Refurbished F-Sport Headrest

[Rabbers]

I attach photos of the newly refurbished driver-side headrest of my RC, and another of the disassembled original leather sections showing the stain and surface peeling that LED me to have the job done.  It should be mentioned that the stain and neighbouring peels and scuffs look worse than they originally did as the result of re-colouring tests etc., carried out by the workshop before recommending a complete replacement of the leather.  I had initially hoped to have the stained section simply cleaned and re-coloured and the peeling repaired and ironed out.  However, because the stain went too deep and there was no guarantee of it and the peels not reappearing it was decided to proceed with a complete replacement.

The refurbishment was carried out by a specialist leather workshop which, for €180, did a very satisfactory job re-using the original seat-attachment rods and preserving most of the padded structure.  I didn't bother to get a quote from Lexus for a new replacement headrest, knowing instinctively that it would have been a lot costlier, probably exorbitantly so.  My only cause for dissatisfaction is a slight colour difference in respect of the original attributable to the use of a stock leather.  An exact match for the original Lexus Flare Red would have involved the sourcing and dyeing of a whole skin with a consequent doubling of the cost and much longer lead-time.

It was a pleasure to deal with expert craftspeople.  Their work may or may not be of takumi standard, but it runs it close.  And I won't dispute their claim that the replacement leather is superior to the original.