Ripped driver's seat side bolster fixed!

Itsmyfirstsuv

Member
Location
New Jersey
Car
2012 ML350
Wish I took a before picture, but forgot to. Anyway, had a ugly looking tear on my driver's side seat side bolster area. Apparently, the side is made of vinyl and I guess I put a lot of stress on it going in and out of the seat (maybe I'm too fat). Lol. Got an upholstery repair person to come by my house to do the repair, and it looks great! The seat was so ugly before, but looks presentable again... Just thought I'd post this in case others have the same problem. Not really cheap...cost me $120, but I'm real happy...

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Who did the work? There are probably a few of us that could use a good touch up on our leather seats.

I'm happy to provide the contact info, but I don't want to be seen as advertising for this guy, so anyone who wants to get his details please feel free to PM me. He is based out of northern NJ, and it took him about 30 minutes to do the repair.
 
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did he replace the whole vinyl side? $120 imo is a fair price to get that side repaired.. here is mine repaired by the dealer before i bought it.. saw the original pics that they posted online. the thing was cracked and ripped... doesn't look like they replaced the vinyl.. but did a good job.. you can't even tell

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He did not replace the entire side. He patched it with vinyl, and vulcanized it. Then, he matched the color and graining. It looks rather good.
 
Don't want to bring you down, but I had this done to mine, and it looked awesome for about a month, after which it got all messed up again. I think the best way to do it is to replace the whole side, IMHO....

He did not replace the entire side. He patched it with vinyl, and vulcanized it. Then, he matched the color and graining. It looks rather good.
 
Don't want to bring you down, but I had this done to mine, and it looked awesome for about a month, after which it got all messed up again. I think the best way to do it is to replace the whole side, IMHO....

agreed.. however i had mine for a year now and they still looks like the day i got the car.. i'm pretty sure they never replaced the vinyl.. i can tell by the stitching..
 
I agree. The guy told me that a more permanent fix is to replace the whole side. He said he would charge me $250 to do that, but that he would need to take out the seat to do it, and I just didn't want to have any down time on my car, so opted for the quick fix. We'll see how it lasts.
 
In the future if you end up replacing the whole side, I suggest D & R Auto and Boat in Morris Plains, NJ. I bought my car with the same area torn as well as the upper right side. They color matched and replaced with real leather. Great guys, Dave and Richie. $300 flat for both repairs.
 
Well Automat is in Long Island i think in Bethpage Great work but they are not cheap.What you looking on getting done?I could try to get some of the peps I use to deal with when I use to do custom audio systems. That's if they still around LOL
 
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