Recently my wife jumped into the passenger seat of my 60 plate Octavia VRS and ripped the base of the leather seat.

After a failed repair I decided to put the car into my local Skoda dealer and ordered a new leather cover which wasn't cheap! The item was out of stock and took months to come in.

I got the car back this afternoon with new cover fitted and on close inspection the new cover is a different shade of black to the rest of the leather and also the side bolsters, not the dimpled bit is textured where as the drivers seat is smooth.

I am at my wits end now. Any advice on what I should do would be greatly appreciated.

Paul

who ordered / fitted the cover?

 

if the dealer did, go back and complain

My local Skoda dealer ordered and fitted the cover. I wasn't sure if newer than 2010 models were updated and that's all they could order?

Sounds like the dealer ordered the incorrect leather to me...

How bad was the rip ? - what did they charge you for new cover ?

There were 2 rips. 1 about 2cm the other about 6cm in a 'v' shape. The seat was attacked by a zip on my wife's jeans!

 

I tried to get it repaired but it was no good. I also thought that they had ordered the wrong leather but surely theres only one kind of black leather for the VRS?

Go to a local trimmer? They'd charge £100 max for a good job and leather that matches

I've got the part number on the receipt. Does anyone know how I can check it online???

try ringing your local TPS and ask them how much the cover would be and the part number, my local branch are pretty helpful.

Checked the part number with Bickerton Skoda online and it is the correct part. Looks like I may be back to the drawing board :(

Not being funny but your drivers seat on a nearly 3 year old car is likely to be quite worn by comparison to the new cover. I have a Jan 13 car with vRS leather uphostery with only 6k on the clock and already the drivers seat base is quite shiny compared to the passenger seat which doesnt get used half as often.

Ive put some decent leather restorer on the seat when quite new and it brought back the matte finish it had originally but it lasted days.

Leather is a funny thing anyway, its likely the seat covers for your car and mine and everyones were produced as a set so the leather matches quite well; if you replace one part theres never any guarantee it will be a perfect match to the original set anyway.

Personally its got to be better than a tear like it was before i'd not stress over it too much once its been sat on a bit bet youll hardly tell the difference.

Not being funny but your drivers seat on a nearly 3 year old car is likely to be quite worn by comparison to the new cover. I have a Jan 13 car with vRS leather uphostery with only 6k on the clock and already the drivers seat base is quite shiny compared to the passenger seat which doesnt get used half as often.

Ive put some decent leather restorer on the seat when quite new and it brought back the matte finish it had originally but it lasted days.

Leather is a funny thing anyway, its likely the seat covers for your car and mine and everyones were produced as a set so the leather matches quite well; if you replace one part theres never any guarantee it will be a perfect match to the original set anyway.

Personally its got to be better than a tear like it was before i'd not stress over it too much once its been sat on a bit bet youll hardly tell the difference.

Thanks Pipsyp. After confirming that I had the right part I think I was just looking for some reassurance that you have now gave. As you say, given time it will become shiney and no one will no the difference.

 

The rips were driving me crazy. As soon as I got in the car my attention was always drawn straight to them so this is definitely better. I think I was hoping that it would be an exact match, but it's like carpets, wallpaper etc. It's just not gonna happen.

Could a local trimmer not dye the leathers to the same shade?

Go to a local trimmer? They'd charge £100 max for a good job and leather that matches

This is something people forget. Leather is a natural product and potentially you can have two very different looking colours because the hide is slightly different when coming from different batches. It's sometimes pot luck to get an exact match without comparing first. The dye might or might not be the same, but what's underneath definately will not be identical. There's a reason Rolls Royce make such a hoo-haa about their interiors coming from a single cow for a single car.

 

Also, as said, the daily wear will alter the colour of the driver's side.

Edited 26 July, 201312 yr by blackspaven

This is something people forget. Leather is a natural product and potentially you can have two very different looking colours because the hide is slightly different when coming from different batches. It's sometimes pot luck to get an exact match without comparing first. The dye might or might not be the same, but what's underneath definately will not be identical. There's a reason Rolls Royce make such a hoo-haa about their interiors coming from a single cow for a single car.

 

Also, as said, the daily wear will alter the colour of the driver's side.

I started my working life in the leather industry including doing laboratory work for Connolly's who supplied leather to Rolls Royce.  There isn't enough leather in a single cow to upholster a RR!  Moreover the leather on the flanks, belly and back are all different.  It took around 30 very carefully selected hides for a single RR so they could take the best parts of each.

 

The lower end leather interiors are sprayed with a polyurethane coat (BTW I am talking 40yrs ago - things will have moved on but similar principle.  This gives a more uniform finish and to even out the shade, cover up scars, insect bites etc.  Batch to bach variation is very marked and when you add 3yrs of wear, tear and sunlight then getting an absolute match is difficult to say the least.

 

Leather is a natural product - variation is a feature not a fault.

I started my working life in the leather industry including doing laboratory work for Connolly's who supplied leather to Rolls Royce.  There isn't enough leather in a single cow to upholster a RR!  Moreover the leather on the flanks, belly and back are all different.  It took around 30 very carefully selected hides for a single RR so they could take the best parts of each.

 

The lower end leather interiors are sprayed with a polyurethane coat (BTW I am talking 40yrs ago - things will have moved on but similar principle.  This gives a more uniform finish and to even out the shade, cover up scars, insect bites etc.  Batch to bach variation is very marked and when you add 3yrs of wear, tear and sunlight then getting an absolute match is difficult to say the least.

 

Leather is a natural product - variation is a feature not a fault.

Sorry, yeah, knew it was something like that with RR.

 

The variation is the joy of leather.

Could a local trimmer not dye the leathers to the same shade?

Thanks for all the advice. I'll leave it probably to next year and see how it goes. More as likely no one will notice but I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my car. It may be that I need to dye both front seats. I can't see that being a major drama?! Thanks again.

I started my working life in the leather industry including doing laboratory work for Connolly's who supplied leather to Rolls Royce.  There isn't enough leather in a single cow to upholster a RR!  Moreover the leather on the flanks, belly and back are all different.  It took around 30 very carefully selected hides for a single RR so they could take the best parts of each.

 

The lower end leather interiors are sprayed with a polyurethane coat (BTW I am talking 40yrs ago - things will have moved on but similar principle.  This gives a more uniform finish and to even out the shade, cover up scars, insect bites etc.  Batch to bach variation is very marked and when you add 3yrs of wear, tear and sunlight then getting an absolute match is difficult to say the least.

 

Leather is a natural product - variation is a feature not a fault.

 

Just seen on Top Gear that the Rolls Royce plant uses leather from bulls cos they recognise that cow hides get stretch marks from pregnancy and therefore it's not good enough quality, and they had a HUGE bull hide on the floor which looks very much like it had ALL the parts needed, laser drawn onto it!

 

Perhaps it is one hide after all.

Just seen on Top Gear that the Rolls Royce plant uses leather from bulls cos they recognise that cow hides get stretch marks from pregnancy and therefore it's not good enough quality, and they had a HUGE bull hide on the floor which looks very much like it had ALL the parts needed, laser drawn onto it!

 

Perhaps it is one hide after all.

Ah yes!  That great factual program...

 

I saw it too - lots of pieces laid out but ALL the pieces?  That is one huge load of bull !!!  :think:

Pictures paint a thousand words, no need to get a bit touchy just cos you can see it in front of your eyes. You may have overlooked the word 'PERHAPS' in my comment.

 

ffs.

Pictures paint a thousand words, no need to get a bit touchy just cos you can see it in front of your eyes. You may have overlooked the word 'PERHAPS' in my comment.

 

ffs.

Not being touchy - that was me trying to be funny.  Looks like I failed - sorry! 

Not being touchy - that was me trying to be funny.  Looks like I failed - sorry! 

Aaah, the joy of the faceless internet.

 

Years ago I heard someone suggest specific emoticons be designed to represent sarcasm, amongst other things which are frequently lost in translation due to it being a blank media. Never took off, but they would have stopped about a billion text arguments around the world. :giggle: