Remove seat back. I continue to drive the car so I start with the passenger seat back only.
7. Remove back cover.
8. The dreaded blue thread lock on phillips head screws? Need to use heat.
9. Passenger seat back is out.
10. Interesting seat clips, there are no hog rings here.
11. Cloth seat retainers to match upper back curvature.

 

Hey, PanzerPuff, I've watched your excellent video about 10 times and decided to pull the trigger and replace my 73 450SLC seat covers. One question: on your seat backs, you used the 6 "hog ring substitutes" -- but it looks like you didn't use them on the seat bottoms? My original seats were a shredded mess, but the seat bottoms had the same listings wires as the backs. Did yours not have the wires in the seat bottoms? Or did you just skip them?

 

12. Verify new seat matches the old.
13. Use a j-awl to pull cloth retainers onto the MB plastic retaining strip.
14. Same awl to pull the side bolsters and lock them in place with white MB plastic retainers.
15. Cardboard strips sewn onto leather edges fit exactly into J-channels on seat frame. Tapping them in with a clean rawhide hammer.
16. Cut hole 1cm smaller, press chrome lever channel in place.
17. Same thing for the cutout for the L&R seatback lock cables.

 

18. Added extra white padding between horsehair pad and springs corresponding to lumbar support (lower back).
19. All six locking clips must be secured.
20. Nice even line where new leather tucks into existing J-channel.
21. Added extra padding to seat bottoms.
22. Use contact cement to replicate prior glue points.

 

Sitting on,not in the car.



PanzerPuff,as no 21 alludes to you added extra padding to the seat bottoms. The set of seats I re dyed to black had been re upholstered ten years ago and are very firm. The old seats were very tired in all aspects as the previous owner (for 11yrs) was of rather large and heavy proportions. I'm 6 feet tall and now find the new seating position with the seat bottom all the way back to be quite uncomfortable and no amount of adjustments has helped. I know that the 560 has height adjustment but have you found the extra padding to be to your liking. Maybe I'm being a bit precious here but I like sitting in a car and not feel like I am sitting on the car. Any advice would be appreciated gentleman.
John

 

23. Hog rings are needed at the rear edge of the lower cushion.
24. I mistakenly removed the seat height adjuster. Reinstalling the seat spring was easy with a bottle jack. It was difficult without.
25. Relube all the rails and motion points with white lithium grease. I purchased a few new white sliders from MB.
26. In my overzealous support of MB I purchased the M8 25mm 1.25 pitch phillips screws from dealer for $1.50 each. You can get a bag of 25 for $10.
27. Assemble entire seat on benchtop for easy access. Keep leather covered especially when applying grease.

 

28. Passenger seat reinstalled and secured with six 10mm nuts. Note exposed metal is painted black, personal preference.
29. Driver side view of passenger seat and showing off bike.
30. When doing the driver seat bottom I figured out it was much easier by tying the springs with rope, allowing J-channel to be inserted with no need to stretch and pull the leather cover.
31. Double sided stickies in case your plastic chrome trim tends to fall off.
32. These two 10mm bolts plus one at the front pivot point is all you need to remove each seat. Once out, just pull back the seat and lift.

 

33. Important note: Not all the white plastic guides are the same. On mine two were black, wider, and L-shaped if viewed from the end. These wider black guides go on the bottom edge of the inner, seat belt side of the seat, and face inward, with the L pointing in toward the seat. Other orientations will make the seat much more difficult to move fore and aft.
34. Removed rear wall carpet that was faded.
35. Irregular surface covered with upholstery batt and glued with spray adhesive.
36. New MB Tex saffron glued with spray adhesive to the batt.
37. Driver view of completed seats and center console.

All for now, I got to get ready for the rolling legends tour tomorrow AM.
https://arthglr.ejoinme.org/MyEvents/AutoShow2016/RollingLegendsTour/tabid/755410/Default.aspx

 

33. Important note: Not all the white plastic guides are the same. On mine two were black, wider, and L-shaped if viewed from the end. These wider black guides go on the bottom edge of the inner, seat belt side of the seat, and face inward, with the L pointing in toward the seat. Other orientations will make the seat much more difficult to move fore and aft.
34. Removed rear wall carpet that was faded.
35. Irregular surface covered with upholstery batt and glued with spray adhesive.
36. New MB Tex saffron glued with spray adhesive to the batt.
37. Driver view of completed seats and center console.

All for now, I got to get ready for the rolling legends tour tomorrow AM.
Splash

Impressive!

 

Wow, looking good. Excellent write up.

 

What mach4 said!

 

Good write up. This is something I am planning for the Red Fox in a couple of years. I hope this will be added to the The Encyclopaedia Germanica so I can find it again.

 

Nominated...needs a 2nd...

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r-c107-sl-slc-class/1450545-nominate-thread-15.html#post14624778

 

Great project, perfect timing.

I really like all the photos PanzerPuff and easy to follow instructions. I started the project of removing the blue leather seats out of my parts car for a recolour to black. The seats in my 046 were patched with gaffer tape and just as bad as your old seats. I was umming and arring about reconditioning the seat frames as well but with your (as usual) awesome write up I'll now give it my best shot. Love your attention to detail PP,thank you again.

John

 

Nice job Ken. And, I like your creative choice of colors.
Never seen anyone deal with the carpet on the back panel like that - like that too.
BTW, what you did on the carpeted back panel -- is that a padded piece
with vinyl covering????

 

Nice job Ken. And, I like your creative choice of colors. Never seen anyone deal with the carpet on the back panel like that - like that too. BTW, what you did on the carpeted back panel -- is that a padded piece with vinyl covering????

Carl, yes that is polyester fiberfill (any fabric store or upholstery shop) spray glued to the metal, then MB Tex vinyl spray glued to the fiberfill. I used fiberfill as the bodywork was not flat and gluing the Tex vinyl directly to it would show it. I drove on the Rolling Legends Tour today 180 miles at 90 degrees F, and the top edge of the vinyl started to separate, so I put a 1/2 glue strip of contact cement along the top edge that should hold it better than spray adhesive.

38. The center console was looking grim.
39. Soaked all burl wood in pure acetone for 48 hours. Need to seal it good so the volatile acetone does not evaporate.
40. Shot of remaining scale after acetone evaporates. The resulting clean burl veneer needs no scraping (dangerous!) and minimal sanding with 350 grit or finer paper.
41. Using prep-all to remove all traces of dust. One coat of sanding sealer is followed by five coats of outdoor grade gloss polyurethane. I prefer solvent over water base as it works better.
42. Refinished console installed with MB shift knob from my prior 450SL that coincidentally matches the woodwork.

 

I have not figured out how to caption each picture upload so I just number them for ease of reference:

PP to caption each pic they need to be hosted off-site (not on Benzworld). Just Google image hosting and you'll find a ton of them...most for free.

 

.

Added 7/7/2016

 

Miscellaneous:
43. Cleaned out the climate control unit and replaced four of those tiny incandescent light bulbs.
44. Painted the exposed metal pieces black for a more finished look.
45. Top handle now matches the seat color.
46. IMHO quality of leather from Tops Online is excellent. No special deal from Vic to say that, others may post experiences with other vendors.

 

Excellent work, PP. Fun to follow your progress!

 

Nice job, need to mine soon also.

How did the extra padding help? Mine seem to hard as hell to sit in for a 2-3 hour drive, might be the old leather cover but the padding seems very stiff.

 

I really like the contrasting colors. My 380SL is all Brazil Brown and I
too have thought about doing something like you did.
Very creative how you installed that padded panel at the parcel shelf.
And, looks like you color matched the carpeted part on the Center Console.

 

I really like the contrast on the piping and seats. Very Rolls-Royce-ish.

 

Reno, thanks for the compliment. Took it to the Good Guys show today, and never went in. Right next door the MBCA was running an autocross event. It was a challenging course and I managed to log respectable lap times. I will say the 560SL handles really well and can be driven aggressively with ease. Got lots of compliments on the new interior. Yesterday MB was a featured marque at the Arthritis classic auto show and the guys said 50 Benz's showed up. I was sorry to miss it but it was a great weekend for anyone with a MB.

 

The interior is very nice, as in about 9.7 on the WoW factor. The leather in my 560SL is reasonably new but when the original owner replaced the seat covers she did not have the padding replaced. I found this out on my first road trip when my bottom started talking to me. I am going to have new carpet installed in my car and the upholstery guy is going to put in new padding at that time, so hopefully that will make for a more comfortable highway ride.

Question about your wood. So, all you did was soak the burled wood in 100% acetone for 48 hours, and you got that? That is amazing. How did you come up with this approach?

 

Question about your wood. So, all you did was soak the burled wood in 100% acetone for 48 hours, and you got that? That is amazing. How did you come up with this approach?

There are many strings that recommend acetone, and others find scraping this delicate veneer is a dicey proposition. Search either "acetone" or "veneer" Here is a post by Mach4 on this subject.
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r-c107-sl-slc-class/2062722-wood-refinishing-project.html If there are more comments about acetone I suggest they be posted to those strings, so this thread stays on the subject of seat upholstery.

PanzerPuff,as no 21 alludes to you added extra padding to the seat bottoms. The set of seats I re dyed to black had been re upholstered ten years ago and are very firm. The old seats were very tired in all aspects as the previous owner (for 11yrs) was of rather large and heavy proportions. I'm 6 feet tall and now find the new seating position with the seat bottom all the way back to be quite uncomfortable and no amount of adjustments has helped. I know that the 560 has height adjustment but have you found the extra padding to be to your liking. Maybe I'm being a bit precious here but I like sitting in a car and not feel like I am sitting on the car. Any advice would be appreciated gentleman. John

John, it seems your current situation is a pain in the butt. Or is it the lower back that needs support? I found stuffing more padding in the lumbar area to improve the comfort. But without specifics on what pains you, it is hard to recommend anything. Models prior to the 560 had height adjustments as well.
Perhaps you can try a foam pad or yoga mat that is temporarily but strategically placed in various positions. When you find the most comfortable placement stuff that amount or more in the same spot, but between the springs and the horsehair where it remains unseen.

 

Nice job on the interior, PeePee.

 

Thanks for your replies dugald and PanzerPuff,I ended up lowering the rear bolt position and am now a lot more comfortable. Ken I may still do the lower back padding as that is now the only thing I don't like about our 107 seats. :grin Thanks again for your learned advice gentleman.

 

Thanks again for the tutorial. I have been looking for a 560 for some time, and have always thought I could muddle through putting on new leather if needed (most of the cars I have looked at have some kind of leather cracking, hole in the driver bolster etc). With your step by step, it will be super easy to tackle the project. Thanks.

 

Rachel at Tops created a blog based on this string. I have no affiliation with Tops Online but obviously this is good publicity for them. If you have other good vendor experiences feel free to post them. TO Blog:
Customer Spotlight: DIY Tips for Replacing Seat Covers | TopsOnline Blog
Video: https://youtu.be/7BHO8W2qh-U

There are not many strings about fresh leather in the 107 roadster section. If you search the entire benzworld you will find many ideas. For ease of reference here are a few:

W123 Seat Upholstery - I'm determined to get the interior in black and looking good and not cracking. I found this guy on eBay who is selling MB-TEX upholstery cut and ... http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w123-e-ce-d-cd-td/1531275-w123-seat-upholstery.html

Care of MB-Tex upholstery and dash, etc. - I have read where Lexol Vinylex and 303 Company products are supposed to be good for protecting both the upholstery and the dash, etc. http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w212-e-class/1497748-care-mb-tex-upholstery-dash-etc.html

MB Tex upholstery Pros & Cons - Looking at a 2007 E350 with MB Tex interior, what if any are the problems? I have had leather for ever since 1980. Thanks in advance. http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w211-e-class/1585240-mb-tex-upholstery-pros-cons.html

Best Upholstery Shop for torn E55 Seats? - I went to a local upholstery shop and the guy said it would be at least 3000$ to get them fixed and not even with the same materials! I want to ... http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w21...rg/forums/w210-e50-amg-e55-amg/2630538-best-upholstery-shop-torn-e55-seats.html

Pre made Upholstery for slc - I live in New Zealand and I was wondering if anyone knows the best place to buy the pre made upholstery for my car please? http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r-c107-sl-slc-class/2670410-pre-made-upholstery-slc.html

M-B Tex and Cloth Seat Upholstery for Euro SL's - I thought I would start a new thread about the pleated cloth and M-B Tex seat upholstery that is found in some of the ROTW SL's. Not commonly ... http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r-c107-sl-slc-class/1858522-m-b-tex-cloth-seat-upholstery.html

slk230 seat upholstery - Bought new upholstery for my wife's 2000 slk230. Supposed to be exactly the same as factory. Anyone have any experience installing them ... http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r170-slk-class/2326233-slk230-seat-upholstery.html

230TE Upholstery. - But try the usual upholstery specialists : Worldupholstery, Polstermanufactur, Autosattlerei-Artur, etc. Here's the one from my 230TE (yes, I also ... http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w123-e-ce-d-cd-td/2599634-230te-upholstery.html

 

Really good info here

 

This really is first class work and information.
My seat bases are a tad tired, is there a supplier of the pad bases?
For the time being I'll clean and replace the MB Tex, it's in remarkable shape.
Apologies if asked previously.

 

My seat bases are a tad tired, is there a supplier of the pad bases? For the time being I'll clean and replace the MB Tex, it's in remarkable shape. Apologies if asked previously.

Believe it or note the pad bases are still available from MB but as expected a bit pricey:
https://www.oediscountparts.com/par...fm?searchText=1079100250++&make=Mercedes-Benz&action=oePartSearch&siteid=215242
Quick Order
Part Number 1079100250
Part Name PAD,FRONT SE
MSRP $220.00
Core $0.00
Online Price $165.00
If it were me I would just cut foam our upholstery material to the desired shape. Good luck.