who has replaced their seat leather?

what all did you do at this time?

did you replace seat or spring pads?

how do you know if springs are shot?

is this a huge pita?

i've been wanting to do this for quite awhile.
my driver seat is tired looking and has a hole [damn blue leather] in side bolster.

my wife is a tinge chunky* and she just kind of flops in. what can you say and still keep peace in the valley?

the seat feels flat and worn down, it no longer has the springy feel the passenger seat does.

should i try to change seat pad only or buy a new or used set of springs [about 200.00!]?
what does the maual say regarding doing this?

what have you all done to refresh/update seats?

thanks

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*92 400e 124.034, SOLD

*92 300e 124.030, SOLD

First suggestion: don't let your wife read your post!

Second: seats only look simple, a decent upholstery shop (auto) should be able to fit the new cover to your seat at a reasonable cost. As to springs and pads, I've seldom seen or heard of anyone needing to replace springs unless one is broken, but the pads are another story. They frequently need to be replaced to reestablish the proper seat contour and fanny feel.

230/8

Note: Despite your correlation between seat wear and your wife's alleged size, women, in general enter the vehicle compartment less gracefully than you might think!

I won't comment on my wife, but especially in the SL, she has a tendency to launch herself onto the seat...and because of the high lumbar supports, they take the most abuse!

I'm looking to slowly resurrect the aging parts on my W124 (replacing the console next week) and I am looking closely at the condition of the seats...I will wait and see how others respond as well...

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

I did the front leather on the 560 using good leather from a wrecked 420. My task included sewing the heating pads from the original leather to the 420's leather. Most difficult part was all the hand stitching. My job was made easier due to instaling used leather, I imagine trying to stretch new leather would be a royal pain. The upholstery is retained in small channels by means of a cardboard/hardboard slat wrapped in the leather cover.

You may be able to determine if there are any broken spring prior to removal, but note that I wasn't able to. Only after the seats were removed was I able to find the broken spring.

It basically took me three days to do both front seats. Try a search on "heated seats" by me, I think I posted some of the pictures in that thread.

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Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

I think there was an article in the MB club STAR magazine a few years back about rebuilding seat pads - looked rather simple - may be able to go to the MBCA site and archive the story.

Also the most recent issue of Mercedes Benz Classic magazine on the newsstand (Barnes & Nobel ) now - page ninety has an excellent story on leather care, repairing hole, relacquering seat - not that you would do the work yourself but a good guide.

no chit mang!

i need to be more specific on this, my wife is really only a little bit heavy, we don't need any ramps or pulleys here.

she does kind of seem to fall in. she is a great lady,i have very FEW complaints, but she falls in

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*92 400e 124.034, SOLD

*92 300e 124.030, SOLD

Matched leather is available from several sources, including MB.

If the seat feels squashed, it is, the springs have collapsed (the ones on the driver side of the 300D are gone). Spring set is about $200, you can call FastLane here. Adsit and World Upholstery both sell matched covers.

Covers are easy to change, and you may not even need to do the back if the hole is only in the seat (or vice versa).

I highly recommend using a good leather treatment (NOT saddle soap!!!) regularly to keep the leather in good shape, else it will crack badly. MB leather is not dyed through, so cracks show tan. Leatherique is good, there are others. Even the stuff at the autoparts store is better than nothing!

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

Outboard side bolsters always take a lot of abuse. I have a small hole in mine from years of belt loops rubbing against them on entry.

If you want to do an EASY cosmetic fix, look at colorplus.com . I've ordered dye from them which comes in common MB colors without needing to pay extra for custom color matching. The gray one, at least, is a perfect match. Every year or so I retouch the side bolster on the driver's seat and it looks like new. This year I need to fix the hole. It's easy. You put some canvas behind the hole, and glue it to the back side of the leather by contact cement. You then cover the patch and the hole with a flexible patching compound (colorplus sells this) and when dry you redye the area.

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Steve
'93 400E

ebennz - I had the same problem with my 126 and for years I wanted to put new springs on. I was going to have an upholstery shop do it but they wanted $1300 ($700 parts, $600 labor). Last summer I couldn't take it anymore and I bought a pair of new springs and pads off of ebay for a total of $200 including shipping. It took me about 3 days for the whole project (that includes and entire day of vacuum and shampooing the carpets).

You should give it a shot. Best thing I ever did for my car.

Peter
1988 420sel


BTW - I'd say it's about a 4 on the difficulty scale and I consider myself an intermediate DIYer. Good luck and let me know if you need any help.

big poppa benz

peter- that's a good name.

thanks for your post.

that's what i was after someone who has rebuilt [i should say] their seats.

did you do both bottom seat pads?

did you change the leather also?

if you can remember who you got your parts from [e-bay] please let me know.

i was quoted 199.00 for new botom seat springs. i may have to end up paying that.

hopefully not

thanks everyone for your input

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*92 400e 124.034, SOLD

*92 300e 124.030, SOLD

ebennz - yes, I changed both the horsehair and springs on passenger and driver seats. I didn't put in new leather, but that shouldn't be too much more of a problem.
The most difficult part of the job for me was to reinstall the seat motors/tracks. I made sure to only do one side at a time to have a template to work off of.
http://business.baylor.edu/Richard_Easley//autofaqs/seats.htm
That site will help give you an idea of what the job involves, but when I did the job I didn't really reference it.

You could also try to put tennis balls in your old seats to save on cost/time. Some members have tried this and said it works well. I tried it when I took my old springs out and while it helped a bit, it wasn't as good as the new springs.

Sorry, I can't remember the eBay guys name, but he was just selling because his car was totaled before he had a chance to install them.

good luck!

Peter
1988 420sel

Just so happens that I am doing the spring replacement on the SDL today.

Some things to note:

1) The original spring caused the driver to sit lopsided in the seat. The left side of the seat feels lower than the right side. Classic sign of broken springs. After taking the seat apart, the spring was broken in three places! The cost of the replacement spring is about $200. Your alternative is to go to a junkyard and buy a passenger side seat spring. The chances that this spring is not broken are quite good. However, the new spring is of a better design and has a stiffer connection at the front.

2) I did not purchase the replacement horsehair pad. This was probably a mistake. 20 years of sitting on the pad has caused it to deform a bit. It will probably still do the job, but a new one would be better. I did get some memory foam to stuff in between the old horsehair pad and the leather cover. It causes the cover to sit up a bit in the center. I did not have the memory foam go out over the side bolsters because of the potential problem of installation.

3) The most difficult part of the job is to separate the lower frame with the motors from the bottom seat cushion. Several electrical connectors must be disconnected and the motor bracket must be loosened. Took some thinking to get it off without any damage. Hopefully it goes back together OK.

4) It's definitely worth it to remove the electrical connections because several wires have worn right through at the points where the wire ties held them to the seat bottoms. 20 years of vibration with the plastic ties is too much for the insulation! I have a problem with the SD where the seat will move spontaneously! I'll bet that this is the cause.

Well, I finished the job of replacing the seat spring. Took longer than expected. Total of about six hours.

My advice is to take careful notes of where each screw and bracket is removed from the assembly. There are so many parts laying around that you start to forget which fastener goes where.

Overall, the job is a success. The seat is now properly firm and I am looking forward to using it with the 1" memory foam installed below the leather.