seats

[75coug]

My seats are looking bad, and I am conflicted about what to do. New leather alone probably wouldn't do the trick, because the foam or whatever is under the leather feels like it is all matted. Plus the seats are simply uncomfortable.

Finally, the buttons on the sides look ugly and out of place, in particular since they no longer perform any kind of function.

How much would it cost to completely replace these seats with new? A fortune, right?

Has anyone else put seats from another type of car into your McLaren? If so, how do they look? I don't want anything that looks funny or out of sync with the rest of the interior.

Here are mine. Believe me, they look much worse than they do in the photo.

[Sandy]

Personally, I'd much rater have what is in there, now, regardless of condition and/or working power, than the WRONG seats entirely.

[86capri62]

If you want to get rid of them let me know how you want.

[86capri62]

BTW Sandy can you tell why he has the Recaro and not the deluxe doors. I tought they came together.

[75coug]

Personally, I'd much rater have what is in there, now, regardless of condition and/or working power, than the WRONG seats entirely.

Sandy, I probably could have typed your position word-for-word before you responded. You are so predictable! If you sat in this seats, you might change your tune.

Here is the thing: I want to drive this car, not have it sit in the garage, and quite simply, the current seats are terrible. They look bad and they are not comfortable. I generally favor originality, but not to the point that I won't drive the car because I can't stand to be in the seats.

Perhaps I could replace them with something decent, and stick the originals in the attic in case some future owner wants them.

[1985 Motorsport Capri]

you really want to keep the seats. dont pitch them or sell them.
you can always restore them down the road if you like to go back to original.
i think that the 85/86 tan rs/gt seats would look sweet in your ride as a comfortable replacement.
they would also give a factory stock-type look.
they should bolt right in and shouldnt be too hard to find.
however i am not sure about roof clearance with those head rests.

[Sandy]

If you dislike them that's okay. But if yu dislike them because the foam / padding is shot....THAT can be fixed.

In the aftermarket catagory....I honestly will admit, it's totally foreign to me, and I can't suggest anything.

[Sandy]

86capri62 The 1986 had two tier pricing. One for the seats AND door panels and one for the seats alone. the Reason? ascMcLaren was running out of the custom door panel parts, and didn't want to re-order a minimum order, of which they knew that it would be impossible to use them all, so in order to s-l-o-w down mandatory use of the custom panels, they charged extra for them, and if NOT requested, the car was delivered with what you see, above.
Note that she does have the less then 50% installation-rate Power Door Locks.

[negusm]

Take them to an upholstery shop that specializes in leather restoration.

You can bring leather back to new condition. They do it all the time on very very expensive cars without recovering the seats. Leather is very durable and good at reconditioning.

While the seats are there, have them "re-pad" the seats. They should be able to cut all new foam and make them feel good and solid once again.

-Mike

[86capri62]

Thanks for the clarification. I would have like the Recaro and deluxe door panels in my car. But I only have the standard seats and doors.

[svo413]

You have 3 choices:
1. Purchase some 87 or newer seats and recover then with the kits available. Still have the foam problem to deal with.
2. Purchase some new Recaros for $1000+ each. Very different look but many colors available.
3. Recover your old Recaros and have some foam added for better comfort.

I started with option 1 and ended up with seat framess that were rusted beyond use. I ended up getting the old ones recovered and added extra padding to the drivers seat. A Recaro dealer quoted $2000+ to recover them. I had a local guy make then from scratch for $1100. You might find someone in a more rural area do it for $600-$700. Option 1 or 3 tends to look more period correct.

[85blackvert]

Robert,

As people have noted in the previous posts, you could add some padding to your seat bottoms to make them more to your liking. That shouldn't be too difficult...

As far as the leather is concerned, leather is incredibly resilient, so it can definitely be reconditioned by wet-sanding and re-dyeing (yours don't appear to be as bad as mine were). My seats were very badly sun/water damaged. Given the relatively low cost of the dye and reconditioning materials (not to mention free labor), I figured I'd give it a try and refinish them myself. I got the dye from Leatherique.com - they matched the color w/ a small swatch I cut from the bottom of the seat. All in all, I was very pleased w/ the outcome. The color matched very well and it was a pretty straighforward project. If I can do this, anyone can.

If you are interested, I have a few before/after pics in my album.

Sean

[75coug]

Thanks for the input, guys. Sean, you did an amazing job on your seats. How many hours did you have to put into the project?

[85blackvert]

Thanks for the compliment. I thought my seats were going to need recovering until a buddy of mine told me of the possibility of re-dyeing them. To say the least, I was skeptical that they would come out okay, but I figured I had nothing to lose, except the $$ for the dye.

The amount of time is tough to remember, but I'd say a total of 20-25 hours total for the project over the course of a three to four weeks.

Let me know if there's any way I can be of further assistance.

Sean

[knsstang]

I have a problem with my seats also. Mine are ripped on the bottom seat coushin. I purchsed some recaros that are grey cloth, took them to a shop to have them recovered. the lowest quote i received was 700 for the recaros and 750.00 to recover the stock seats. So I am going to do the recaros. I am now riding with one grey seat and one tan seat. Don't hate me but that recaro is so COMFORTABLE I could'nt wait