All mechanical issues with my 96 GLE have been resolved, so I am turning to some of the minor cosmetic annoyances.

The leather on the driver's seat is cracking and separating near my left shoulder. There are two horizontal breaks, one is a simple crack 2 inches long the other is just a little bigger, but it has separated by about 3/8 inches. I can see where there is another break forming between them.

The only two choices I can come up with is a leather/vinyl repair kit (probably look and work like crap) or break out my leather sewing kit and stitch it up (stitching will show).

Does anyone have any experience/suggestions on the best way to repair the leather? I am especially curious about experiences / brands with leather/vinyl repair kits. I am not sure how well they work, but I have a pretty good idea how stitching it up will look.

(BTW: I'd rather stitch it up then replace the seat or the leather.)

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

My only advice is to have a professional do the work.

I've used these guys in the past and they do very nice work.

http://www.drvinyl.com/index2.html

I had an entire seat back side bolster re-leathered to match. The total was $200 cash.

I've gotta have the same thing done on my current car. I'll call these guys again.

 

I've had some luck with using flexible contact cement. Place a good pieceof leather or denim under crack, coated with contact. Apply cement to leather edges, when ready to adhere - Carefully press onto the denin, making sure torn edges are lined up. This may not be 'invisible', but it doesn't look like F-stein either.

 

$200 isn't bad at all if it turns out looking nice.

I would say go for the pros.

I just conditioned my leather today, smells nice in the car now .

 

if youre concerned with the looks, call the pros. the patch kits will look good enough for a short time, but then they change color. usually darker.