DIY leather seat repair

[landarcht]

Does anyone know if there's a DIY leather repair kit that can fix an 1" tear that developed along the seam of my front passenger seat?

 

[nukegoat]

No

 

[97 AZ LC]

Gabby has forgotten about duct tape, or maybe he's just too good for duct tape. You're not going to get much of a repair there without taking the cover off and fixing it from behind, and you could get more tears when you take it off.

 

[nissanh]

Do this: I used a cotton thread and a curved needle. You'll need a plier to insert and pull the needle through th leather. I picked the wrong color, so found gray colored fabric paint at Joann. The angle I stiched is about 45 degrees to the seam/rip. Hard to go 90 degrees across the rip without removing the cover from the seat.

 

[Tres Toys]

If you can hand stitch and don't mind the raised seam, what Nissanh suggests above is a pretty good way to repair it. I have also had some success with a urethane adhesive called AquaSeal. It is typically used to repair things like wetsuits and waders. It dries to an be semi-translucent, adheres very well to most surfaces and has good flexibility when cured. If you can get some of the AquaSeal in the gap and then either use tape or other methods to close the gap and allow the adhesive to dry for a good 8 hours, that may provide a decent temporary fix. If you can get a piece of heavy cloth as a backing across the split and adhere it to both sides, it will last even longer. Just make sure the AquaSeal is like you want it when its fluid, as once it is cured it's tough stuff.
Best of luck