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Repair or Replace Seat Covers?!? Need Instructions Please.
Hey Guys, anyone have detailed instructions on how to replace the seat covers on a MY06 CLS 500? Recommendations on replacing whole seat covers with OEM or aftermarket or just patching?
The car is over 10 years old and the front seats started cracking and tearing, the perforated holes in the ventilated multicontour seats made it more prone to tearing (one passenger didn't realize when they twisted their body in the car it ripped a whole piece off, think perforated holes in a notebook ring binder, easy to tear ) Also the rear upper seat covers near the rear window seemed to shrink and dry out causing the threading near the headrest to come apart (supposedly common among cars with large rear windows, the sun can beat on the leathers)
I have no clue on what something like this would cost, for those who've gone through some leather repairs, can you provide some pointers? Also, if there's any place in the NY metro area that one can recommend, it would be greatly appreciated.
I'm weighing my options on whether to replace them with OEM, get the seats re-upholstered (be it in parts/patches or all together) and whether the swapping out of the covers is simple enough to do myself, hence my ask for detailed instructions on removing and taking apart the seats and removal of the seat covers?
I have THE SAME Issue.
My front driver cover has split and looks nasty, but the color is a bit odd and so is the design.
The above seat has 5 "panels" in the middle of the seat. Mine has only 3 and is a mid-tan/biscuit sort of color.
Hey guys, just wanted to give an update to my seat repair/replace options. So i called up a few places here in the NY metro area, aside from going through the dealer, auto re-upholster guys were giving me quotes ranging from $2200-$3000 for replacing both front left and right seat covers (upper and lowers), and $800-$1400 for the rear upper. One guy gave me a quote of $600 (each) to replace just the front seat lowers. Most suggested replacing the seat covers because of the heating/cooling options on the car and how the foam padding "stuck" to the seat covers.
I still felt these prices were too much to put into a 10+ year old car, so i started looking into used part replacements, either locate used seat covers or entire seats depending on the price.
And depending on whether on ebay or going through the used parts network (e.g. Hollander) as well as the specific options needed, the price range varied drastically.
I also still feel this is something that can be patched, so i'm looking to see if i can carefully remove the seat covers and bring them to a upholstery shop to patch or swap out the damaged panel.
With the used part option, the biggest concern I have is not so much fitment but whether or not the used seat matched my options, and apparently MB delivered subtle variations of seats, e.g
W/ AMG
W/ MULTICONTOUR
W/ O MULTICONTOUR
W/ VENTILATION
W/ VENTILATION & MULTICONTOUR
Mine is the black w/ ventilation & multi-contour, which is a PIA to locate because there aren't as many as i thought would be available. And since most listings don't go into details as to what options a seat has, i had to see if the seller had the VIN of the donor vehicle, then decode the VIN (i used datamb.com) and look for specific codes that matched up with my codes.
e.g.
200A LEATHER
201A LEATHER - BLACK/ANTHRACITE
401 FRONT SEAT CLIMATE CONTROL
404 MULTI-CONTOUR SEAT, FRONT LEFT
405 MULTI-CONTOUR SEAT, FRONT RIGHT
Majority of the front seats I located w/ matching codes had tears and/or stains, and the rear uppers had the same seam separation issues I have. I'm still determined to locate good condition replacements.
However, I came across a guy who has all the seats for a 2006 CLS 55, Now my question to you guys is, is it possible to swap out all of the seats on my 2006 CLS 500 w/ the AMG dynamic seats of this CLS 55? I also noticed the rear uppers on an AMG w/ the alcantara sections do not come apart at the seams as easily as the regular leather seats.
Has anyone swapped out their front NON-AMG seats w/ AMG seats and function correctly?
I assume the front seat control modules would need to be swapped out as well, if they are swapped, would the car need to be reprogrammed?
In a worse case scenario the “dynamic “ part of the seats wont function unless your vehicle has the wiring harness to accommodate the seats but if they are cheap enough who cares? Besides looks like your vehicle has dynamic seats.
Last edited by vvrjrlaw; 07-02-2018 at 12:46 AM.
Reason: Clarification
What did you end up doing? My passenger seat top is ripped and wanted to swap out just the top portion, so I'm looking for a good condition used seat back on ebay and was wondering how difficult it is to just replacement the top portion of the seat.
As I mentioned previously may be best to get a quote from local upholstery shop to repair or replace. If you want provide VIN I'll pull MB part # to shop.
i ended up removing the front lower seats and got it re-upholstered separately (to save on the seat removal labor from the upholstery shop)
(my update was posted here: https://mbworld.org/forums/glk-class...at-covers.html)
I also found the rear upper on ebay for less (~$160+$145s/h+$25tax=~$330) which was still cheaper than what I was quoted to re-upholster and just swapped it out @konigstiger was awesome (as always) in providing me instructions on how to remove the front-lowers and rear cushions
I had trouble figuring out how to remove the front upper cushions so I put that work on hold (i'm still weighing options of re-upholstering or just replace, it's just a matter of figuring out how to remove the upper cushions off the frame, it's gotten bad now where the cracks on my upper lumbar ended up separating and falling off, i've temporarily used some backing material and leather glue to hold it together )
Also, to note, when I replaced the front-lower cushions, the SRS light came on and i had to get the SRS reset, i don't have a scanner/tool to do it, fortunately the upholstery shop reset it for me, they originally wanted to charge me just to reset it but they didn't in exchange for a Yelp review :-D
Thanks @konigstiger do you happen to have the removal guides for 219's with code 242 or 275? there's a motor and air line for the lumbar support (on one side) and a motor for the head restraint, both of which need to be removed in order to remove the seat cover
Did you ever figure it out? I just ordered an entire seat back that has good 'leather" on it. I could either replace the entire upper seat back or just take the cover off and replace it with the eBay one. I also saw this video, which isn't for this model, but it is a 2008 C class, and seems to be pretty close:
I just cut a piece out of my $1 laxy boy chair and sewed it in. The leather in my cls 2007 seat has foam glued to it and its very hard to soften it, I think it may be polyurethane or such colored leather. Its actualy a very complicated problem. I've read the leather on the seats is from stabled bulls which makes sense with the grain, thickness and sublty not sure why its got thin foam on the back maybe just a smoother. Nightmare to unstitch and re stitch still looking for a similar high quality leather. After, good enough til I source a better leather not aniline.
04-11-2018, 09:29 PM
) Also the rear upper seat covers near the rear window seemed to shrink and dry out causing the threading near the headrest to come apart (supposedly common among cars with large rear windows, the sun can beat on the leathers)
(i'm still weighing options of re-upholstering or just replace, it's just a matter of figuring out how to remove the upper cushions off the frame, it's gotten bad now where the cracks on my upper lumbar ended up separating and falling off, i've temporarily used some backing material and leather glue to hold it together 
)
