I'm currently trying to fit an Exmoor trim re-trim kit to a pair of Defender seats. The seats are standard Defender items, but the earlier "hard-back" version. The retrim kit is the full kit in black leather, including new foams. I've got the cushions covered OK, however I am really struggling with the back rest.

Probably worth mentioning at this point that the frames I am trying to recover are not the ones out of my vehicle (it's an ex RAF 110 SW so it actually has Series 3 seats, quite common on early MOD 110s). I have trimmed the foams down to fit the early 110 seat frame bolster metalwork (quite annoying that I only found out from Exmoor that if you have early frames you need to trim the foam, otherwise I would have bought later seat frames). They now fit flush, but I simply cannot get the bottom plastic clip/trunking to clip together.

I've been following the instructions and videos to the letter, however there is a 1" gap between the two and I simply cannot get the two to meet or clip together. I am sure that the cover is pulled down far enough, I just think it's different at the bottom. Certainly the old seats cover relied on a metal bar to get the tension (a bit like the cushion) but there's nowhere to fit this on the new covers.

Any experiences or tips gratefully received...particularly if someone has experience of fitting specifically leather covers to the older style seat frames.

Hello,
I have recently re-trimmed my seats with an exmoor kit. my seats were bog standard, like you I really struggled with the back rest. Eventually I did it by just pulling and pulling till I got it stretched enough to clip a little bit on then did the rest. I thought they were never going to join together and stay that way with the strain on the fabric as the gap seemed far too big to get the ends to join but it did. In hindsight I think a helper would have made life easier.
Good luck

same here - lots of pulling it down and squashing the foam flat as i also pulled it down.

i had solid back seat frames, didn't cut the foam, and managed to make it fit. stay with it!

Very very normal. It's supposed to be like that. When you're done you're going to vow never to do it again. My fingers hurt for 3 days when I re-trimmed my seats. That was almost 7 years ago and I still wince at the thought.

Cheers for the input people. I had another go tonight, and it was done in 5 minutes flat.

Basically, I think with a couple of nights with the leather stretching over the foam, and the foam compressing under the leather, it was suddenly one hell of a lot easier. So for the second seat, I've just pulled the cover over the frame, and I'll come back to it in a few days and avoid a load of ball/finger ache.

Seats are looking good now...nearly there!

Probably easier when it's warm as the material will be softer and slightly stretchier?? Just an idea.

NinkyNonk said:

Probably easier when it's warm as the material will be softer and slightly stretchier?? Just an idea.

Click to expand...

Too late for the OP now, but yes, it's easier if you warm things first - easier done with warm hands too.

TBH guys I don't think the temperature is as critical when you are dealing with leather...although I could see that it would make a big difference on vinyl. Anyway, as I said 24hrs in place seems to help no end, so I'll have a go tonight at doing the fastening strip on the cover I fitted last night. Fingers crossed!