rj4510

Can’t help with the color, but you should be able to contact them for some guidance. The leather renew stuff has worked great for me. The toughest part about Lexus seats are the stitching. You have to take extra time to reverse mask around the stitching to keep the spray off them. That little extra time and care takes the seats from looking like a cheap DIY to a class act. I generally, reverse mask one panel, say the outside edge, then reverse mask the opposite panned (after it dries, so I can tape it up) and spray the other section. I also rarely use the fill cream. I just spray as is and turns out great. I have used the filler cream for arm rests where elbows have dug in and cracked the leather and they turned out excellent.

watch their videos, take your time and go slow and they turn out great. Take shortcuts and it turns into a mess. That’s what I always tell everyone... best of luck and post pics.

Jacket

Those RX seats look great - nice work! Our ecru drivers seat bottom just got its first split in the perforated section, where one of the cracks has opened up into a 3" tear. So now seat has gone from a color restoration issue to something more challenging. The replacement covers from Lexus are $$. lseat.com now carries GX460 covers for a much better price (I used these covers for my 80 and the quality is decent), but I didn't get any indication that the top covers are airbag compliant. I could try just the bottoms, but I doubt the ecru shades would line up.

Anyway - good info on the restoration process. Might be worth a try to buy some time before the cracks get worse.

rj4510

Tears can be repaired too. If it is just the top layer and you still have leather backing, it’s a cake fix, even in the perforated section. The repair will fill the perforations, but when it dries, you can take a tiny drill bit and clean them out. Measure holes, mark template are with light pen, drill, A little light sanding with 4000 grit to knock down the edges, then proceed with the dye and voila. Like new. One of the seats I repaired was like that and you couldn’t even tell after the repair. My buddy still has the car and the repair is holding up great. We still have to look hard to see it, but we know where it was.

if the leather has ripped through, it’s still repairable, but albeit tougher. You have to glue a leather backing onto the area, then proceed with the repair. That sometimes can get a bit tricky to get things lined up so they will hide properly. For what it costs to try, to me at least, it’s worth a shot. Tons can be learned from the attempt, even if not perfect. Today a replaceable car seat, tomorrow your favorite irreplaceable chair. I actually got into the repair when a 7 year old delinquent was given strict orders to not scare the cat. Well, he thought that was a great idea and my otherwise docile cat shredded the couch trying to escape after being frightened by the little monster!

CFAI

Do you have to remove the seat from the car, or can you repair and dye with seat in car? (of course one can, I mean can the fix be done well with low chance of getting dye on everything).

rj4510

Easier is nome that others. I mask and cover everything around when I can't or don't need to remove. The spray tool that you can get from LeatherRenew.com and also at Home Depot has very little overspray, so not like you have to go crazy. If I'm in a tight spot or have to get too close to something, I'll remove it. Removing a seat is generally 15 minutes, even with all the power connections. Sometimes I opt not to remove, because the seat just weighs too much and too tight to maneuver out of the car. In that case, I mask everything off a foot to 18" around the area.

Here's another car I fixed: See post #5. Never removed seats or door panel. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...ats-fixed.html. Note the missing chunk from the door armrest.

CFAI

Trivial question:
My base '13 has the Comfort plus option and the perforations in the leather are more like squares than circles. I just looked at a 2021 luxury while waiting around at the dealership, and the perforations on the seating in the Luxury look like slightly smaller circles - similar to the seating in the 2021 Premium model next to it . Did Lexus change the leather or the way the seats are made during one of the refreshes?
M

Acrad

I am not sure about the manufacture of the leather but here is what I have seen in brochures as related to trims and type of leather over the years:

460 - Seating Material - Semi-Aniline Leather, Leather or Nuluxe

‘10-’13 Premium Semi-Aniline Leather

‘10-’13 Base with “Comfort Plus Package” - Semi-Aniline Leather

‘10-’13 Base - Leather

‘14+ Luxury Semi-Aniline Leather

‘14-’18 Premium- Leather

‘14+ Base - Nuluxe

‘19 Premium Leather or Nuluxe depending on interior color choice

'20-'21 Base & Premium - Nuluxe
​​​​​​​
'20-'21 Luxury Semi-Aniline Leather

Jacket

Has anyone removed the bottom leather besides the guy in the Youtube video (who seems to lack in detailed info)? Sounds like he obsoleted the seat heater because it is attached to the OEM cushion, which I don't want to do. Lexus lists the heating element as a separate part, which leads me to believe that the existing element could be transferred to a new piece of leather. If you buy a new bottom piece from Lexus, it looks to include the heating element, but it's ~ 4x the cost of an aftermarket option.

Just wondering if anyone has pics or has seen a description of the heating element in the lower piece from the factory.

Jacket

I watched a video on a GX470 where it looks like it has a stitch or similar in 6-8 places around the bottom of the cover. That should be easy enough to re-glue in onto the new piece of leather - assuming it is similar to the GX460. If anyone has firsthand experience let me know.

JonGX

no, but I've been following this thread for a while because my drivers seat bottom (2014 luxury with black semi-aniline leather) has some damage from the previous owner and I will eventually need to completely replace the seat bottom. I checked yesterday and just the bottom portion from Lexus is $850.

Jacket

And that's the cost per side. Foam is another $150 per side if you want to replace that as well (I will). When you can get a set of leather bottoms for about $400 from an aftermarket reseller, it makes that path pretty attractive. I'll probably bite the bullet and give it a shot this summer (hot leather is much easier to install), and I'll share details when I do it. At this point I'm just gathering the parts....

machine323

I need to replace my bottom foam (factory) and upper and lower ecru leather on my 2010. I'm looking for aftermarket too I think as factor leather is pretty expensive. This GX is pretty much just my work vehicle now. what brands of covers are you looking at. My perforations are square and it looks like most that I'm seeing are round holes.

IanG

I would get a quote or two from local auto upholstery shops. The front seats in my 2008 4Runner were really worn and cracked. I also looked into the factory & aftermarket replacement covers, then took it to a local shop and they repaired the seat bases including new foam for less $ and they did the work rather than me.

Jacket

These guys:
https://www.usautoseatcover.com/prod...0-2017-lexus-g

or these guys:
https://www.lseat.com/products/2010-...ers-front.html

I'm leaning toward just doing the bottoms for now, which probably means trying usautoseatcover since they sell them separately and the color appears to be a closer match for ecru. Either way it won't be perfect, but certainly better than what I have, which is worn, faded and ripped.

MrTorgue

So I’ve got some indentions in the rear passenger seat from a heavy cooler (my mistake), any idea how to smooth the seat bottom out again? The rear passenger side has a car seat so at some point that bottom seat need to get addressed. The headrest area where the seatbelt comes over to anchor on the back of the seat back is a lot cause for sure. At least the headrest could hide most of this so there’s that.