I am by no means an upholstery expert, but as an amateur I have discovered a few things while redoing the upholstery in my 240 wagon in black vinyl and in my BMW E30 in leather. Having worked with both my third go around in my new to me 1991 240 will be in leather. The vinyl kit for the wagon was purchased off EBay for $109.00 plus shipping per seat, so pretty inexpensive.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/380851326687?rmvSB=true

The leather company I used for my BMW seat covers was Lseat.com and I was very happy with their product, especially at their price point. The standard kit for a pair of front seat covers in a Tan leather is $299.00 plus shipping and a bit extra if you add piping, which I did.

https://www.lseat.com/products/1986-...ers-front.html

My observations... Though the vinyl is less expensive than the leather kit there is a reason for it. I found that I had to be especially careful with the vinyl kit with how much I stretched the covers and how much stress I put on the sewn seams. I started tearing one out, thankfully in a hidden location, because I was stretching it too hard. Probably my fault for pulling too hard. Also, the aftermarket vinyl kit wasn't as thick as the original vinyl covers. With the leather the material is much thicker and the thread used in the sewing of the seams appears to be of a much higher quality. I am replacing my front cloth seat covers because they are pretty worn and decided that going with leather would give me better durability that the aftermarket vinyl. The vinyl seems like it would be easily punctured compared to the leather. Currently, Lseat.com does not sell a rear upholstery kit, but that is about to change. I contacted them and am sending them my rear covers to be used as a pattern for future leather kits. You will have to cut your own holes for the headrests and side adjusters, but I had to in the vinyl as well. And I advise using proper hog rings for installation vs zip ties that I have seen others use.

My biggest advice with the leather kits from Lseat.com is to order their sample swatch card before placing your order. The leather samples in person do not look ANYTHING like the pictures depicted on their website, especially the browns. The S0013 Beige is a perfect match for the tan interior in my dark blue 240, but you would never think so by looking at that color on the website as it looks more grey. The S0024 Sapphire looks like it would be a good match to the blue cloth in my other Atlantic Blue 240.

You can order matching leather by the square foot from them as well and I ordered enough to recover my rear parcel shelf in matching leather.

Hope this helps...

 

Lseat.com now has my rear seat covers to use as a pattern, so anyone looking to recover their back seats they should have them available in the near future. Their main focus is leather, but I do see on their site that they offer vinyl as well if one wanted to match vinyl front seats.

I will post pictures once I get everything back together.

 

I found some leather front seat for my 240 that are nice. So, I went to local upholstery shop and wanted back seat redone with leather to match the front. Well they talked me into vinyl. Im not happy with it my front seat are shiny and back seat are flat. Is there a way to shine the vinyl? Ive tried armour all, and other stuff. No luck. Wish I went down the road and had recovered somewhere else.

 

I would think that two different materials, leather vs Vinyl, will always look different and take "products" differently. Just for reference, a full leather set, front and rear, with the piping option from Lseat.com would run you around $650.00. I was fortunate as I got the rear covers for 50% off because they sacrificed my covers for their first patter for the 240.

 

I would of paid that and still might. I have 450 in this deal. Ill check out the leather. Thanks

 

A lot of people, myself included, like the cloth seats in the 240's, especially if heated, but these are not easily replaced when they wear out. When they do wear out you are pretty much left with like colored vinyl covers, custom made by a local shop, or now leather covers being sold by Lseat.com. I went the vinyl route in the front on my wagon because my back vinyl seat covers were still in good condition and I wanted everything to match and while they turned out OK in the end, the vinyl just wasn't/isn't as robust as the leather. I am not saying that leather covers can't be bought from other vendors, but at around $300 per set front and rear the price of the Lseat.com covers is pretty hard to beat. I was very happy with their product when I used it to restore my BMW E30 sport seats. And they have 8 separate pieces vs Volvo's 2.

I have blue cloth interior in another 240 that is in perfect shape that it kills me to have to cover up with seat covers just to try and preserve the covers from wear.

 

This is the "kit" that I used to recover my BMW sport seats. And this was my first time doing upholstery work.

 

This is how the front seats came out using the kit from Lseat.com. I am very happy with them. The wrinkles are not as bad now that the seats have been sitting in the hot sun for a week or so and have been sat in.

The rear covers are finally done and on their way. More pictures to follow once I get them installed.

While cleaning out some "stuff" in my garage I came across the old vinyl covers from my wagon that I replaced with the eBay vinyl kit and I have to say, the OEM vinyl is some pretty thick stuff. As is the vinyl used by BMW. It seems the aftermarket vinyl just can't compete with the OEM European stuff.