I bought a 2000 Honda Accord. It’s in great condition, and the interior is almost mint, except for a big hole in the driver seat bolster. Not a tear, the material is actually gone. The guy I bought it from crudely stuck a patch over it as a stopgap measure. What’s it going to take to get it fixed right? Anybody have this procedure done?
TIA!
Seach local junkyards for a replacement seat would be the easiest thing to do. BTW, which part of the seat is the bolster? A side cushion? Lumbar support?
It’s the side piece that gets assrubbed every entrance and exit.
Hunt down some auto upholstery shops in the area and describe the problem. It probably won’t be cheap, but they can take the leather “skin” off the seat, replace the torn panel and re-install it on the seat.
Or, you could go from junkyard to junkyard, looking for a 2000 Accord with leather seats in the right color and good enough condition to be worth buying. Not to mention figuring out how they’re attached to the car, all the wiring, and most importantly, how to safely manage if the seat has side airbags. Make a mistake here, and at the very least, you’ll destroy the seat, and possibly get injured in the process.
Seats are fairly easy to remove and generally only have a single connectiin to the harness. If it has an airbag it would have two connectors, one on a yellow saftey systems harness. A 2000 Honda seat shouldn’t be too hard to find.
Not only that, but junkyards these days are networked, so your local junkyard can find you the correct seat in Fontana or some other god-forsaken place, and have it shipped in for you.
Seats from the wreckers are worn out too. Or anyway they cost a fortune, the good ones get used in other vehicles… restorations and customs.
… Haven’t you seen bus or train seats with the patch sewn in ? To avoid it looking too ugly, find similar leather at the wreckers and make it a large patch.
This is sometimes true - certainly not always.
There are a lot more low mileage vehicles being wrecked than there are older vehicles being restored, it seems. I got a set of clean leather Infinity seats very cheaply. How many people are restoring Honda Accords, anyway?
The seats for a 2000 Honda can easily be had for about a $100 and it’s doubtful that anyone is going to list one (and actually sell it) that has gaping holes in it like the one the OP described for that much. Takes about 30 minutes to take a seat out and install another one, it’s not a big deal. In fact it’s actually something you could do yourself at the junkyard with the proper socket. Hell the boys might even install it for you for free if you are cute enough and where shorts. 