Cloth to leather conversion complete! (Updated with more pics!)

"Upshift" (Upshift)
04/06/2014 at 21:36 • Filed to: Mustang, 2012, cloth, leather, upholstery, conversion, diy

After 2 years of neglect on this project I finally converted my driver's seat in my Mustang to Leather, thus completing this project!

Leather was an 1800 dollar option from the factory so I did not take it then. But then I found brand new take-offs for 450$ shipped from roush on ebay so I figured I'd give it a shot. Sadly the headrest leather they shipped only fot the late 2012 headrests that tilted so I will need to source that some other way but I have ideas.

The job isn't complicated but it is time consuming. 2h for all the back seats and 3h for each front throne but it is doable with a friend and well worth the savings!

Here are a couple of before shots combined with the title picture and another shot for afters:

Bonus pictures of the back seat process:

DISCUSSION (23)

ab124 > Upshift
04/06/2014 at 21:41

Looks right at home. How much were the seats?

desertdog5051 > Upshift
04/06/2014 at 21:44

Nice look, nice buy.

Upshift > ab124
04/06/2014 at 21:54

Thanks! The take-off leater was 450$ shipped for all 4 seats together. The seats themselves did not need to be changed as Ford uses the same seat frames and foam for the premium cloth and leather seats. The factory 1800$ premium is for the hide only.

Upshift > desertdog5051
04/06/2014 at 21:55

Thanks!

Arben72 > Upshift
04/06/2014 at 21:56

Should've installed heated seats while your at it. I was going to do this with my forester till I bought my saab. I just stuck to installing heated seats in it.

midengineer > Upshift
04/06/2014 at 21:56

Looks great! What caused the front seats to be so time consuming?

M54B30 > Upshift
04/06/2014 at 21:57

looks good but you actually *wanted* leather? Both my cars have leather but I'd prefer cloth :(

Upshift > M54B30
04/06/2014 at 22:29

The factory cloth in the Mustang is a very low quality Material (after one year, the material on the driver's seat seemed more worn down than the 13+ year old cloth in an old Beater civic I had bought in late 2012 for kicks). Plus two of my friends had brand new Kias at the time with leather and I loved the look and feel so I got envious. The price was right with the eBay purchase. I should also note that the leather is thicker than the cloth and thus provides more padding. The seat feels much more supportive and comfortable with it. I can vouch for it too because I had the driver's seat in cloth while the passenger seat had been converted two years ago already. Plenty of time to compare.

I can totally understand the preference for Cloth over leather. Japanese cars make the case for cloth a lot better because they actually install quality material even on their cheapest cars. (The cloth in my lowly Honda Fit felt a lot thicker and far more durable than that in my Mustang, and plus the case of the beater civic mentioned above.

Upshift > Arben72
04/06/2014 at 22:31

My *premium* package seats that came with the interior upgrade package were already powered and heated. So that took care of that. I also took advantage of tha opportunity to lube the seat springs with some silicone lube to eliminate a spring squeak that had shown up on my side.

Upshift > midengineer
04/06/2014 at 22:38

You have to unbolt both rails from the car's floor. The rails come with the seat. You also have to unplug the negative terminal on your battery before you unhook the wiring harnesses connecting the seats to the car lest you want a side airbag to knock you out cold. There's also a crap ton of hooks and fasteners and Hog Rings that hold the seat in place. You have to remove the electric seat control panel on the side of the seat. Then there's the fact that everything is easier said than done since the material is a tight fit so there's some struggling and tugging involved. Then once everything is off, you have to repeat everything in reverse while making sure the new surface is properly aligned. You have to fasten some new hog rings, make sure the Velcro is lined up and pull hard on everything to make sure all clips reach their mounting spots and then bolting everything back in.

It wouldn't be so bad if I was a professional. But, I'm not even a mechanic! I'm just an IT technician with a passion for cars who also likes to learn to do things himself. This car was my first ever attempt at this so it was a learning experience.

Arben72 > Upshift
04/07/2014 at 00:42

I never knew ford did heated cloth seats. Anyways your seats look awesome. I love the deviated stitching ford does which bmw charges 7,000 for...

Philbert/Phartnagle > Upshift
04/07/2014 at 00:50

Cool! Looks great and you got a great price to boot.

I am going to redo the leather seats in my daughter's 89 GT convertible, but so far $850 for the set is the lowest price I have found.

I've been thinking about maybe using that leather look alike material (can't remember the name of it right now), but I'm a bit concerned about how it will look and hold up. Anyone have any experience with that material they'd care to share?

Upshift > Arben72
04/07/2014 at 11:57

Thanks! And yes lots of people get surprised about the whole Cloth heated seat thing. But you can see it pretty much all over the lowly compact market nowadays!

Does BMw really charge a bunch of money for stitching?? Sigh

Upshift > Philbert/Phartnagle
04/07/2014 at 12:01

I think the price difference has to do with the fact that my leather came pre-stitched together from a brand new mustang that was driven one block from the ford factory to the Roush workshop having been removed and re-sold by the latter while what you are looking at is a custom made set crafted from whatever shop you are getting it from (because finding take-offs from an 89 is going to be hard nowadays) so 850$ isn't too bad in my opinion. The other option is vinyl which can be hit or miss quality wise. Most of the time it doesn't come close to the buttery feel of real leather but I don't know what the price differential will be.

Arben72 > Upshift
04/07/2014 at 12:03

They used too be. It was a bmw individual option where they would actually take our the stitching and restitch it with your own choice in color. It's much cheaper now though.

Philbert/Phartnagle > Upshift
04/07/2014 at 13:17

You're correct I'm sure. What I was looking at were re-pops of the factory original covers.

I really don't want to use vinyl or cloth, because I'd like to keep it looking as close to original as possible.

Upshift > Arben72
04/07/2014 at 13:23

wow. Undoing and re-doing all the work. No wonder it was pricey!

Upshift > Philbert/Phartnagle
04/07/2014 at 13:25

I'd say spend the money and go for that leather option then. Of course unless 850$ is a big dent in your budget. But if the price isn't painful to swallow, then the result will be better and worth it IMO. I'm sure your daughter will appreciate it as well ;)

midengineer > Upshift
04/07/2014 at 13:37

I figured it wouldn't be as simple as an older car plus working in a tight space is a near guarantee that a job will take twice as long as it should. I would've assumed that the back seat would've been a bigger challenge but your explanation definitely proved the opposite. Anyways, they look fantastic!

Philbert/Phartnagle > Upshift
04/07/2014 at 13:45

Thanks, That's the plan so far.

We are actually restoring and modifying the car per our youngest daughter's prior plans and wishes for it. It is a fairly low mileage example at 50k+ miles, so there isn't a whole lot to do restoration wise, but money is tight so we do what we can as we can afford to do it.

The whole story is that our youngest daughter was killed by a drunk driver in 2007 and my family (my wife and 3 more daughters) and I are restoring/modifying the car the way she wanted it done in remembrance of her. She and I had talked about it extensively and made plans before her death, so I/we know what she wanted to do. After it is completed we plan to take it to local area car shows with a placard of her story and use it to encourage others to not drink and drive.

Upshift > midengineer
04/07/2014 at 14:04

Thanks! and the back seats were pretty simple and a one man job. The bottom cushions are held in by easy to access and release plastic tabs under where your knee would fold. You release these and simply pull that part of the seat out. From my observations, a lot cars are setup like this. I also found out I had two speakers under the rear seats haha! Once the bottom cushions are out, the one bolt holding each of the backs is revealed. Unbolt that and slide the pin that hinges the the fold-down seat out and it's done. These parts were surprisingly light as well. Ease of removal and the simplicity of how the leather is clipped onto them means it's a quicker simpler job.

Here are some of the pictures I took two years ago when I got started on this:

Note that the folds ended up setting in quite nicely after a few weeks as you can tell from the main post.

Kinja'd!!!

Upshift > Philbert/Phartnagle
04/07/2014 at 14:15

I'm terribly sorry for your loss. This is an excellent project and tribute for your daughter and I'd love to see the complete results once it's done! But don't feel pressured to hurry it up. Take your time and do it as you can and do it right. I say it's a great way to tell her story and get the message out there.

Philbert/Phartnagle > Upshift
04/07/2014 at 14:19

Thank you. I plan to post the completed car and story on Jalopnik/Oppo when it is finished.