1998-02 Continental Leather Seats

[BadinBlack]

I just bought an 01 Continental and would like to know what other owners of 98-02 Continentals think of the driver & passenger seats in these cars. Mine has the buckets, I will start out by saying that they are incredibly comfortable seats especially on long road trips. However I'm Extremely Unimpressed with the durability & overall quality of the leather that Ford/Lincoln chose for these cars. My drivers seat has several large wrinkles/creases that I cannot get out which look worse every day and between the creases are tons of small cracks. Passenger seat is better but will look like drivers seat soon if I carry any passengers. I notice that while some 98-02 Lincoln Continentals have front leather seats in pristine condition many of them have leather that look like Sh**t (cracked, wrinkled, torn, etc). There seems to be no correlation between mileage and seat condition. I have seen Continentals with 50k miles that have very used looking leather and Continentals with 100k or more miles with very new looking leather (my 01 has 80k miles). I think that Ford went with a lower grade of leather on the 98-02 Continentals because I've seen tons of Honda Accords, Toyota Camry's, Lexus, Infiniti and Acura's with way more than 100k miles that have Perfect looking leather seats. These cars have leather that springs back into its original shape after you exit (the way many leather couches do). That's not the case with the front leather seats on 98-02 Continentals.

 

[MooJohn]

While my leather looks great, it's old enough that it has split on the driver's seat right along one of the sewn seams in the backrest. My 300 lbs certainly didn't do it any favors I'm sure. There are some discolored areas where someone tried to clean the leather and ended up ruining the dye instead.

The real PITA is that the leather companies like Katzkin don't make anything for the Continental. I'd gladly drop couple hundred dollars on new leather for the front. I'd install aftermarket seat heaters at the same time.

 

[MarkVIIIS]

I think it has to do with how well the car was taken care of. I've had two contis and the leather always looked great in both the one I have now has 92 k and my old one had 100k when I got it and they looked mint at 126k when I got rid of it

 

[dfoy50]

Hi all , im wondering if anyone know's of anyone has found a place or web site that sells replacement leather seat covers? or would it be best to look for seats at the "junk yard "?

 

[Svets96]

Hi all , im wondering if anyone know's of anyone has found a place or web site that sells replacement leather seat covers? or would it be best to look for seats at the "junk yard "?

Hey, mine are like what the others have described. Cracks and creases. What I was going to do with mine, get the front seats re-padded and re-skinned. This would be down the road, as of know I am slowly trying to get some quotes from a local company. I would start out by getting some bids from local companies in your area to re-do the leather. You can take the seats out of the car and bring them to the shop if that would be an option for your situation. Unfortunately that is the only option.

 

[dfoy50]

i was afraid of that . i think the car was garage kept befor i got it but not sure im the third owner the first past away from what i was told and the second didnt have it that long like 3 months i got it in oct it had 134000 and i took it to a private mech . and he said mech. it was well taken care of no accidents just minor stuff needed like some bushings in the rear end , still has air suspension (rear only ) in nov . i needed to replace the rack and pinion the rear seats are great the frnt pass. seat ok driver less ok . ive been ive been putting a leather dressing on them but the cracks are there and one open seam in the back rest of the driver seat . this is the first vary nice car ive own and i really enjoy it , very comfortable , lots of power . it can easily get you in trouble :wave well thank you very much for your reply . if you are a diy er i found a web site that has helped me alot with schematics (free) check it out www.bbbind.com a ran across it when i was looking into the rack ..

 

[Svets96]

i was afraid of that . i think the car was garage kept befor i got it but not sure im the third owner the first past away from what i was told and the second didnt have it that long like 3 months i got it in oct it had 134000 and i took it to a private mech . and he said mech. it was well taken care of no accidents just minor stuff needed like some bushings in the rear end , still has air suspension (rear only ) in nov . i needed to replace the rack and pinion the rear seats are great the frnt pass. seat ok driver less ok . ive been ive been putting a leather dressing on them but the cracks are there and one open seam in the back rest of the driver seat . this is the first vary nice car ive own and i really enjoy it , very comfortable , lots of power . it can easily get you in trouble :wave well thank you very much for your reply . if you are a diy er i found a web site that has helped me alot with schematics (free) check it out www.bbbind.com a ran across it when i was looking into the rack ..

Good to hear that your car was taken care of. That is the most hardest part. These Continentals are a joy to drive, I hear ya on getting in trouble with the power! I had detailed my seats with Meguiars Gold Class leather cleaner it had come out very nice. It gives the leather that nice new shine (not the gloss shine like tire shine) I highly recommend this product to you if you haven't tried it already. Not to hijack your thread, I will be posting pictures and procedures of my '99 Lincoln I'm restoring. Soon as I find out how to compress the picture size I will start a thread about this.

If you need parts for your Continental go to Tasca parts (Google search) They provide parts at 10% over cost, shipping is reasonable too. I highly recommend them!

Thank you for the website with the schematics I will look over this. I have been trying to find a Chilton/Haynes manual for this model and there are none to be found.

I will soon post threads on all this info.

 

[dfoy50]

hey no worry's, when you figure out how to do the re-size / compress please let me know how you do it , i took some pics and tried to up load and it said the were too big so if you could pass it along that would be great and a big help im running win 8 for an o/s .... and thanks for the lead on parts that will be a big help . as for a manual i'm in the market as well and if i find some thing i'll hit you up with it , i was at auto zone (there like 1.5 blocks away ) and was looking they had some thing but it was for a range of years and a range of models and it didnt say continental so i backed off to see if i could find some thing better . as far as the"bbb" site i looked through it you have to give them your name and email ect but there is no fee and they have not harassed me with emails (unless there going to the spam folder) and its free. that's the best part and they also have tech . service bulletins witch can be handy as well ,being a service tech myself

well i hope you have a great holiday and a safe one as well

merry christmas