Worth $200? Leather seats vs Cloth Seats

[piperoo]

Leather seats from a 1997 4Runner that would be going into my 2001 in place of my cloth seats. The rears look brand new according to the seller. The fronts look to be in pretty good shape...some fading/minor cracking on the sides where it would be expected. I have never had leather seats and was going to buy some new seat covers anyway when I found these at a local car dealer. I have tinted windows so the seats won't get insanely hot in the sun.....

What do you think?

I figured if I got these I could give my sister my seats...she has a 99 4Runner and her seats are messy and a weird style.

 

[runnyrunnerton]

They certainly are cheaper than 2 sets of leather covers. Your right, tint will make all the difference in the world on extending the life of the seats. I have leather in my 97 and the guy who owned it before didnt take car of them at all, however after some tlc and McGuires leather conditioner they perked right back up. It all depends on your pocket book but for $200 sounds like a good deal then lather them up in leather conditioner. Are they electric adjustable out of limted or mechanical? my .02

 

[piperoo]

They are manual...which is great for me b/c I won't have to wire them up...they should just be an exact bolt in replacement.

 

[brian2sun]

Most yards would charge about $200 for just one of the front seats. If it's $200 for all 4, then yeah, you need to jump on it.

 

[piperoo]

Cool, just went and picked them up. Rears look great. The front driver side is kind of worn and the metal brackets underneath have some rust...so I will sand that off and respray them and condition and clean them..should look great!

Got them for $220...he wanted $300...then $250...after I saw the rust I offered him $220. He was a car salesman...tough haggler!

 

[g8rdmd]

Great find! You can always find a good interior trim shop and have those bolster areas on the front seat fixed. Had that done on my car several months back--the outer driver side bolsters were cracked and torn. Trim shop just unstitched the worn panels and placed new ones--matched the leather color perfectly :fro:

 

[g8rdmd]

g8rdmd...any chance you can attached those photos using this website instead of photobucket? (bandwidth exceeded already) I'd really like to see how they turned out. How did you find a shop that would repair them...like would I search for a 'auto leather restoration' place or something?

Oops! Sorry--I see them fine here...I'll repost them when I get home tonight :cheers:

As far as how I found the shop, the guy was a patient of mine and he recovered our dental chairs... I got lucky in finding him. His shop was primarily dealing with auto upholstery restoration, so I'd start with a search for that.

 

[g8rdmd]

Can you see them now?

 

[piperoo]

We can see them! That is a great job of fixing that tear.

Now, what is the best thing to liven the seats back up....as far as cleaning them. I got some Armor All leather cleaner/conditioner...so I am starting with that.

Got the seats in and they look good...the fronts are a little more worn than I thought...you can see a lot when you put them in the sun but they are waaaaayyyyyy more comfortable than the cloth seats.

 

[g8rdmd]

I use Swissvax on my leather (not in the 4Runner--I have cloth in there). It's very pricey, but man does it work. Even brings back that leather smell :hungry:

Swissvax.us: Leather care

 

[denvertoyota]

lexol is great!

 

[piperoo]

I am going to try some Lexol out. The Armor All doesn't seem to actually clean it.

Does the Lexol clean the leather? I saw 2 different kinds in Advance yesterday...cleaner and then a separate conditioner.

 

[steve-]

I am going to try some Lexol out. The Armor All doesn't seem to actually clean it.

Does the Lexol clean the leather? I saw 2 different kinds in Advance yesterday...cleaner and then a separate conditioner.

Lexol makes a conditioner and a cleaner,it's a good idea with leather to clean it first and then apply a conditioner.Lexol is pretty good stuff :bigok:

 

[XJeepguy]

BUY them . Leather is the only way to go man . Anything you do happen to spill is a easy clean up , unlike cloth . 200 bucks seems like a very good price.


I guess I should have read the rest of the thread LOL . Congrats , nice buy !!