1997 I've just bought, Has a 6 inch repair/rip in the passager seat.

Took it to a repair shop and he referred me to a guy who re-does interiors. Just for chuckles I searched salvage yards in the area for a replacement bucket seat...found one for $50. I'm thinking (scary) be more cost effective to just replace the whole thing with one from a yard rather then have this guy pull the old one and repair it.

I have seen front seats removed and replaced in a wagon I had, just a few screws and attach the power. Any one have a better take on this or am I on the right track...my seat is toast anyway and she smoked massively!

It shouldn't be all that complicated to swap the seats, and probably a whole lot cheaper than a re-cover job. I don't know that you can even "repair" a long rip in a leather seat.

Long story short... an old motorcycle battery ended up on my backseat... I DIDN"T PUT IT THERE. I SWEAR. i had it on the floor until i took it to the recycling center. and by some crazy circumstances (beer drinking conversation story) it ended up on my seat.

Anyways.. i got off work, got in my car and immediately smelled something fishy. literally, fishy. I knew what it was right away. After I cursed up a storm and slapped myself for being an idiot, i took the cardboard box that was soggy wet from the leaky battery off the seat. the acid melted a half dollar sized circle through the leather and little spots where it splashed and sizzled made divots around the epicenter.

Dad referred me to an interior /upholstery company around town i've yet to meet with, but he claims they can make repairs for these kinds of things that the naked eye won't be able to detect. I can't believe it, but I will look into later when I have the funding. Dad reported that a fix like mine (half dollar sized hole in the leather) would be about $50-$100.

Lisa P I believe you're on the right track, if the yard seat is good. I needed a similar job done and the upholstery guy said he'd have to take out the damaged piece of leather and replace with new. It would be a close, but not perfect, match. IIRC it was going to cost a couple hundred bucks. If I could find a replacement rear seat for $50 I would definitely go that way!