New C4 Owner - Seat Leather Question

I just purchased a '00 996 C4 and am interested in information on where to obtain replacement leather for the driver and passenger seats. Seems like an easy project to undertake and the previous owner, although he had low miles on the car and the exterior is in near perfect condition, must have had spasms with sandpaper and a razor blade while driving ;-) Thanks in advance, Scott

Are you a leather upholstery expert? If so, then you should have the catalogs....if not, then this is definitely something to leave to the professionals. Last thing you want is a ghetto looking seat in that beauty of a car. FYI.....cheaper and easier to just buy a set of take offs or used one from eBay. Oh yea.....you know the drill. PICS!!!!!!!

Okay. I have seen some seats on ebay, but it's a little bit of a worry to get used or out of some crashed 911 (there's that porsche parts place that always seems to have seats), what's more, I have memory seats, and am wondering if I can use justaany old set of seats... I thought that the leather was something that could be removed and a have new leather put on, kind of like a slipcover... Thanks for your input, Scott

How about these guys; http://www.gahh.com/ No affiliation, just noticed them.

From what I have heard and seen, a professional leather shop can replace individual panels or several panels. Getting the leather to match will be the trick. Not only do you need to match color and shade, but grain, too. Since leather is a natural product, getting a match is not as easy as going to the sewing department of K-Mart for vinyl. An alternative would be a set of sport seats from Recaro . You can get leather, just be prepared to dish out the bucks (no pun intended). You will lose the memory option, but you can get power seats and you can get heated seats, too. Or, you could get a set of used seats that someone has removed from service after getting Recaro sport seats. A third option is a set of new seats from your dealer. Be prepared to take out a second or third mortgage. You might do better at shops like Vertex. If money is no object, look into the adaptive sport seats used in the 997! I would scope out the repair cost and grill the installer as to how close it will match the original. If you don't feel satisfied with the response, keep looking or start investigating the other options I have cited. I didn't mention seat covers because they generally do not fit well for one or more reasons and the underlying problem is still there.

Marv is exactly right. I researched getting the single bolster repaired where your butt hits all the time and the leather shop told me it would be a piece of cake and inexpensive but the problem would be the thread and leather would be the the same color since they have aged. BTW, the leather pieces he would have ordered are not custom cut on site but rather from a catalog of Porsche seat leather replacement, etc. So I said what about doing the entire seat then. Same problem. Drivers seat wouldn't match the rest of the car (and I have full leather). Now 2 seats redone would have been the best but the cosst would have been more than you can pick up a set on eBay.

Thanks for the pointer. Looks like a good site!

Have you tried any leather treatment products? The black leather bolster on the drivers seat of my MY99 had gone quite grey looking, my dealer used some Gliptone Liquid Leather on it and it looked amazing. It needs reapplying again after a few months but I have just bought their Scuff Master Touch Up Kit and it is (so I am told) a very easy job to touch it up again.

There's a black - supple set of seats in the rennlist classifieds.

veteranco.com imports OEM leather that costs about $25-30 a yard. your upholstery shop can order it for you. if you need a whole new leather cover, gahh.com has them but the cost is about the same as a used set which would save you the hassle of dealing with an upholstery shop. You can usually find a set of front seats but they may not be seated or powered. Rears are harder to find. eBay is a good source and the forum is good too. Many seats are taken off after upgrade so they aren't worn much. go to the top notch upholstery shops in your area if you do decide to re-uphoster. get recommendation from your local dealer. these shops typically are pretty grungy so avoid dealing with one that is poorly run. only the best one should work on your car.