Seat Covers (re-upholster)
 

I going to be recovering the front seats in my W123 sedan. I decided to try out this company lseat.com. I couldn't find any reviews of their product specifically for our cars but I saw a good review of their seat covers on a BMW forum and there were some pics that looked nice on the peachparts Porsche forum. I just received the seat covers I ordered in the mail and I'm definitely satisfied with the quality!

http://i.imgur.com/Bea0n5w.jpg?1

The ribs have foam already stitched in place no adding that back in from the old seat!
http://i.imgur.com/1YbtdPM.jpg?1


Thread is high quality. Stitch work also looks to me to be high quality.
http://i.imgur.com/9i4v11f.jpg?1

These are genuine leather. I had added the piping option so that they would match the design of the existing factory covers.
http://i.imgur.com/lvmgcQ4.jpg?1

Lseat has stitched all of the correct plastic anchors in place. Again, high quality thread and stitching. Plastic is high quality. Not sure about the front seats but the factory rear seat covers use a glued and pressed cardboard substance for these anchors. Plastic is probably better.
http://i.imgur.com/TRCNWef.jpg?1

Hopefully fitment will be on par with quality!

The cushions in my seats are not in good shape. Ive already stuck some extra foam in there and rebuild some of the springs. I'm thinking about purchasing a set of used seats with good insides before I do the recover. That is if I can keep my self from tearing into this project!

It might be a couple weeks before I get to it but I'll update this thread again once I get to work.

There are pliers for crimping metal sleeves to the seat springs to make a repair. Look for upholstery tools. I have an old rear seat and notices some of the sleeves as OE connections there.

Mercedes made a reinforcement for the front corner springs of the front seat. They are ~$10 each x2 per seat and still available. Someone recently reported good results.

How much were the covers you bought?

Total price to my door was $368. It's less then it would have cost me to purchase the leather and attempt make the covers myself which probably would have ended with mixed results.

$299 for the covers. Two bases, two backs, two head rests and one arm rest.
$39 to add the piping
$30 shipping

I looked at their site. Let us know how it comes out. Building the structure back is as important or perhaps more important than covers. One is aesthetics, the other is comfort. Leave broken, saggy springs and you've wasted your money.

Wow! That's a great price for leather covers. Usually twice that for only one.

I may call them for 126 covers when I get the wiring on the later seats figured out. I will look in to the corner supports at the same time.

I've wired a couple sets of those seats. It's not a big deal if they aren't heated.

I've been shopping for new grey leather for the 85 SE which I put the diesel engine in. I'm interested in a set of 85 126 grey skins too. I look forward to your report.

I might ride over to your neck of the woods and see how they look before I start working on the seats.

Those are great prices. Shame they don't seem to have a non-leather option, but for the price you can't argue too much. Between those and that slick $50 dash cover site that was posted awhile back, one could have a damn nice interior for not a lot of money.

-Rog

I missed the cover. Got the link?

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/383486-w123-dash-cover-review.html

Be sure to visit the site (Covercraft), as there are many different materials and colors. I'm not a fan of the velour look, so I was happy to see there are suedes and different fabrics.

-Rog

I think I'll stick to the plastic cover on the parts car. Never been a fan of the rugs. I've had plastic on other cars and you can't easily tell the difference. The down side is that cluster removal may be obstructed and proper install may require dash removal. Dash removal makes finding a good crack free dash preferable. I saw a newer 126 palomino dash but didn't have tools or time to pull it.

Here is what I did with my seats. They are still holding up well.
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/sl-forum/343119-seat-refurbishing.html
The seat assembly is somewhat different, but the basics are the same. I highly recommend doing the seat fiber restoration with the addition of rubberizer and seat foam for extra padding if they are worn. You can make a discount seat cover set look really nice if some work is applied.

I rebuilt the bottom cushions in both my W123's, and posted photos a while back. Fixed one broken spring in the 1985 (tube w/ epoxy). In both, I strung 1/8" nylon rope tight across the top, covered w/ carpet protector (spikes secure it), added a little foam, top layer of foam shelf liner, burlap cover hog-nosed to metal frame, then original seat covers hog-nosed back. I have slide on covers on both cars (one sheepskin) so you don't see the worn factory covers, but $368 for leather sounds great and much cheaper than the leather option when buying a new car.

People go around the horn rigging was to fix the springs. All you really need is the correct clips and pliers. Upholsterers do it all the time. I'm saving an old back seat to scavage wire from. The OE setup used the same process to connect springs on the rear seat so I'm sure it will work. Pliers are ~$50 without shopping hard for a deal. Clips are ~$6 or more than I'll ever use.

Thanks for the tip BirthdayBenz. I'm going to be replacing the interior in a '95 124 cabriolet soon, maybe Lseat.com will be able to help me out.

What part of SC? I'm in the Charleston area.