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Looks like I managed to create a discoloured hard patch of leather after having an accident with the contents of a DampRid moisture absorber while the car was in the garage for a few months. Needless to say, I'm pissed off with myself and even a few hours soak of my Meguiars leather cleaner/conditioner hasn't done much to restore it to any degree.

So I figure it's probably best to just replace it. Thankfully the backrest is unaffected. Anyone got a black one in excellent condition (as mine once was until now) they'd like to sell? :/

Many thanks mate. Hopefully this one can be saved because DampRid, like most moisture absorbers, is a caustic soda, from what I understand. :/

Still, I'll give him a shot before I call Raj at Steve Jarvin for a replacement seat. It's much appreciated!

Looks like I'm calling Raj. It's too far gone. Let that be a warning to anyone else who uses moisture absorbers, like DampRid, etc. I'm keeping it on the floor like I used to. At least I can easily replace floor mats. :/

  • 1 year later...

Apologies for resurrecting this thread but for the sake of relevance, I'm sticking to it!

So it turns out Nissan in Melbourne finally got back to my contact and advised that a complete rear bottom seat assembly is no longer in production. I'm having a very hard time believing that for a seven year old vehicle, personally. I'm thinking of going through Amayama and see if they have better luck than I do. Anyone have any experiences with Amayama they'd like to share with me before I go forking out close to $2k for a seat?

I have used Amayama plenty of times without issue, but not for anything that large, postage is going to be a killer.  If they have stock in UAE, it is usually considerably cheaper for the item, but postage will be considerably more than Japan.

Have you tried an auto upholsterer?  it will likely be cheaper to have it re-upholstered than replacing it.

It will be marginally cheaper, however, the problem may possibly be that the caustic Damp Rid may still be lurking in the foam padding and if it is, it'll just destroy that leather trim as well.

I'm thinking of checking out some local wreckers for any reasonably pristine candidates but failing that, I'll be looking for something new, albeit with the massive expense in shipping the damn thing. :/

  • 2 weeks later...

Looks like after busting balls a little more, Nissan Australia (Melbourne) got back to my guy at Steve Jarvin and they do have a trim assembly, which is basically the seat without the frame. It's just a matter of unclipping the old seat from the existing frame and clipping the new one on in its place. Hopefully they're right because it's a $1080 mistake if they get it wrong for me.

Still, I'm pretty chuffed to hear about that and I can finally restore Max Jr back to normal. Let's see what happens when it finally arrives in a few months (sea freight).

  • 4 months later...

Looks like Nissan Australia got it wrong and sent what was only the leather trim but not the cushion as well. Steve Jarvin's boys (sadly, Raj is no longer there, so there goes any reliability from those guys too) are supposedly being told by Nissan (Melbourne) that now even that trim is no longer stocked in Japan. I suppose after eight years, they can only carry so many spares but the parts are dwindling fast for these vehicles.

So my options are two:

  1. Seek out a wrecker in Sydney with a suitable seat
  2. Try out Amayama

I've lodged an order with Amayama to see what they come back with for the entire seat assembly, at almost double the cost of what this trim order was, which thankfully I'm not paying for. Anyone dealt with them before? Anything you can share about your experiences or what you've heard would be nice.

Otherwise, anyone know of a decent wrecker in Sydney for Nissans/Infinitis? At this rate, I don't care if it's not the exact same design as long as the colour is still black. I've been out of the spares game for a while when it comes to wreckers, so I'm open to all suggestions.

  • 3 weeks later...

Final entry in this saga. Even Amayama can't score one. I realise the car is eight years old but I expected a little more support than that. According to Nissan Australia (Melbourne), even the Infiniti seats won't fit because there's a difference in the floorpan where the seats clip into, etc. Smells of bullshit to me but there you have it.

So I'm getting my mate to pick up the $1000 leather trim that he was able to obtain, thankfully, and I'll find an upholsterer who can fit it up for me when I get back from my work overseas. With a bit of luck, maybe the existing foam will be salvageable in that either the caustic liquid never made it past the leather and into the foam, or otherwise the foam can be cleaned up reasonably well to avoid a recurrence.

Valuable lesson learned.

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