Seat Reupholster

[britdirk]

Will the dealership reupholser my seats with leather and suede? Or do i have to take it to a specialty shop? Does anyone know a reputable place in the Las Vegas area?

[Maxbaby]

Contact your dealership and they'll advise whether your particular seat coverings are still available for order, and if so, they will be only too happy to charge a great deal of money to install them. Or if you have some skill, you can do a search around here for an excellent post by BillofDurham who recently disassembled his drivers seat to replace one of the coverings. From there you should be able to figure the others out yourself.

The other route would be to take the car to an upholstery shop, and I'm sure there has to be a few in Las Vegas. If you're doing the whole interior, I suspect it will cost you a fair chunk of change, but they'll likely do a great job.

One other possibility, and I have absolutely no idea what kind of quality this is or how good it will look is this...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Volvo-XC ... enameZWD1V

Read thru that one and you'll see they're suggesting that the dealership bill would be at least a few thousand dollars. Maybe a phone call to them with some well-thought questions to find out just how well the product fits might be in order.

Good luck, and don't forget to let us know how you solve your problem. That could help someone else down the road with a similar question...

[billofdurham]

'Not Guilty'.

I think it was Ozark Lee who took his seat to pieces to replace the foam insert.

Bill.

[Maxbaby]

Yup... my bad... and punishment was to find the following link for Dirk. Sorry Lee...

http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/chat/p ... 0367#30367

[rwaltco]

Having spent many years associated with the auto upholstery biz, the used car biz and having restored numerous exotics and having the common leather issues with my '97 850 wagon my '92 740 and '95 Mercedes E320, let me offer some advise and alternative ideas to OEM covers and reupholstering.

1. Unless you derive your income from an oil refinery or own EXXON stock you don't want to price OEM covers from the dealer EVEN if they were still available and then have them put them on by the dealer as they would just sublet the job out to a trim shop.

2. All Volvo 850 covers use a series of steel wires that are hog-ringed in along side of the center sections and not just around the seat bottom. This is what gives your seats the "sunken" appearance which takes more care and certainly more time for installation and which means more $$$. A lot more.

By the way, remember, the process to remove the old cover takes as much time as to install the new one.

3. If there are just certain portions of your seats that are bad, check Ebay and see if you can buy a used cover. (I've bought three from $35.00-$65.00) and have the trim shop just use the portions you need.

4. If you want all seats to be done, then it can be far cheaper (usually) to buy a full used set on Ebay, your local auto salvage yard or contact one which specializes in Volvo, or try Craigslist.com. They are out there. You can remove and install the set yourself then toss yours away.

Much cheaper to install complete seat than seat covers. Be careful you buy seats compatible for your year /model and not try to upgrade to a newer seat that might not fit the center tunnel, your power seat wires and heated seats hook ups.

[Maxbaby]

Great information... can you tell me whether the ebay link I found above is the sort of cover that you were referring to? Just curious whether that would be a good replacement or not.

[rwaltco]

These covers could be just what you need. I don't think you want to try and install them yourself. Especially in leather. Take your car to an auto trim shop, show them your seats and ask how much to remove yours and install these covers. You might want to print the picture of what the covers look like or tell them they're just like OEM covers. I have no idea what they might charge to do the job. Could be $500-850.00 I just don't know.

The covers you're looking at are probably from Asia and made from a good set of patterns.

[britdirk]

So I went to Ebay and simply searched volvo 850 R seat covers and found a few nice leather seat covers but they're strictly leather and look slightly used. I want the original stock covers with leather and suede. The leather in my seats were not cared for by the previous owner and are cracked and ripped. If anyone finds any (and i know its a real long shot) let me know.

[rwaltco]

I didn't realize you wanted the original suede and leather combination. Volvo, like many cars with leather has not had the best reputation for holding up without severe cracking even with maintenance.

Perhaps the company you spotted on Ebay that will custom make a set for you is the best bet. Short of finding a wrecked R model with a complete interior, you are going to spend some very serious money to have it reupholstered as it came from the factory with the French-sewn seams and suede inserts. I'll be interested in knowing what it costs. There should be some very high-end shops in your area who do hot-rods and custom cars who have highly talented trimmers.

[rwaltco]

You've never said whether your car is a sedan or wagon but on Ebay is a full set of "R" seats. Here is the item number 250112040755.

For those who need a nice leather interior there are two complete sets also on Ebay for several hundred. Topic now over.