Installation of leather on soft top lid

[johnk]

Anyone here have installed the leather on the soft top lid? I assumed the leather would be cut the same shape as the soft top, glued on the back and would only be stretched down the front side like the MB text was. 

Attached is how Heritage cut the leather for mine. Seems they think it should be stretched around the back side of the curves which seems to me to be too much stretching. I have no confidence in their  work at this time from how bad my seats were.

Any past experience with the leather here is greatly appreciated.

John k

[Duncan200]

Hi John,

I too purchased the leather for the soft top compartment from Heritage and I attempted to do it myself and gave up.

I gave it to a trimmer to do and yes it does need to be stretched in both directions.

The trimmer showed me how he uses soap flakes in water to soften the leather and stretch it in both directions. He said it is one of the hardest things to trim and  get right.

On the 107’s it’s cut in to 3 pieces to fit better.

I’ll take some pics of mine later today and show you that it still has some minor wrinkles on the inner curves which my trimmer said will soften over time.

I too thought the way Heritage had cut it was wrong but the trimmer got it to work with tiny relief cuts on both the back and front corners.

Doug

[Duncan200]

As promised, here are the pics of my soft top compartment lid.

Doug

[johnk]

Thanks Duncan. Looks like I am coming to pagodafest without all the leather installed.

[kampala]

John,

I installed the leather like this: 

Glued to back frame first, fitted the frame with leather onto lid, stretched towards front and glued underneath the lid. 

I did not want the overstuffed look so used a very thin underlayment, after completing, I should have probably used something 1-2mm thicker.

[kampala]

Also, make sure are not mixing leather parts - there is also a horseshoe shaped leather for the hardtop - at the back window of the hard top. —  the leather you show looks odd shaped for the soft top.

[johnk]

No that’s the soft top leather. I already did the hard top with no problems because they cut it the right way. I really really regret going to Heritage.

Thanks for the help though.
John

[lreppond]

I’m a real klutz and wouldn’t even try doing this.  My hat is off to you. 

I watched and assisted my upholstery guy when doing this job.  He started at one end on the inside edge and worked around.  Before doing the inside corners, he used a heat gun to soften the leather and make it easier to stretch.  He had a spray glue gun that he used to apply glue to the leather as worked toward to opposite side.  Once finished with the inside edge, he repeated the process on the outer edge.  He used the heat gun again on the curved area and went over the leather with his hands repeatedly to smooth it out and keep it taut. As the leather cooled it seemed to mold in place right before my eyes. 

Don’t know if this will help you or not.  I’d certainly advise you to practice on scraps to learn how much heat to apply.