Need help: W126 300SDL leather cover swap from old style to new style

[werminghausen]

Hi, I have an old 1987 300SDL with gray striped leather seats, leather is shot.
Then I bought a set of newer style leather (because I like it better) and want to swap the leather all around.
I started with the rear back rest. Pulled the old leather and now I see that the 2 styles have different way to attach: wire/metal hooks are different. The new style leather has 3 rows of hooks while the old leather hat just one row on the top. Also the outer edges, left and right side of the backrest has a wire line with plastic clips.

Can someone help me to change the leather properly? I have never done this before.
Please see attached pictures. Removal was fairly easy.... not sure about putting the new leather on.

Questions:
Does the new leather fit?
How do I deal with the 3 hook rows? I don't have the plastic retainer plates that secure and hold the hooks sticking through the seat 'lettuce'. I could cut into the lettuce for the lower 2 rows and build some retainer plates in wood or plastic?
What is the outer wire line with the white plastic clips connecting to?

Do I use all the rest of the parts .I remember that fat foam piece at either edge of the seat.. or the black plastic corner pieces at upper outer corners?

What tools and parts are you recommending for the job?

Thanks, Martin

[werminghausen]

No one knows obviously... but why.
Has no one rebuilt these seats before?

I need to move ahead and I think I'll take what I have (old frame and new leather) and will try to make the best out if it.
It seems the new leather 'system' is a bit more sophisticated than the old one was.

Options:
- Cut into the coconut padding precisely where the new horizontal tabs occur. Stick them through the padding and secure with a retainer plate just as the tabs.

- Cut into the coconut padding where the vertical wire with plastic tabs/rings occur. This is in fact in 4 lines the case (2 lines per seat). Then secure these rings with another wire behind the padding.

Martin

[werminghausen]

Still no one knows?

I moved on and tied down the padding to the frame with 2 dozens of strings.
This is to take the tension out of the padding.
This was the only way to get the new leather onto the frame for a test. This this I could trace the lines from the leather tied backs (U- wire /horizontal lines and Plastic clips/vertical lines). I stuck a big needle through the leather and marked the needle on the back of the padding. See pictures.

Then I cut new channels into the padding for the newer style leather in order to get the u-wire through the padding and secure with the plastic part in the back.
This is to pull the leather back in 3 horizontal lines and 2 vertical lines.

Now everything is prepared for putting on the new leather.
My only fear are the wrinkles I had at the first test installation for the acupuncture exercise. I hope I can manage to get the final installation wrinkle free.
Martin

[werminghausen]

Slowly I am getting somewhere (not with this thread)

I installed the new leather and it went very well. I asked my neighbor to help me. 4 hands are better than 2 for sure.
You want to do this in the heat of a summer day to have the leather as soft as possible.

First I hooked up the leather at the top line. The the leather is falling over the back rest and I was knotting the open strings through the slits in the padding to the metal tabs and vertical plastic clips.
There are 38 connections for pulling the leather against the backrest padding.
Per seat: 10 at 2 vertical lines and 9 at 3 horizontal lines =19 x 2 = 38.

After that it was pretty easy pulling the leather towards the bottom channel, there is a fabric strip and the edge of that strip will the hooked up to the bottom channel. Remember I still had all the springs pulled back to the frame as tight as possible in order to take tension out of the backrest as much as possible.

Then the sides. At the outer edge line there is a spongy foam part at either side- a flat triangle shape- that need to be installed and fixed with a bit of glue (the foam was glued down before).

At the outer top corners there are black plastic parts that needs to be installed. Here I am not 100% sure how they will be installed. I'll figure it out.

Next step is the inner 2 lines where the middle arm rest is installed later.

Then I turned the backrest around and pulled the strings at the metal tabs for the 3 horizontal lines. Pull tabs through and secure with the white retainer. However I had only 8 of these plastic retainers from the old skin and I built the rest out of ply wood.
Vertical plastic clips are pulled through and secured with a wire.
I am almost done, see pictures

I hope this helps someone else who has the same problems.
Martin

[werminghausen]

Hi everyone,
here are a few final pictures with the new backrest. The seats is still the old one and will be next.
I was struggling in the end how to exactly install the plastic supports at the upper outer edges but I think I have it right now.
I hope this is a guide in case someone is facing the same trouble as I did.
Too bad that there was no single soul responding.

Best, Martin

[Frank Reiner]

Originally Posted by werminghausen

Can someone help me to change the leather properly? I have never done this before. What tools and parts are you recommending for the job?
Thanks, Martin

Originally Posted by werminghausen

No one knows obviously... but why.
Has no one rebuilt these seats before?
Martin

Originally Posted by werminghausen

Still no one knows?
Martin

Originally Posted by werminghausen

Slowly I am getting somewhere (not with this thread)
I hope this helps someone else who has the same problems.
Martin

Martin, a remarkable thing has happened with this thread: folks did not have any knowledge of the subject, and against all odds, they kept their mouths shut!

[werminghausen]

Thanks so much Frank, the first response!
I don't know why no one touches these seats? If you know how it work it is actually not that difficult. Very different compared to any other job on these old cars. Of course in my case I needed to change the padding and this a bit more tricky. Overall I am very happy with the result and I think the rest of seats are easier to do, now as I know how it works. I might not have mentioned this:The summer heat is a big help to make the leather softer and stretchier.

Best, Martin