I am in the middle of re-covering my 2000 XK8 front seats with replacement leather coverings. The new coverings were made by a company in California that used OEM leather and are cut from a pattern for the car. They look great and from everything I see so far, they seem to fit perfectly.

I was able to install the driver's side seat base leather pretty easily. I am stuck installing the leather on the back of the driver's side seat. I am not having any success trying to fit the new leather into the groove that runs around the back of the seat. This seems to be an almost impossible task to fold over the new leather, fit it into the groove all around the seat back while putting the clips in place and then somehow forcing all of this deep into the groove without damaging the new leather... has anyone tackled this before and are there any tips or hints to help make this an easier DIY job?

I do have the seat back & base separated.

Thanks in advance!

Tom

 

If the covers are Tops on line there is a hard plastic strip on the seat back and the clips from the original cover will not fit. I used a heat gun to soften the plastic strip before stuffing it under lip, it just will not fit if you don't use heat.

 

Thanks for your reply. I do have a heat gun and will try that. My seats aren't from Tops, but I'm sure they're similar. The plastic strip does seem thicker then the original, so its good to know I'm not going crazy thinking the clips won't fit.

What kind of tool did you use to stuff the plastic on the new leather into the seat back?

Thanks!

 

I used a piece of hardwood, orange or grapefruit, 1/4 X 3/4 with the end tapered to about 3/32 and the corners rounded. You will need to wrap tape for a handle and to pad the end as it takes a lot of force to get the strip all the way in.

 

All of the above plus superglue to keep it in place. I tried the "run an entire bead of glue in the channel" method and just made it worse. What worked for me was to start at the top, and put some glue in the channel (about an inch) then heat the leather material - careful if it's vinyl as it will melt - and stretch it tight and press it into the groove by the glue. It's a lousy job but once you get a few inches done you will figure out a system of glue/heat/pull/press/etc and the rest will go pretty fast. Just be careful with the glue, once it got on my hands it got on the new skins and didn't come off.

 

My Tops On Line set did not require any glue. The side pieces are leather so no problem heating the plastic strip. The sides of the seat cushions are vinyl, so don't even get close to them with heat.

Covers from other suppliers may not be configured the same.