Leather replacement

[cabriolet]

Last year I decided to have the seats, armrests and centre consul cover refurbished at great expense by a local company and was very pleased with the outcome. The seats were mainly covered in leather apart from the backs as that area is not open to wear. As the arm rests and centre consul are open to wear they were also covered in leather. Due to the high cost of replacing these items I decided to purchase some none leather material (same as rear of seats) + foam padding to do some of the other internal panels myself. My car is a cabriolet so the panels I decided to cover were the 2 x cappings which run horizontally above each door, the 2x panels that are vertical just behind the doors and are partially anchored by the seat belt brackets + finally the centre panel on the roof where the Targa covers lock to.
Process.
1) Remove panel - this was easy.
2) Remove top material and use as a template for the new material (advise you do add extra as this can be trimmed off when secured. Note how much overlap is given on the rear of the panel because you will have difficulty refitting the panel if too much excess in this area.
3) Scrape off the second layer (foam padding) and note where this fits as it is secured by glue. This was the longest procedure as you need to make sure the base alloy panel is smooth.
4) Use an impact glue to attach new foam liner to the alloy panel
5) Attach the top material and do not use any glue on the padding as it is only secured on the rear of panel. I purchased 4 plastic spring loaded clamps from B&Q, so that they can hold the material in place on one side of panel whilst you are stretching it to the opposite side. When gluing the opposite side I started centrally and worked towards the ends which involved stretching the material to get a good finish. At intervals you can use the clamps to keep the material in place once it looks smooth and without creases. This procedures sounds difficult but in reality was easy to do.
I only chose these panels to cover as they are not a complicated shape. If I attempted others I would probably buy a 2nd hand panel to practice on.

[ptjs1]

Interesting project. It would be great to see some pics.

Tks

Paul

[cabriolet]

Hi Paul,
I should have documented the procedure with pics and as I have now refitted the panels I cannot help much to your request. I have a spare panel that has not been recovered, so I have attached pics of it to show how much material is glued on the underside of the panel.

Regards
Alan

[cabriolet]

One picture attached.
Alan