I’m looking to replace the tan leather on my Mk 1 Eunos driver seat. Can’t find a decent replacement although the leather on lots of passenger seats in near perfect condition.
Does anyone know if the covers are interchangeable between the driver and passenger seat.
Many thanks
Modassar
No they aren’t unfotunately
Well they are but only if you are dealing with a German with left hand drive:-)
A few transactions took place back in the day but I guess all potential swaps have now been done.
No . drivers and passengers are not interchangeable bud.
M-m
Most similar tan leather seat cover would be from a US market C-package Miata. German market seats would be different, except for a tiny number of equivalents to the UK LE, and they won’t be set up for headrest speakers.
There are lots of specialist Miata breakers in the US, and a cursory check of inventory indicates most have been breaking C-Packages (the C-Package was a Miata with optioned tan leather, so not just confined to black or green). I don’t think many though would be willing to strip a seat of its cover and charge you the going rate for a cover. The going rate for a used leather Miata seat is about $200. Shipping cost of a whole seat of course might be prohibitve. The breaker might be willing to strip the seat, and just ship the cover, saving some on postage. But it might be more economical to speak to trimmers here about repairing the seat. If they can’t get then tan to exactly match your passenger seat, they can recolour the passenger seat. Generally, complete retrim of two seats would be in the region of £400-600.
Thank you
Thanks
Thanks Mate
Many thanks
Just to add to this, the oriiginal leather used for the tan leather seats, was not really fit for purpose for a car expected to live for 30+ years when most are scrapped at half that age. I don’t think it is a quality issue more a material mis-specification; the leather becomes tatty/damaged, long before the car has had its day. This generally applies to the more used driver’s seat, rather than the passenger. The leather appears too thick and natural; perhaps a naive spec?
Given the increased material value of these cars, perhaps a good idea to get a new cover made with a better spec material that will look similar but last longer. Think of it justifiably as a £5k kitchen refit in a £100k home or a 25k refit in a £350k home. That is the relative area we are in with the value of these cars now.
Mazda used a thick nubuck leather in the 1990 option seats; extremely tought. I have literally taken sanding paper in refinishing these.
20 years ago, I know people were using Bridge of Weir hides in retrimming MX5s. The cost of this now will probably make most people wince.
The usual route to to get a couple of Mk2.5 seats and just bolt them in.
We just had a set re-covered by Autolinkmx5 with an embroidered motif on them as choice, worked out cheaper in the long run which were for a tan set to go in a VS II, my Originals were good and are stored away , just wanted a softer leather for comfort to be sat in.
The OE leather seats used a tough leather,which traveled into the MK 2’s also, MK 2.5’s got a softer leather and so on, but like any leather it does need feeding to keep supple, the main issue is that the bolster arms wear and pop, this is common to all the seats be it leather or fabric, and is simply with us getting in and out on the angle we do, the bolsters can be fixed by a dedicated Co that deals with upholstery or a DIY kit off the bay of E , and then put a good seat cover over them so its easier to replace a worn seat cover than repairing or replacing a full seat in the future, or being removed for shows etc if being used as they should be.
M-m
My cloth seats were knackered in the usual places, the bases rusty and the foam really horrible. I bought some old worn leather covers from an early nb, new foam, hog rings and watched the resto vids on you tube. I also bought the relevant leather resto materials from the leather repair company.
Striped them down, took the rust off and repainted the base. Put in new foam and restored the leather once fitted over the new seat.
Cost wise it’s worked about about 250 less than buying new leather covers but I’ve got no chips or rust on the metal bits of the seat, clean new firm foam and a custom mid light grey leather which has come up like new and no one else has. Takes about a week of evenings and the weekend.
Thanks