My '98 NAS Discovery 1's leather seats are in need of replacement. The foam is still 100%, so I had them recovered by an upholstery shop a couple years ago. Unfortunately, the work didn't last and they're ripped and cracked. My rover is totally sorted and it would be well worth it for me to spend $1000 on new seats if they're that awesome. But what's available?

I'd consider reupholstering the original seats again if I could get a better result, but local shops are limited in my mostly rural area. I looked online and found lseats.com has leather rover seat covers for $395/pair. I could install those myself, but I wonder if they're any good or just more junk for flippers. I know that true custom crafted leather is out of my budget.

Before I spent many thousands on a craftsman's labor, I would consider aftermarket seats. Mid-range (fiberglass) Sparcos are about $1K per seat, and then I'd have to have brackets fabricated, etc.

What can you tell me about D1/RRC-specific solutions, or aftermarket retro-fits?

 

Try Will Tillery (roverguy.com) for good used seats.

 

I am satisfied with my Lseat covers. I got the perforated panels option, so a bit more $. The fit is good but not like factory on my damaged foam. I used small zip ties to assemble rather than metal hog rings.

 

Corbeau will sell you a bracket that adapts their seats to the disco 1, I had to do a little bit back and forth with them to have them make me one for a D1 not a D2 so maybe reach out before you order and ensure its a discovery 1. They did me right in the end but it was a bit of back and forth.

If you reach out to will tillery he will sell you manual sliders as well
Corbeau seat + cordbeau bracket + will tillery manual sliders == Discovery 1 manual seats conversion
Carharrt universal bucket seat covers fit the corbeau sport seats flawlessly as well.

After I did all that I stole the corbeaus for a different build though lol

 

I just did a full set of all leather lseat. The fit isn't perfect and with the older Discos they dont' have the right clip for the rear seat leather and the shoulders of the seats are a bit loose. I did the full leather option and I think it was 1000 for all the seats.

I wouldn't buy from them again and probably would spend the extra 2 grand and have a real upholstery shop do it.

 

Thanks for the feedback

Are your D1 seats with the integrated headrests or with separate headrests?

Where did you select the option for full leather?

 

technically they are integrated. I put up a picture on my previous post of a completed seat without the headrest as I hadn't painted it yet.

let me know if you have any other questions

 

Thanks. I saw the picture and thought I had missed it previously. Yours are the style seat more popular for older Discoveries and outside the US. I looked at Melville & Moon and they make covers for those seats but not for the ones I have that have separate headrests. Your seats look good, but maybe I can see some of the loose shoulders you described.

 

I've been tossing around the idea of upgrading my seats as well. If you want the best, you'll want to look at Scheel-mann. This is what the Land Cruiser crowd is spending crazy money on. Probably way outside of budget (it def is for me), but if your truck is pristine and you want only the best, this is the way to go.

https://scheel-mann.com/

 

I hadn't heard of that brand before, but they don't look more expensive than some choices from Recaro, Sparco, or Corbeau. I figure the stock seats are probably comparable to aftermarket seats costing over $1000/seat. Premium brands like Scheel-Mann or Recaro (which I mention because they were the choice for the Grenadier) are more costly but they're also better. If my stock seats were destroyed, it would be sensible to consider replacements that were ~$1K, and chief among them would be stock seats salvaged from another Land Rover, plus new covers. The Exmoor seats are also in this range. Stepping up pretty much puts me in the $2K/seat range. The outrageous options are $3K and up -- especially the $8K carbon-fiber tubs. So while I don't consider a $2K seat outrageous, it's probably more sensible to see what can be done with the stock seats -- hence my interest in Lseat. I struck out with the local upholstery shop -- they were cheap, but the work they did was lousy. They're not oriented toward custom work, but cheap quick fixes. I don't believe they have the skill to even match Lseat. I just don't live in an area where high-end leather upholstery work is in demand.

The one thing that would motivate me to spend an extra couple thousand bucks on better seats would be if I were convinced they would be safer. I mentioned in the D90 modifications thread that I used to believe a cage and harnesses would improve the safety of my old Discovery, but I've reconsidered that because harnesses and the seats designed to work with them are intended to be used with helmets and neck restraints. Pinning the driver to the seatback results in additional demands to protect the head and neck and also prevent submarining. When the driver is allowed to fold over into the airbag, those demands are alleviated. The factory seating and restraint systems weren't great by today's standards, but they did function by 1990's standards. I'm reluctant to muck them up if I can't be sure that I'm not making things even worse.