2002 s60 Interior restoration (Leather seats and door panel)

crflammang · Post by **crflammang** » 08 May 2015, 18:33

I recently purchased a 2002 s60. I'm planning on getting the interior looking like-new.

1. The leather seats have one or two very small holes in the "hide". You can see the filler/cushion.
2. The leather is cracked,dirty and worn.
3. The plastic side paneling on the interior of the door panels has a few holes poked in it. This is the very firm, non-flexible plastic door paneling right behind your calf when you sit down in the driver's seat.
4. The floor mats are really dirty and worn.

I'll update this post with pictures later - the dealership is fixing a "Service Airbag: Urgent" check engine message atm, so I can't get in there to take pics.

Here are my questions:

1a. Should I get a professional to do this work, or should I do it myself?
1b. What's a good price to pay for a pro to do the work?
2a. If I do it myself, can you recommend a leather repair kit (Leather cleaner, patches, gloss, etc)
2b. Should I just consider seat covers? Are there ones that look really nice in the volvo s60?
2c. Can you recommend a door panel "patch kit", if one exists (For the plastic)
3. Recommend carpet/floormat cleaning supplies
4. Recommend interior "maintenance" products for weekend cleaning to keep it looking and smelling great (Shine, gloss, scent, etc)?

Post by **cuhfs** » 10 May 2015, 21:04

I have these and they look pretty good. At least better than most seat covers. http://stores.ebay.com/topcar-athens-ca ... 7675.l2563

I am told that if you can find a junker with good leather, you can do a DIY job by carefully pulling the leather off the donor car and put it on yours. I have not done it. May be a tutorial on MVS somewhere.

V70r carbon · Post by **V70r carbon** » 03 May 2017, 01:28

Good questions... no answers ...

Post by **Botbasher** » 03 May 2017, 16:11

I'll take a stab at this with my recent experience. It is by no means authoritive.

I got an 03 V70 with a TRASHED interior. Covers wasn't a choice.

I sourced a set of seats from 02 XC and they dropped right in. 4 bolts and I had new seats!! The door bits I could have borrowed if it would have had the Dolby sound package. I also procured the carpets, door sills, center console trim and anything I could that would fit in my car. Yes... It was that bad!

The only problem with the donor is that there was a 4" crack, down to the mesh, in the driver's bottom pad. I found several online options for DIY repair that seemed very doable. I'll post them when I get home.

By the luck of the Junkyard Gods, I passed by a S60 in the yard a day or so later and happen to look inside. The seats were exactly the same as the XC, except for the lack of power on the passenger. No problem though as I was only after the bottoms. I did a bit of hog ring surgery right there and 10 minutes later I had 2 covers and one pad.

That evening I revisited the operating room and in less than 30 min had a new, albeit slightly different shade, seat bottom. I just used the cover as the seat heaters in the XC seats worked great and just wanted it as a spare.

So my take on the question.... If you have a ready supply of donors, a few minutes with a pair of pliers saves you big $$. If you have a special color or stitching (the S60 doesn't match the XC double stitching... but I can live with it for $4.95) you might want to investigate repairs.

I'll post the 2 DIY processes I thought best in a bit.

Cheers!

K "hogged" S

Post by **Botbasher** » 03 May 2017, 19:50

The links to those DIY leather repair sites are....

This one supplies the entire kit... Quite expensive and not as many color choices IMHO.

https://scratchwizard.net/automotive/background/paint/

This one is a bit cheaper, you'll supply some of the materials, BUT they mix custom colors to match whatever your base is. Could be more desirable depending on your level of need!!

https://www.rubnrestore.com/leather-repair/

Hope that helps!!

K "repaired" S

Post by **E Showell** » 15 Jul 2019, 04:28

I have bolted in better seats (by far the easiest option); swapped seat covers from a junkyard donor -- not a bad option (but significantly more time consuming than a drop in replacement); and purchased new Ellwood Industries leather seat covers and fit those (by far the most expensive option) and the new leather replacement option gives you a brand new looking seat, much better esthetically than the other two options, but probably not worth the cost on an older car unless it is otherwise mint, low mileage, rare collectible, etc., that you plan to run forever. Keep in mind with an '02 we're only a few years away from that sweet spot where certain spare parts are going to become increasingly hard to find and junkyards may afford the only option for keeping cars on the road.

Post by **Mike Langlois** » 15 Jul 2019, 11:12

I have a 2002 V70 that is in the last stages of being stripped. Beige (or close) interior color. I still have a few plastic pieces, the drivers front door panel, rear seats, a nice headliner and assorted odds and ends. You are welcome to them free of charge. 4-5 hours from Vegas in Los Angles/Orange county area. Front seats gone all ready. Mike