TJ upholstry repair (burn with cig cherry [I think])

They do make those patch kits. PepBoys etc sells them but I've never tried one. If it was vinal I'd say shoe-goo, that stuff can fix just about anything.

Doug, I have some vinyl splits on my JGC armrest. How does shoo-goo fix them? Don't I need another piece of the same colored vinyl?

He said it will fix it, not make it pretty .

Seriously, you can get vinyl patch kits that will do a decent job. Most come as a paste that you have to heat with an iron or something similar. Some have a pebble grain piece you can the use to form an approximation of the original texture on the surface. The ones I've used match black, white and, to some extent, cream colors but anything else is a crap shoot - Shoe-Goo might be a better (and cheaper) choice. In any event, if you have vinyl over that foam crap, fill the hole with Shoe-Goo then use the patch stuff just for a new surface.

My experience is that the patch tends to re-open after a year or two so I prefer Shoe-Goo on the dash of my Jeep. For the arm rests, I haunt a couple of local junk yard until something close shows up, then take both sides.

Yep. :) Shoe-goo and touchup paint is what kept my old Chevy dash together. It's good for fixing sneakers also.

I need to fix the arm rest on my ZJ. Thing is it's more or less welded plastic and not seperate pieces. I'm waiting to find a burnout or heavy wreck where the door is mostly intact.

I don't know how they manage it, but every time one cracks on me it seems to do so at just the perfect place where the crack will pinch you every time you try and rest your arm on the door.

Tip: if you repair those vinyl cracks, use a sharp knife or razor blade (remember those?) to bevel the edges. They seem to want to curl up most of the time so the repair is never smooth unless you trim the edges of the crack.

You should be able to pull the seat cover off and have your bride sew - with a TIGHT zigzag called a "Satin stitch" around the hole to keep it from tearing. It being burned, the nylon edges are relatively sealed from fraying already.

The thing I might recommend would be to put the patch on the TOP of the repair, this would keep it from being abraded while you're getting in and out of the vehicle.

OR

You could just do what I would do, buy a new cover from the dealership and replace it. We bought a replacement cover for OBM's truck, it was only $65 - and it's a whole lot bigger than one for a Jeep.

K.

Thanks much and take care,

Thanks Will.