OK in the first part of this guide we're going to turn this faded, ripped rear bench backrest:

Into this nice black, unripped one!

First of all to repair the rips we need to take the cover off. This is done by just pulling the fabric away from the metal around the edges:

Do this all the way round until you can peel it back to reveal the yellow foam inside. There are clips placed around the edge which hold it on but these also just pull off, requiring a bit more effort. It can be a bit hard to get the first part off but once you have it's alot easier to remove the rest.

Once you have removed the fabric from all the way round, the metal back of the seat will come away, and you can peel the fabric back so far. It's held to the foam with stiff, strong metal wires which follow the seams on the inside.

Undo all of these and you will be able to remove the seat cover completely:

From here it's just a case of sewing up the seams on the inside with strong thread, you can just follow the original holes!

Once sewn up you will have something like this:

Now onto the dying! I used VHT Black Satin Penetrating Colour Dye for vinyl and short nap carpets, bought from USAutomotive.com here. Obviously you may wish to use a different colour to match your seats/interior. To give you an idea of how much you might need, with one can I managed the following: The rear bench backrest, two mk3 coupe rear door cards and one front door card.

Mask off the patterned bits (if you want to, you could dye these black too although I'm not sure of the results) and spray! DO use long, even strokes and DO use in a very well ventilated area! Try to avoid a windy outdoor location like I had though, half of my spray probably went all over me! From my experience I wouldn't bother with their recommended 10-12 inches spraying distance, half that was what I did, but then I am useless with a spray can and it was windy.

Now it's a case of leaving it to dry for a day and putting the cover back on. Refitting is a reversal of removal, make sure you get all the metal wires in first, then begin to reattach the edges, remembering to refit any of the metal clips that may have come off when you were removing it.

I'm not going to go through the door cards as they are simply just a case of removing, masking the bottom tray etc., spraying and refitting!

Here's a quick before and after on the front though:

Before:

After:

OK so I've got it dirty already but a definite improvement I think.

And finally a shot of the new rear bench in the car, also showing the dyed rear door card.

Hopefully this will help or at least interest someone!

Ray

Very interesing, but too much like hard work for me. You should provide a service...for a fee!

ray your a star *high 5*

went looking for black dye yest and I could only find he washing machine stuff

just ordered 2 cans

Is it pretty colour fast, or have you noticed any rubbing off on clothes, hands, etc???

How do you refit the cover to the seat once its finished? Is it glued back onto the metal back? What about the front seats? did you remove the covers from them too, or just mask off and spray?

Is it pretty colour fast, or have you noticed any rubbing off on clothes, hands, etc???

So far so good on this. I rubbed a wet cloth on the door cards about an hour after spraying and nothing came off, so I'm quite confident about this. Admittedly I haven't had anyone in the back since doing it but again from rubbing it nothing has come off on my hands or clothes.

How do you refit the cover to the seat once its finished? Is it glued back onto the metal back? What about the front seats? did you remove the covers from them too, or just mask off and spray?

If you're just dying it then there's no need to remove the seat cover, I only did because of all the rips in the seams.

But no there's no glue at all, it's mainly the tension in the fabric that keeps it on once you've got it on all the way round, and there's some small black clips spaced around the edge with a spike on them that holds it in too.

I didn't do the front seats (might do in future) but if I do I'll just mask and spray, no need to take the covers off, although it's not hard and again no glue or anything.

Just to mention I only did the backrest of the rear seats, I haven't had the actual bottom seat cover off so I don't know how it's fitted, but from looking at it I imagine it's fitted in a similar manner.

Ray

just ordered 2 cans

shit the bed.

they arrived today. thats 48 hours :-D :-D :-D

Yeah I was well impressed with how quick their delivery was too!

Let us know how it goes!

is removing the front seat covers of a polo 6n easy or not?

Yeah I was well impressed with how quick their delivery was too!

Let us know how it goes!

got a driving lesson at 3 so I'm prob goign to leave it till after work tomorrow

Is it possible to remove the front seat cover on a G40 seat? mines split

I'm gona have a go at what you have done to the rear bench tho! mines split both sides and faded bad.

EDIT: Just noticed you have the same ice scraper as me

Edited 17 July, 200620 yr by Nick101

its been 36 hours and its still not dry.

it does need the full 72 hours to dry

Is it possible to remove the front seat cover on a G40 seat? mines split

I'm gona have a go at what you have done to the rear bench tho! mines split both sides and faded bad.

EDIT: Just noticed you have the same ice scraper as me

Yeah it's not too hard to remove the cover of the front seat, I had to half remove it to replace the back release cables that were split. Basically take the seat out of the car, remove the plastic trim around the hinge and remove the backrest from the base (easy to do when you see it). Then there's four or so spikes that are folded into the fabric, bend these back with a small screwdriver or pliers or something and then you can unpeel the fabric etc. inside. I only took them back as far as the catch so I'm not sure how to completely remove them, but obvsiously you'll need to remove the headrest then it probably comes off easy enough.

Don't know why I've got that scraper in there in this weather!

its been 36 hours and its still not dry.

it does need the full 72 hours to dry

Really? I left my door cards outside on a warm windy day and they were dry to touch in about 10 minutes!

Really? I left my door cards outside on a warm windy day and they were dry to touch in about 10 minutes!

rub them and it comes off.

check now (a few days) and its fine

Hey man, nice one on putting this post up!

Just bought 2 cans of the black spray dye so i can do the head lining of my motor. Top stuff!

Just a shame they don't do a bright red so i can do my door cards!

you could also use this to do your carpets I'm thinking, mine are grey and i might give it a go doing them black.

I'm also interested in dying the carpets black if its possible - which dye would you use?

Thanks

is removing the front seat covers of a polo 6n easy or not?

Anyone tried dying the patterned areas? If so, got any pics of the outcome?

were do you get this stuff from because i' think i might do my carpets and headlining on my 6n in black??

Try here. Can't remember if that's the exact stuff but it almost certainly is. From what I remember, I only needed one can to do everything in this post.

cheers

Tempted to do my whole interior with this over the easter break...however it is grey at the moment but it says on their website that you can change the colour with it, and can be used on tanned leather or vinyl, guys think its a good idea or forget it ??

anybody done patterned areas .. hows it look ?

just brought myself a can