Hi

I'm just wondering if anyone has bought new leather seat covers for their XK8 / XKR.

My leather is well worn and I have someone who can replace the leather just down one side of the seat and then make good everywhere else but as the leather is 15 years old I have seen a couple of US sellers on Ebay selling the replacement leather seat covers and now thinking more on these lines.

Just wondering if anyone's gone down this route and how good are they once fitted.

 

yes - several members have used Topsonline to replace their seat covers - price is excellent too. I will be going down that path soon

 

I used their covers a few months ago, installed by myself fairly easily. But for the newer models with separate headrest it's a lot more work.

 

Are they as good as original and fit well.

If so, sounds very good

 

Rocky12,
I repaired my seats with a kit from Furniture Clinic.
They had my color as a match from the code on the car so I did not have to send a swatch.
It was pretty easy. Watch the video while you do it step my step.
Tip: use a blow dryer on low fan speed and low heat between coats.
Took about 2 hours and I did the whole seat and center console and I have enough to do the passenger seat too. I bought the medium kit.
Looks pretty good and is holding up nicely.
Here's the link and the pics (click on the pics for a bigger view):
https://www.furnitureclinic.com/Leat...lorant_Kit.php (click play video button)

 

Actually, the leather quality was better than original. The fit is a little loose, but a shop familiar with working in leather will probably add a little foam to make up for compression and/or use heat to shrink it like I did.

The kit includes the material for the center console cover.

 

I also bought a driver's side seat bottom from Topsonline (Vic's Auto Upholstery) as they are about a 5 minute ride from my house. At first I felt the texture was different than my original and my passenger seat, but with a couple of years of me sliding my big butt in and out, it has aged to look very much like the original, and I am satisfied. And by the way, you do not have to buy the whole kit, you can just buy the pieces or pieces you need.

 

Many thanks for all your replies.


All sounds good and nice job Skooba Kowboy. I did a similar job on my sofa at home which saved me from buying a new on but as this is my car and my seats are quite a lot worse than yours I'm going to think about the Topsonline


Kind Regards


Rocky

 

Last summer I purchased OEM Leather covers from:


Josephina Custom Tops, Inc

josephina5709@sbcglobal.net818-771-1290
I found her Ebay, but may not be there now. The Leather was a perfect match and the stitching was also a perfect match. They were $560 delivered to Ga. for 2 complete front seats. They did offer Leatherette for a little less. I paid a local upholstery shop to install, and he also had to do some additional metal work on my seats as they were broken. He replaced the padding and they really look like new now. He charged me $450 for all the seat work. My rears still look good, so we did not do them . Only pic I have in computer, but I think you can see the color and stitching. Probably only flaw is there are a few wrinkles along the seams in a few spots. $1000 all in and hopefully will last another

 

Looks great.

The sofa in my living room lasts about 5 years and gets replaced a couple of years later so as my car is 15 years old I think to spend aprrox $1000 on new seats can be justified.

Regards

Rocky

 

where did you get your rear wind screen?
Thanks!

 

Ebay, Here's the current link. You may also want to check out my post this week at "wind Deflectors"

Wind Deflector Jaguar XK8 1996 2005 with Spring System | eBay

 

I have recovered several sets of car seats (personally like leatherseats.com) and one thing that helps to get a snug fit is to steam the foam using a steam iron (not in contact with the foam, just to steam it). that will expand the foam which has compressed over time. Also as you may have discovered some of the wrinkles will disappear over time.


Another comment is that most suppliers apparently use real leather only on the seating surfaces, but honestly it looks fine.

 

I don't think that you can do any better than Aldridge Trimmings right there in the UK. Address is www.aldridge.co.uk; email - mail.aldridge.co.uk; tel 01902 710805. Cannot tell replacement from original!

 

Interesting about using steam. My seats are well soft and have little back support at the sides. Do you think steaming the foam will bring back to new or will extra foam be needed.

If no extra foam is needed then when I get the covers I might give it a go.

 

Hi

I looked at Aldridge and they're more expensive than the US companies, about 100GBP more than Topsonline. I'm in the UK so Aldridge would make sense however there's no point in splashing out extra money as quality should be the same from both companies.

Also the covers from Aldridge are just the covers only. There's no seat retainers sewn on and I was told you have to take the ones off the old seats and sew onto the new. So I found this rather off putting.

If you've used them and this wasn't the case and everything was good then please let me know

Kind Regards

Rocky

 

Skooba Kowboy you said

Rocky12,
I repaired my seats with a kit from Furniture Clinic.
They had my color as a match from the code on the car so I did not have to send a swatch.
It was pretty easy. Watch the video while you do it step my step.
Tip: use a blow dryer on low fan speed and low heat between coats.
Took about 2 hours and I did the whole seat and center console and I have enough to do the passenger seat too. I bought the medium kit.
Looks pretty good and is holding up nicely.
Here's the link and the pics (click on the pics for a bigger view):
https://www.furnitureclinic.com/Leat...lorant_Kit.php (click play video button)

I'm thinking of using the furniture clinic approach. But wondering how much are the broker fees because this firm is using fedex to ship to Canada.

 

I used a fabric steamer on the foam when I recovered my seats and center console. This is really just a short term fix used by upholstery shops as the water that is injected into the foam is eventually going to evaporate again.

I also used a heat gun to shrink the leather, and if used carefully and in combination with massaging the leather can remove wrinkles. But don't let the heat gun get near the vinyl side panels. They will just stretch if not melt.

After six months I had to remove the leather from the center console enough to put additional foam under it since the water had evaporated from the old foam. A professional upholsterer can probably add foam to your cushions to make up for the shrinkage, but I decided that was beyond my skill level.

 

Has anyone tried LSeat covers? https://www.lseat.com/products/1996-...ers-front.html

 

IMO Topsonline is the way to go.....
Donīt forget tax and shipping.