Like many, my driver's seat is pretty bad, but the passenger seat is like new. If I can find another passenger seat at the wrecker yard, could I use the leather off the seat for the driver's seat? I've done this with other makes. Car is 97 XK8 Coupe, red with Coffee interior.

 

Sounds like a great idea but I am not sure how you will deal with side specific holes. Seat: adjustment buttons are on front outside edge. Swap the left leather seat pad to the right side and the adjustment buttons will be on the front inside.

There's a term for this, just cant remember it. Last week I read a fascinating article about this same thing (wish I could remember that term). Did you know that spearmint molecules are identical to sesame seed molecules in every way except they're side specific? Kind of like your left and right hands. Both hands are identical but directionally different in that one has the thumb on the left side, the other has it on the right side. No amount of twisting turning or repositioning would allow you to put a left hand glove on the right hand.

So, no. I'm afraid it will not work, sorry. (Pretty cool fact about the spearmint and sesame isn't it though?)

John

 

Find a good local auto interiors and tops shop and pay them a visit with your car. Skilled interior craftsmen can do wonders with old leather and it is likely to cost you less to refurbish your existing leather than to replace it with new leather....

 

That's probably true. I had a repair estimate on my Acura seats that was reasonable. Just thought the idea of pulling the leather upholstery completely off a passenger seat and using the same leather to replace on the driver's might work. I got that Idea from LSEAT.com. They make inexpensive leather replacement upholstery. If they do not have a pattern for your specific car, if you send them the cover from your passenger seat, they make replacement upholstery for both seats ( and give you a 50% discount to boot). I did this with the Acura seats I have in my El Camino, and they came out pretty good. As for the holes for switches, etc, it looks like all of those are in the plastic surrounds, and not through the leather. I haven't looked real hard, so a good chance I'm not correct......​​​​​​​If I can find a seat at the Pick and Pull, they run $50, so might be worth a try just to see, and to inform the community.

BTW, LSEAT does make them for our XK8, and that is an option I still may do. The leather they use will not match the grain exactly, but still worth considering, for $300/set...

 

That's probably true. I had a repair estimate on my Acura seats that was reasonable. Just thought the idea of pulling the leather upholstery completely off a passenger seat and using the same leather to replace on the driver's might work. I got that Idea from LSEAT.com. They make inexpensive leather replacement upholstery. If they do not have a pattern for your specific car, if you send them the cover from your passenger seat, they make replacement upholstery for both seats ( and give you a 50% discount to boot). I did this with the Acura seats I have in my El Camino, and they came out pretty good. As for the holes for switches, etc, it looks like all of those are in the plastic surrounds, and not through the leather. I haven't looked real hard, so a good chance I'm not correct......If I can find a seat at the Pick and Pull, they run $50, so might be worth a try just to see, and to inform the community.

BTW, LSEAT does make them for our XK8, and that is an option I still may do. The leather they use will not match the grain exactly, but still worth considering, for $300/set...

 

More info. In researching the parts manual, it shows that for '97 the seat bottoms leather are not interchangeable, the but seat back leather is. Starting in '98, they go to separate part numbers for R and L, so looks like '97 seat back might be swap-able, but not the bottoms.

Thanks for all the input. Current plan is to get the driver's seat repaired.

 

Mirror image, chirality (non-superimposable mirror image in organic chemistry). It happens a lot with pharmacologic agents.