Hi, I’d like to upgrade my cloth seats to leather, but not sure where best to get them? I don’t fancy second hand shabby ones, so got to be new, but they are pricey! has anyone tried the leather seat covers I’ve seen advertised that are supposed to be for a Mk2? worried they might be a nightmare to actually get on?
any suggestions would be great!
thanks v much. Rachel
When you see an ad like this, you wonder if they really will fit:
http://www.autoleathers.co.uk/index.asp?IDNDoc=363
Problems are, its seatcovers for a “1995 Mk2”, and shows the interior of a US spec car with different seats…
Covers always end up look like covers, ie. not fitting quite right. Proper non-cover covers need hog rings to get that factory fitted look.
About 3 years back I got some recon leather seats from PM Sports Cars, Derbyshire for £450 (14 days delivery but fitted while I waited) and they were excellent.
They seem to have gone up in price somewhat, but I’d recommend the service
https://pmsportscars.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=60_70_76_124
Seat surgeons of York 
If wanting new
But there’s plenty of really nice second hand ones out there 
Like these ,
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- 1, or is it 2? For SeatSurgeons
I’ve had 2 full interiors done by them on 2 separate cars (seats, door cards and gaiters) excellent job both times!
Barrie
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I also had mine done by Seat Surgeons - first class job.
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My Mk 2 -
Not the best photo of the seats - doesn’t show the blue piping - but I DO miss that wooden trim
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Nothing though on the OP’s question; seat covers, are they any good?
Moss in the US sell these covers…
Not leather (obviously)
Yes, but are they any good? After all, that’s what OP wants to know, isn’t it? 
Barrie
They don’t seem to fit all that well.
Think this covered the original query pretty well?
Followed by lots of photos of lovely fully reupholstered interiors.
For balance;
£50 of leather dye and a couple of warm weekends took these seats
to these
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Fair comment
Those seats ARE impressive though, refurbing used seats looks like a really cost effective way of upgrading an interior.
You mentioned it was £50 for materials, but how did you learn the skills and techniques?
They do look very nice indeed! Not sure OP’s cloth seats would look quite the same though
Barrie
Made it up as I went along. You need a proper good quality hide to start with. These seats were part of a small batch Mazda made in the early 90s, using Nubuck leather; its proper full hide stuff. You have to be brutal taking off the original finish, and then build it back up with the colorant and top glaze. Pros use an air brush, my cheap one kept clogging, so I gave up and just used a sponge, building up the layers, drying in between, flattening with wet and dry.
Factory Mazda leather was a cheap semi-synthetic leather (its leather, but reconstruted, to give a uniform appearance for 1000’s of cars). I believe Mazda UK used a UK supplier when retrimming cars (particularly Mk1), and these should use a better leather. Something like the Conran might have even used something like Bridge of Weir. If the leather is torn, or cut, there are fillers available, but these aren’t long lasting.If you can find a local trimmer, you will probably find they can replace the panel expertly, for a lot less than recovering the seats, especially its the seat is a standard colour like black. If its a bit scuffed, you don’t need to do what I did, you buy a kit from Gliptone/Furniture Clinic, and there are aimed very much at the home DIYer. You can even get a kit including the airbrush. They have plenty of instructions and videos.
Recolouring a seat is no big mystery really.
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Many thanks, that’s great info
I’ve got an 07 Icon and the R/H bolster is already looking a little tired, so I may need to acquire that skillset at some point!
People know, or at least used to, how to clean and polish a pair of shoes. You have half a dozen or so basic flavours of Kiwi, and usually can find one to spruce up scuffs on a shoe. No great skills needed.
On a car seat, it will be filthy; oil, grim, grit, need to be cleaned off. Even just doing that can improve appearances.
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I do know how to polish shoes - I was a boy scout - but honestly can’t remember the last time I did it with proper polish!