how to 're-leather' interior parts?

[blake_spector]

hello,

i'll get 5 m² porsche leather for about 250 euro (which would be $370 but here in germany the euro it's worth it so it's kinda cheap..) so i would like to learn the skills to re-leather the interior parts like dashboard, doors, maybe the steering wheel.. (exept the seats, maybet i'll get original electric porsche leather ones).

i would appreciate your help!

thanks, bye

 

[Slipstream]

If I'm reading this correctly you're about to buy 5sq meters of leather (the same leather used by porsche) adn you would like to recover the factory vinyl parts with it.

This isn't an easy process and would give any experienced upholsterr with all the proper equipment major headaches. To do it properly you would remove the vinyl and padding, adn replace it with new padding and the leather...but this isn't practical for 99.99% of us. My best suggestion would be to remove the panels you want to recover from the car.

Measure each panel and cut a lightly oversize piece of leather. Get extra wide, double sided tape, starting in the middle of the panel and the middle of the leather, secure it with the double sided tape...then with wide jawed upholstery pliars, a variety of rollers and a whole lot of elbow grease begin working from the center outward in all directions. lightly stretch the leather around humps, lumps, bumps and corners and roll it into the dimples, holes and depressions. What you're trying to do is get a perfectly flush fit with no wrinkles. work slowly, work carefully. Use the double sidded tape every few inches to secure the sections you have completed before moving on. Once the panel is covered in the leather and looks like you want it to, pile bags of sand or other weight on top of it for a few days to help it maintain its shape. After a few days detatch the leather from the panel, get rid of all the tape, clean the panel very very well. Use an automotive upholstery grade glue and follow the directions on the bottle/can.

Leather does not stretch well, nor does it hold its shape well, I think you'll find that working with vinyle will be much easier as the vinyl can be heat formed and stretched easily to fit the panel perfectly.

The project you're undertaking is very long, very boring, very back, knee and finger breaking work. It is also almost impossible to "get it right" if it is your first time. I'd highly suggest you find a qualified upholstery shop to do the work for you. With all that being said, I wish you the best of luck and be sure to post pictures when you're done.

 

[blake_spector]

thank you for your reply, it really seems to be very hard work.. i'll betta search an upholstery shop