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I need some advice on replacing the leather interior of my 2006 LS430 base. The leather is beyond saving—it's dried out and needs to be completely replaced. I got a quote from a local upholsterer for $1,600 in labor, but I'd need to purchase the leather covers separately. The upholsterer recommended avoiding Lseat.com, although I've seen mostly positive reviews. They suggested Richmond Upholstery instead, which is more expensive.
Has anyone here recovered their seats? If so, did you do it yourself or hire a professional? I’m considering taking this on as a DIY project, but I'm worried it might be too complicated. My LS looks great overall, but the previous owner didn’t take care of the seats, and they dried out over time. I want to restore them to look as good as the rest of the car.
I live in Maryland, near the DC/Northern Virginia border. Please let me know if you know someone who is reasonable and skilled in upholstery work.
Lseat may have been good in the past, but I think your upholsterer is right about them now. My friend ordered new seat skins from Lseat and while the fit and finish was very good, the color was great and they felt great. But after six or eight months the piping along the side bolster was already showing significant wear to the point where the leather in the piping is torn and wearing away. $1,600 seems a bit steep for not including the material. For that price I assume they want you to provide raw yards of material and will cut and stitch the skins together themselves. If they want $1600 just to install pre-made seat skins - heck I need to get into the upholstery business. It's difficult, and requires specialty tools, but not $1600 difficult by any means. If you have an upholsterer cut and stitch you new seat skins from raw material, make sure to see some examples of their work and compare the examples to OEM seats, because I have seen recovered seats that looked terrible and did not follow the factory stitch lines very well.
As for Richmond Upholstery, they don't seem to have the correct colors for the LS430. They have "tan, grey and black", and only in perforated. The 01-03 cars had Ecru, Ivory, Light Charcoal and Black. The 04-06 cars had Ecru, Cashmere, Ash, Saddle and Black. I guess if your car has black leather you might be alright, but their "tan" definitely doesn't cover Ecru, Ivory and Cashmere as all three are different shades, especially Ecru. If you go with them, and have any color besides black, get them to send you a sample to see if it matches.
Lseat may have been good in the past, but I think your upholsterer is right about them now. My friend ordered new seat skins from Lseat and while the fit and finish was very good, the color was great and they felt great. But after six or eight months the piping along the side bolster was already showing significant wear to the point where the leather in the piping is torn and wearing away. $1,600 seems a bit steep for not including the material. For that price I assume they want you to provide raw yards of material and will cut and stitch the skins together themselves. If they want $1600 just to install pre-made seat skins - heck I need to get into the upholstery business. It's difficult, and requires specialty tools, but not $1600 difficult by any means. If you have an upholsterer cut and stitch you new seat skins from raw material, make sure to see some examples of their work and compare the examples to OEM seats, because I have seen recovered seats that looked terrible and did not follow the factory stitch lines very well.
As for Richmond Upholstery, they don't seem to have the correct colors for the LS430. They have "tan, grey and black", and only in perforated. The 01-03 cars had Ecru, Ivory, Light Charcoal and Black. The 04-06 cars had Ecru, Cashmere, Ash, Saddle and Black. I guess if your car has black leather you might be alright, but their "tan" definitely doesn't cover Ecru, Ivory and Cashmere as all three are different shades, especially Ecru. If you go with them, and have any color besides black, get them to send you a sample to see if it matches.
Hey! Thanks for the reply. My interior color is the LA10 or Ash. I contacted Lseat about the color match. Yeah, the shop I went to was not kind to me. I came to them for an estimate, and he told me the car was flooded, ruining the seats. He wanted $1,600 to recover them, but I would have to supply the covers. He quoted me $6k for complete custom leather replacements, which he would do. No way!
The car sat under a cover with the previous owner for a while, and I think things just dried out. I started to condition everything when I got it, and the leather broke up when it started to get used again by me and my family. I believe this is from age and neglect. Everything else about the car and its service history is impeccable.
Not sure what I plan to do, and kind of bummed that this has happened. I love the look of the interior, and the thought of putting covers on everything makes me sad.
Hey! Thanks for the reply. My interior color is the LA10 or Ash. I contacted Lseat about the color match. Yeah, the shop I went to was not kind to me. I came to them for an estimate, and he told me the car was flooded, ruining the seats. He wanted $1,600 to recover them, but I would have to supply the covers. He quoted me $6k for complete custom leather replacements, which he would do. No way!
The car sat under a cover with the previous owner for a while, and I think things just dried out. I started to condition everything when I got it, and the leather broke up when it started to get used again by me and my family. I believe this is from age and neglect. Everything else about the car and its service history is impeccable.
Not sure what I plan to do, and kind of bummed that this has happened. I love the look of the interior, and the thought of putting covers on everything makes me sad.
If the car was in a flood none of the seat electronics would work. They just didn't want to work on your car. The ebay seat idea is a good one, and those in the links are in excellent condition, but that's over 2 grand for front seats with shipping. You could also try pursuing your local junk yards. These cars now get totaled out for just a fender bender, so you can often find cars in very good condition in the junk yard and seats are not that hard to remove. If you have a U Pull & Pay within reasonable distance, they have a notification system that will email you when your car of choice gets added to their lot.
Even though the leather quality from Lseat is not very good, I would prefer spending $350 for new front skins that I know won't last more than a few years over getting seat covers that I will hate every single time I get into the car. At least with Lseat I will only hate it a few years from now when I have to replace them again. With Richmond Upholstery you're looking at four times that price at $1300 for front skins, which could be worth it if the skins will match and last a decade.
If you need to replace the rears too, I'd definitely get them on ebay or from a junk yard. Nobody usually needs rears so they're much, much cheaper on ebay. The ones linked look really good and that seller has matching upper and lower rears.
I recovered the driver's seat myself using an oem cover. It's not too difficult if you're handy. Getting the seat out of the car is a bit of a chore as it's heavy and awkward. You will need hog ring pliers and new hog rings, plenty of vids on how to use this tool. Also,.and this is key, you must make sure the seat is in the correct position using the forward/aft button before you remove the seat. This will line up the holes in the seat frame allowing you to insert a socket and separate the seat pan from the frame.
I recovered the driver's seat myself using an oem cover. It's not too difficult if you're handy. Getting the seat out of the car is a bit of a chore as it's heavy and awkward. You will need hog ring pliers and new hog rings, plenty of vids on how to use this tool. Also,.and this is key, you must make sure the seat is in the correct position using the forward/aft button before you remove the seat. This will line up the holes in the seat frame allowing you to insert a socket and separate the seat pan from the frame.
Thanks for the tips! What company did you buy your cover from? I'm looking at Lseat or Richmond right now.
I purchased an OEM cover from Bell Lexus. Not cheap but the interior was excellent in this car, so worth the money to me. If you want a couple pics, let me know.
Not exactly the cover but I added foam pads to the collapsed foam for cheap. The effort to strip the seat to the image below took me less than an hour. DIY is possible if you have some spare time, loops and the loop pliers.
Not exactly the cover but I added foam pads to the collapsed foam for cheap. The effort to strip the seat to the image below took me less than an hour. DIY is possible if you have some spare time, loops and the loop pliers.
Wow! Thanks for the additional insights! I think I will take on putting new skins on my seats sometime soon. I tried a few junk yards with available seats in my color, but the prices were way too high. One Yard quoted me $2500 just for the back seats. Ouch. I can get skins and do it myself for cheaper. The padding of the seats is in good shape, and the heaters and coolers work. I bought my LS as a second car... Something I can tinker with and do some repair work on my own. So, this falls into that category.
08-13-24, 03:11 PM
Leather Seat Cover Replacement Questions
