I'm considering recovering my front seats with new MB Tex seat covers. Both my cars need it but I'll probably do the 123 first. There are only a few aftermarket sellers that I've found. Anyone done this and have any recommendations as to brand? I'm trying to decide amoungst seat cover kits from World Upholstery, Performance Products and Basic Inc. Thanks for the input.

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LRG
1987 300D Turbo 175K
2006 Toyota Prius, efficent but no soul
1985 300 TDT(130K miles of trouble free motoring)now sold

I bought a set of front seats from Basic that hopefully I will put together this weekend. From what I see in the box they look OK and match the originals well. I'll let you know later.

I won't be dealing with World Upholstery. I bought a headliner from them for a late W123 and they sent a perforated one from an early W123. Then I got distracted for several months (my fault) and eventually got around to calling them to complain. They wouldn't hear of returning it (still in the box, new unused, ) even for 50% credit, even though it was their mistake. Told me to put it on ebay.

Rick

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

And now for something completely different. My Euro car came with cloth seat covers originally. The previous owner had them recovered. I would not hesitate in the future to have a reputable local upholsterer make cloth seat covers for a MB. You might check at the local airport for recommendations. Now back to your previously scheduled programming.

By the way I think I have determined that my 'Euro' car is a Nigerian car.

i've had an unhappy dealing with world upholstery also.

don

I have complete front uppolstrey set by them in tobacco, headrest armrest and all. New in box, got it from an ebay auction they had last year. What I really need is the back one. Tex has a few flaws in it. Luckily my seat pads are still in great shape.

My front seats are great too, but I had to get the kit at the price it went for. which was opening bid of $50. Was too good to walk away from.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

When you re-cover the seats, make sure to put a nice thick layer of high density foam inbetween the pad and cloth/leather/vinyl. Now my car is just as comforable as my fathers saturn. whunter can testify to the comfort of my "new seat".

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Adam Lumsden
(83) 300D
Vice-President of the MBCA International Stars Section

Adam,

You should post some pictures of that beautiful car of yours.

Did you put in a new spring set or fix the old?

I'd been thinking of using some high or medium density memory foam.

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Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

I bought a NOS seat frame and took it to an interior guy we know. He said he used high density foam in it. Now to find the money to have the other seats done, at least they don't need new frames. I'll post some pictures tommorow when its light out. Gotta love these new smileys LOL. <----- ME!!!!

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Adam Lumsden
(83) 300D
Vice-President of the MBCA International Stars Section

I bought a seat bottom only from GAHH in North Hollywood CA. Fit perfect, well made. Its the original German material, matches perfectly. Well made kit. Fast service from GAHH too. I'd like to hear from others who have used Basic, I think they are less than GAHH.

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84 300DT Puke Yellow. Totalled after 438,000
84 300DT Orient Red. 169,000 (actual mileage may vary)
2002 Explorer EB (wife's)

Is that right? As in, it was actually imported from Nigeria? How did you determine that? Just curious.

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1999 Mercedes-Benz S600, 103K miles - garage queen
1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL, 89K miles - daily driver
2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited, 31K - daily driver

Man, and I just bought a set of floor mats from them.

And if ebay is so great, why don't they just close up their mail order business and go strictly ebay? Why not? they have no trouble telling you to. Sheesh.

Cheers,

Bill

Peyton300TD or someone with a TD did a photo essay on recovering the front seats.

I have the cover off the front seat of the SDL. You can do that much without removing the seat from the car.

Michael, do you have a source for stiff memory foam? I have some from a bed liner but it compresses to nothing when I sit on it.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

Try a craft store like Joanns or Michaels. I know you can get foam there but not sure hot dense.

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Adam Lumsden
(83) 300D
Vice-President of the MBCA International Stars Section

I discovered that it was about all one man could handle when I recovered Marlene's front seats. I replaced the driver's side base and all the horsehair, both bases and backs, left and right. In the not-too-distant future, I do plan to pull the seat bases and add HD foam to them...personally, the "board on a set of springs" is just a bit teutonic for me. I'll also add that, I seriously doubt that with new horsehair there is enough clearance for any additional foam on the seatbacks.

The seat bases are easy enough to do but the backs are damned difficult to manage. The biggest challenge is getting the top of the seatcovers pulled down straight and evenly over the top of the seat back. It is physically hard to do because of the tight fit necessary for the material to lay smooth over the horsehair at the top of the seatback. On mine, it also took two installations of the seatback covers because I had to put the cover completely onto the seatback in order to determine the correct locations for the headrest grommets. When I was done with those seatbacks, my knuckles looked like I gone mano a mano with George Foreman from rubbing against the abrasive horsehair.

In Marlene, I was replacing leather covers but I would imagine that MBTex, particularly if the weather was cool or cold, could be particularly difficult to do. I would suggest waiting for a nice warm day and setting the new covers in the sun for a while to warm up and become pliable before attempting to install them. A hair dryer or heat gun will also help soften the material and work out some wrinkles.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

I am fortunate to have access occasionally to an old German guy that used to work for Mercedes. He told me that since the car is a manual shift and has an oil cooler that it was probably built for delivery to warm climates, not Europe. The car has the original purchasers name on the door data plate. The name is that of a Nigerian man.

Has anyone tried replacing or repairing the sagging springs? I think it is fairly routine for upholsterers to replace springs in chairs and couches.