)

M3UMH said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I'm slowly working through my to-do list on my new (to me) car. On the interior front I have changed the head unit and had the steering wheel re-trimmed but next on the list is the seats!
> 
> ...


Hi Mike, I've been debating exactly the same thing due to general wear and agree that the costs are quite high for complete reupholstering. If the stitching is in as good a condition as it looks in the photos, have you considered having someone restore the leather as a potentially cheaper alternative to a full reupholster job?

Also, a question to tag on to this which someone might know the answer to (sorry to hijack your post but it seems relevant to this conversation!) - if going down the reupholstering route, is it possible to replace only certain part of the seat (i.e the bolsters) if the rest of the leather is in perfectly good condition?


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## tttony (Dec 21, 2014)

Mike, how do the prices that you have been quoted compare with the price of new seat skins from Audi?


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## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

You might also try contacting the Boxmark factory that makes the OEM Audi seats and see if they offer any sort of referb service. Would be very interesting to know what they say.

Factory seat build video - 





Factory website and contact details - 
https://www.boxmark.com/

Headquarters Austria: 
BOXMARK Leather GmbH & Co KG
Europastraße 11
8330 Feldbach, AUSTRIA

Phone:	+43 3152 4171 0
Fax:	+43 3152 4171 141
E-mail	[email protected]


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## CurryMan (Nov 20, 2016)

I think you'll find a thread I created on a similar subject of interest:
https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... &t=1545841


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## r_turner01 (Sep 12, 2018)

If anyone is interested I will be selling my full electric rs seats very soon as they make way for the buckets. Near mint all round but have not advertised yet but now the weather appears to be in for the long haul car is staying garaged until spring so time to actually build it!


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## Craig_09 (Jul 20, 2015)

Hi, I looked into this when I bought my TTS a few months ago.
The wear on the leather where the black has come away can be easily Repaired with leather dye. I personally have done this on previous cars and had excellent results using a product called 'scuffmaster'. They mix the correct colour dye for your seats.
With regard to the creasing... I've been told the seats will need to have the foam changed to something more durable. They will then have to restich a new section of leather in that area. They said it may be difficult to 100% match the leather grain and adviced it will be better to source genuine audi seat covers.

It will turn into a expensive project.

I also looked into the wingback seats. They are very expensive to buy and suffer with worse wear and tear compared with our seats. :?


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## ashfinlayson (Oct 26, 2013)

You can make significant improvements yourself using a steamer or iron on it's coldest setting with a damp tea-towel, then use a black leather dye to restore any colour loss. But you've got contrast stitching so make sure you properly burnish some painters tape down over the stitching.

There's a wealth of information on youtube for leather restoration which I had a good look at before restoring the steering wheel on my old TT a couple of years ago.

https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... ring+wheel


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## legend_of_chaos (Sep 18, 2017)

r_turner01 said:


> If anyone is interested I will be selling my full electric rs seats very soon as they make way for the buckets. Near mint all round but have not advertised yet but now the weather appears to be in for the long haul car is staying garaged until spring so time to actually build it!


How much ??


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## heylinTTnz (Sep 17, 2018)

Try this seller here

https://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listi ... er=1745298

I was quoted $2600 installed for RS6 Style Leather Hex stitch interior for Audi TT. Front seats, rear seats and door cards.

So just seats should be quite good price. No doubt he will have templates.


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## M3UMH (Nov 4, 2018)

CurryMan said:


> I think you'll find a thread I created on a similar subject of interest:
> https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... &t=1545841


Hey CurryMan, Thank you for linking this, I actually spent a good 40 minutes searching threads of a similar nature but didn't come across yours. I have contacted Dale and booked his services, for the cost he is quoting (less than £200) it's worth a shot and if I still feel they need replacing then i'll revisit the idea.


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## M3UMH (Nov 4, 2018)

r_turner01 said:


> If anyone is interested I will be selling my full electric rs seats very soon as they make way for the buckets. Near mint all round but have not advertised yet but now the weather appears to be in for the long haul car is staying garaged until spring so time to actually build it!


Keep me posted on this, I may very well be interested in these when you are ready to sell.


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## M3UMH (Nov 4, 2018)

Thank you for all other suggestions.

I have watched a fair few videos now on Youtube (off the back of Ashfinlayson's post) so thank you for pointing that out, i'm not really a DIY kind of guy, i've always been a great believer in paying specialists to do specialist work, I would probably mess it up anyway.

Craig_09: Same situation regarding wingbacks, there are some beautiful ones on ebay for £3k at the moment with red stitching that look brand new but as you say very expensive and potentially could be in the same situation fairly quickly with wear.

SwissJetPilot: I have emailed Boxmark, i'll let you know what they come back with.

tttony: I didn't realise you could buy new skins from Audi? Have you had a quote for skins before? If so how much was it? The quote I got for a "repair" job on my 2 front seats was £900, this was to essentially replace the leather on the bolsters, the guy said because of the stitching it was complex and time consuming which I can appreciate.

Jsimba check out the link on CurryMan's post, the guy Dale he mentions looks very good and very cost effective.


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## tttony (Dec 21, 2014)

Genuine new Audi replacement seat skins often crop up on ebay. Here is an example (wrong colour I know) currently on. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-GENUINE- ... rk:55f:0

I don't know how different the price would be from an Audi dealer. Obviously, you need to be very careful that you are ordering the correct skin for you particular car in terms of colour/stitching/logo etc. Ordering from Audi with the cars reg should ensure a match.


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## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

If you want to tackle recovering them yourself, you can find the instructions in the Audi Workshop Manual. This one also includes removal and installation of the seats -

https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... &t=1833827

General Body Repairs, Interior - A005TT00420


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## Jasonl (Mar 31, 2018)

When mine start to go i will be replacing the bottoms , im an upholsterer so hopfully will do a decent job..


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## r_turner01 (Sep 12, 2018)

Hi,

To the guys interested in my RS seats...

They can probably come out any time now as it's not going to be used in winter.

As I'm totally new to this car and not seen any for sale that are the RS not wing back.. but full electric I've not really thought much on price. Would come as front and rears as will be goingdown to 2 seats like it should of from factory!

If anyone could give me an idea of costs.. I know wingbacks are over 2k so was thinking around half that maybe?


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## legend_of_chaos (Sep 18, 2017)

r_turner01 said:


> Hi,
> 
> To the guys interested in my RS seats...
> 
> ...


Could you post some pics if it's not to much trouble


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## r_turner01 (Sep 12, 2018)

legend_of_chaos said:


> r_turner01 said:
> 
> 
> > Hi,
> ...


Hi, yes I can, was going to put some up at the weekend as the car is garaged and covered so will need to unwrap it etc


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## r_turner01 (Sep 12, 2018)

Here are a few pics I have on my phone for you.

I will create a proper thread over the weekend.







Richard


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## r_turner01 (Sep 12, 2018)

As promised, some better pics















If people are interested I will make an official for sale ad of course.


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## M3UMH (Nov 4, 2018)

Just to keep everyone updated on this, following CurryMan's post Dale from Car Seat Repair is booked for tomorrow. After a bit of forward and backwards emails I've agreed a slightly higher level of service than originally agreed.

After providing photo's of the seats Dale is going to deep clean the seats, recolour the worn leather on bolsters, feed and reseal seats in a matte finish. There are also some creases and a mild scratch on the passengers seat which he is confident he can remove completely. Total cost £240 to have this done at my place of work.

I'm taking some detailed before photo's today and will upload some before and after photo's after tomorrow.


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## CurryMan (Nov 20, 2016)

M3UMH said:


> Just to keep everyone updated on this, following CurryMan's post Dale from Car Seat Repair is booked for tomorrow. After a bit of forward and backwards emails I've agreed a slightly higher level of service than originally agreed.
> 
> After providing photo's of the seats Dale is going to deep clean the seats, recolour the worn leather on bolsters, feed and reseal seats in a matte finish. There are also some creases and a mild scratch on the passengers seat which he is confident he can remove completely. Total cost £240 to have this done at my place of work.
> 
> I'm taking some detailed before photo's today and will upload some before and after photo's after tomorrow.


Dale is a great guy - I'm sure you'll be pleased with his work. Let me know how you get on.


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## M3UMH (Nov 4, 2018)

Dale has just finished up, must say I am incredibly impressed. How he's managed to get the seats to look like they do is beyond me. It's still raining a bit here and he's advised me not to let the seats get wet for atleast 24 hours but a couple of quick photos:

Before:









After:









Before:









After:









I'll take some better photo's later and upload them.

Massive thank you to CurryMan for sharing the details.


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## CurryMan (Nov 20, 2016)

M3UMH said:


> Dale has just finished up, must say I am incredibly impressed. How he's managed to get the seats to look like they do is beyond me. It's still raining a bit here and he's advised me not to let the seats get wet for atleast 24 hours but a couple of quick photos:
> 
> Before:
> View attachment 3
> ...


No worries - looks like Dale did a great job. Knew you'd be pleased with his work.


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## Craig_09 (Jul 20, 2015)

Amazing results.. Gutted I'm too far away


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