How to fix vinyl tears: one way to do it

[jsmithjr732]

Hey Everyone,

I recently purchased a 2000 T4R and it came with some nice tears on the driver's side leather seat--right on the lower-left side. As this is actually vinyl and not leather, I wanted to give it a try at fixing it myself. Here's how I did it:

(Disclaimer: I am in no way an upholstery expert and this was the first time I had tried this. Please use these directions at your own risk and discretion. This also assumes that your damage is minor. If your seat's beyond repair, you'll know.)

Materials:
1. Super glue: I used lock-tite gel as it's easy to apply and doesn't clog
2. Vinyl cleaner and rag: I used Lexol leather cleaner, worked ok for me
3. Paper towel to rub off any excess glue you may spill

Steps:
1. Clean the surface to be glued back together.

2. Apply glue to both edges.

3. Apply pressure to close the gap for 30 seconds while the glue dries. While holding the seam together, use the tip of the super-glue to smooth-out any leftover glue into the seam.

4. If the seam isn't staying closed after the first application, apply more glue.

5. Allow to fully dry. Do NOT sit on the seat if it's not completely dry!

6. Optional: use acetone to remove any excess glue residue from the seams. I used the rough side of a kitchen sponge with acetone on it and scrubbed for about a minute with medium pressure. This removed most of the residue but left some still on the vinyl.

You're 90% done now. You can leave it as-is or go the extra 10% and pickup some vinyl filler and a touch-up pen from an upholstery store. I didn't have any with me, so pictures on the final results will have to wait.

Feedback is welcome. If you've got a better way, feel free to post it in the thread...no problems here!

 

[K.C.]

jsmithjr732,

Excellent!!

My buddy Mark over at Toyota120 that has a 2007 Limited...he did the exact thing w/ his leather seats. It's a great temporary fix.

 

[jsmithjr732]

jsmithjr732,

Excellent!!

My buddy Mark over at Toyota120 that has a 2007 Limited...he did the exact thing w/ his leather seats. It's a great temporary fix.

Exactly. Not perfect, but it should stop the tearing. When it finally implodes, it's car seat cover city.

 

[Harold1950]

Fix

Don't mean to be the bearer of possible bad news, but think you should know, I did a repair of a home office chair (leather/vinyl material) similiar to what you did here. I found out that the super glue (I used the glue when it first came out on the market, so hopefully what you used is better and more flexible) was not flexible enough to work too well. It did close and hold the tear, but as the chair was used, the material flexed around the fixed tear and eventually tore again next to the old (repaired) tear. I hope this is not the case for you, I guess you just need to watch the areas around the repaired area for a new problem. Looks good though................Have a good one..........Harold

 

[jsmithjr732]

Don't mean to be the bearer of possible bad news, but think you should know, I did a repair of a home office chair (leather/vinyl material) similiar to what you did here. I found out that the super glue (I used the glue when it first came out on the market, so hopefully what you used is better and more flexible) was not flexible enough to work too well. It did close and hold the tear, but as the chair was used, the material flexed around the fixed tear and eventually tore again next to the old (repaired) tear. I hope this is not the case for you, I guess you just need to watch the areas around the repaired area for a new problem. Looks good though................Have a good one..........Harold

No problem. I knew that this could / would probably be a temporary fix. Some of the glue is behind the vinyl, so that should help it stick.

 

[MikesToy]

Some car upholstery stores could fix those for a fair price ($20-$100) pending how long or how many tears. I think they get the same color of vinyl and somehow iron it together with the tears. You can't see the difference. They won't tell you how they do it or else they'd lose their business. Yes it's costly but it beats buying a new seat or having an eyesore result like that.

 

[jsmithjr732]

Some car upholstery stores could fix those for a fair price ($20-$100) pending how long or how many tears. I think they get the same color of vinyl and somehow iron it together with the tears. You can't see the difference. They won't tell you how they do it or else they'd lose their business. Yes it's costly but it beats buying a new seat or having an eyesore result like that.

Eyesore? Ouch. The flash doesn't do it justice. It's hardly noticeable and, due to the location, I don't even see it. It's more of a quick-and-dirty way to stop the bleeding.

That said, I did drive to a couple leather repair places to see if they could fix it permanently. Suprisingly, neither could help me out.

One thing I didn't think of was "Mighty Mendit." My wife absolutely loves this stuff. Don't know why I didn't try it out first.

 

[ARK_SWAMP_RIDER]

I have a couple tears in the same location. The local upholstery shop would not patch it. They wanted to replace that whole section of vinyl, and they even told me it wouldn't match. Also, price was gonna be over $100 so I've let it go. This is interesting, I may have to give it a try.

 

[rpearlberg]

Thanks for the idea, may have to try this!