Best Vinyl Repair Kits – Buyer’s Guide 2022

The advent of vinyl as a durable and affordable alternative to leather and other fabrics has led to its increased popularity in the interior decoration industry. Vinyl is derived from ethylene or crude oil combined with a polyester textile base resulting in a highly durable, waterproof fabric. Vinyl upholstery is not vulnerable to abrasions and damage by chemicals. It is inherently flame-resistant and is easy to clean and maintain.  High-end vinyl fabrics are difficult to distinguish from genuine leather and are far less expensive. The low-cost and long-term savings from the durability of vinyl while offering the same rich, elegant, regal, and vintage look and feel of expensive leather has led to its widespread adoption and is extensively used in creating residential furniture and upholstering old furniture.

While vinyl furniture is not expensive as leather, it is still a considerable investment, including the time and money spent, the effort involved in transportation and arrangement, and the care and maintenance it requires.  While vinyl is durable, it gets damaged quicker than leather and may get stained over time if not adequately treated.  It may get damaged from sharp objects such as keys, pocket knives, belt buckles, or pet scratching and incur a tear, gash, or cigarette burn. Vinyl is also vulnerable to cracking with age and exposure to harsh elements such as sunlight, solvents, abrasion, and sweat.

With usage, your furniture gets worn, scratched, or torn and makes your home appear shabby or neglected; however, throwing out your couch for a few tears and scratches is a waste of money. In our previous article, we have discussed about ways to repair your vinyl furniture. You can also consider calling a professional upholsterer; however, the expense may not be worth it if the damage is not extensive. Instead of hiring a pro for minor fabric repairs, you can take care of it yourself with a vinyl repair kit. Vinyl repair kits are cost-effective, easy to use, match the color and feel of the original fabric, and helps to keep your furniture to a like-new appearance.

In this article we will cover

• Types of Vinyl Repair Kits
• Things to considering while buying Vinyl Repair Kits
• How to use a Vinyl Repair Kit
• Best Vinyl Repair Kits

Type of Vinyl Repair Kits

Vinyl repair kits include materials, tools, and techniques professionals use to bring back your old worn out torn furniture to life. There are two main types of vinyl repair kits available, patches and cement repair kits.

Transparent adhesive patches: these are see-through and watertight repair kits that are highly versatile. Sometimes they are made from elastomer that bind to the vinyl fabric and are ideal for inflatable rafts, pools, and bounce houses that must be airtight and watertight.

Color-conformed kits: These kits try to match the color of the upholstery with the repairing patch to make it look flawless.  Color conformed kits can be heat-cured or simply dry upon exposure to the air.

Non-heated kits:  These kits are equipped with a repair compound, a PVA glue similar to the white Elmer’s glue to repair the tear in the fabric. This kit requires you to apply a patch underneath the exposed upholstery surface. You then glue it in place to form a perfect seal when air-dried without applying heat. When it dries, the tear is barely noticeable and matches the texture and color of your couch.

Heat-cured patches: Some repair patches require treating them thermally to make an ideal seal with these products. First, mix the pigmented adhesive to arrive at the precise color of your upholstery. You then apply heat using a clothes iron.

Cement:  For DIY repair, liquid cement kits are also available that bonds vinyl and vinyl-coated surfaces.

Things to Consider Before Purchasing the Vinyl Repair Kit

Before buying a vinyl repair kit for your furniture, you must take a few minutes to educate yourself on a few essential pointers. You must have the suitable material to repair the cracks, or it will waste money, time, and effort.

Some repair kits include colors, mixing bottles or cups, backing fabric, a leather patch, etc., while some kits only contain colors, color matching charts, and mixing cups since they are meant for recoloring purposes.

Color:  Most repair kits are available in multiple colors and feature a color matching guide that helps match the shade closest to your furniture. Ensure that your vinyl repair kit fits the color of the original fabric or is within a range of acceptable differences.

Single color repair kits have only one color, which you must match to your original material. Most kits with this color selection are self-adhesive patches that can be quickly stuck on clean fabric for a fast, effective, but often poorly color-matched repair.  Multiple color repair kits are suitable to repair different materials as you can match most colors using the available dyes and mixing tools.

Application –

Repair kits help fix all kinds of furniture mishaps, including vinyl damage from cuts, rips, and burns, discoloration, and stains. However, most repair kits have specific uses, including cuts and tears, abrasions and lacerations, burns, and color renewal.  

Kits used to repair cuts and tears generally include patches, adhesives, and dye best for fixing penetrating damage. Abrasions and scratch kits also include patches and dye but are meant to be applied over a hole instead of from within. Cracking leather repair kits feature compounds that fill the cracks and oil to increase the flexibility and elasticity of the vinyl fabric.

Burn repair kits are intended to remove excess burned material, fill in the gap caused by the burn, and cover the damage with a patch made to blend with the original material.

Versatility –

Specialized repair kits may be suitable for only one type of material, like leather shoes or car seats. Still, versatile kits can help you repair furniture, car upholstery, clothing, accessories, footwear, and more. Hence ensure that your vinyl repair kit is rated for use with your original material. Apart from the leather couch and car seats, it would help with jackets, purses, caps, handbags, etc.

Accessories –

Vinyl repair kits usually come with several accessories—several pieces of the same material for extensive repairs or various items for different restorations. The vinyl repair kit contains 10 to 25 patches and may also include alcohol wipes, cleaning cloths, sandpaper, grain paper, adhesive, backing fabrics, paints, dye, sponges, mixing tools, brushes, glue, instructions, etc.

Matching the sides with a vinyl patch: Vinyl fabrics have a dull and shiny side. Make sure that you check the surface type of the patch to that of the object you are repairing. Apply adhesive cement to both the patch and the object being restored to ensure complete coverage. After applying the cement, wait for some minutes before attaching the patch and wait five minutes for a good seal. The patch generally cures in around 8 hours.

Durability –

Check if the quality of the vinyl is good to ensure that it lasts for a long time.

How to use a Vinyl Repair kit?

Each vinyl and leather repair kit comes with detailed instructions that you should follow to achieve optimum results. Some of the basics to follow when using a repair kit are highlighted below:

• Scissors
• Sandpaper
• Hairdryer
• Mixing cup and stirrer
• Weight to put on the treated fabric
• Microfiber cloths

Steps:

• Clean the Vinyl Fabric
• Trim the damaged areas.
• Insert backing in large tears.
• Apply the repair compound.
• Apply sealer.
• Mix the dye.
• Apply the dye.
• Seal the fabric

Best Vinyl Repair Kits With Reviews

1. Pelle Patch Leather & Vinyl Adhesive Repair Patch

Pelle Patch leather and vinyl adhesive restoration solution allow you to quickly and easily repair damaged leather or vinyl items and restore your damaged furniture instead of expensive and time-consuming reupholstering damaged furniture.

Pelle Patch is made from high-quality and highly durable synthetic leather. It is thin and lightweight, resulting in a nearly seamless fit that restores your leather or vinyl item. Pelle patch is firm for stability and flexible for contouring and meets high requirements for maximum durability, making it ideal for high-traffic areas.  The repair patch requires zero maintenance and is suitable for both indoor and outdoor use.

Pelle patches are fully customizable; you can cut the patch into any shape you need to get complete coverage over the damaged area. The patch kit includes the latest adhesive technology; once applied, the patch creates an instant bond with adhesive strengthening within 24 hours. The ultra-adhesive is also resistant to extreme cold or heat, allowing you to use it on damaged surfaces in cars, motorcycles, aircraft, marine craft, and household furniture. The adhesive is temperature resistant, waterproof, and manufactured in an ISO 9001:2020 facility.

Pelle Patch is available in 25 color options, including most of the standard options commonly seen on furniture that allows you to find the perfect patch for your item, giving your restoration job a nice, clean look. The company claims that its colors have been specifically formulated and successfully achieved a 95% color match.

Pros

• Easy to Apply
• Good Quality Material
• Strong Adhesive

Cons

• Hard to find the exact match and will have to settle for a close match instead

2. FORTIVO Vinyl and Leather Repair Kits for Furniture, Car Seats, Sofa, Jacket –

FORTIVO’s leather and vinyl repair help you fix and mend your tattered, scratched, peeled, and damaged items effortlessly.  The repair kit works on damaged vinyl and leather couch, sofa, car seats, bags, purse, shoes, luggage, boat seats, RV seats, shade, gloves, motorcycle seats, recliner, loveseat, ottoman, lazy boy, and other furniture.

The Fortivo leather repair kit is made of high-quality, super-fast drying liquid repair adhesive compound that will help repair a scratch, cut, hole, tear, rip, crack, mark, pet cat, or dog damage on your damaged, cracked, scratched, peeling leather.

The Fortivo repair kit includes a set of 20 ml of 10 intermixable colors with repair compound brown (cream, tan, burgundy, chocolate, walnut, white, black, and red, blue, yellow). Each compound comes with liquid agents to work with for all your restoration jobs.  Depending on your needs, you can modify the filler’s shade and hue to make it darker or lighter.

Fortivo’s vinyl repair kit for couches can adapt to any situation. Each tube of refurbishing cleaner has a vibrant hue and melds with the other colors effortlessly. Modify the shade and hue of our leather dye to suit your needs. You can prepare the mixture using the container and spatula and put the various shades of colored liquid furniture repair filler.

Every Fortivo repair kit purchase comes with a free email instruction guide; it also includes an online color mixing tool and a step-by-step video to assist you in your repair. The vinyl repair kit comes with a 30-day money-back and one-year free replacement warranty.

Pros

• Easy to use
• Excellent customer service
• Multiple color options

Cons

• A bit of learning curve to use the product

3. 3M Leather and Vinyl Repair Kit –

The 3M leather and vinyl repair kit mends tears, burns, and cuts on various surfaces, including car and motorcycle seats, dashboards, center consoles, vinyl tops, marine & RV upholstery, and furniture.

The 3M repair kit includes replacement backing fabric and seven intermixable repair compounds (red, blue, green, yellow, white, brown, black). It also includes assorted textured grain papers that help match coarse to smooth patterns, mixing cups, vinyl swatch for testing, vinyl adhesive, applicator tool, and a heat transfer tool. It also includes a variety of colors and grain papers and a color matching guide to help determine the correct shade for your vinyl or leather.

The 3M repair kit improves the appearance of damaged leather and vinyl and potentially stops the damage from getting worse. The kit comes with complete directions that make it easy to achieve a quality repair with little cost.  The repair compound is heat curing polymer. It will not cure appropriately without substantial heat. Also, if left in the open air, it will start to solidify. After 24 hours, it will begin to become a sticky, clumpy, lumpy mess, so don’t leave the compound out in the open air. It had the consistency of really thick honey out of the container. It is very prone to stringing, so be careful not to drag compound strings over the good part of your repair piece. You can wipe off the uncured compound with a paper towel.  If there are voids/ pits, crevices after the first repair, you can add more compound and heat cure it right over the cured compound.

Pros

• Includes grain paper
• Versatile
• Multiple color options
• Easy Instructions

Cons

Needs to be cured for a long time

4. Tear-Aid Vinyl Repair Kit –

Tear-Aid Type – B vinyl repair patches provide a simple and easy solution for patching holes and tears in your furniture, as well as an excellent protective film solution.  

TEAR-AID repair patches are made from a robust, abrasion-resistant elastomer that is resistant to puncture and tear. The elastomer combines with an aggressive adhesive formulated to produce powerful bond strength. Tear-Aid expands absorbing force on impact and always returns to its original shape and size. This flexibility enables the patch to conform to irregular surfaces without restricting the movement of the repaired material.

The TEAR-AID vinyl repair patch can easily stick to the vinyl and vinyl-coated material. Vinyl has oils absorbed by most adhesives which cause the glue to turn gooey, gummy, and ultimately lose bond. Tear-Aid vinyl repair patches are equipped with an inhibitor that blocks vinyl oils, resulting in a long-lasting repair.

The TEAR-aid patch is transparent that works on any color and are UV resistant to prevent yellowing for a long time.  It provides instant adhesion with no sewing, NO GLUE, and no mess. The patch also conforms to irregular surfaces and won’t turn gummy in high heat.

Each tear-aid patch kit contains a TEAR-AID patch, 12″ reinforcement filament for repairing tears at edges, alcohol prep pads, and illustrated instructions. TEAR-AID repair patches are manufactured in the U.S.A of the highest quality and standards.

Pros

• Strong Adhesive Strength
• Easy to use
• Stretchy and sticks pretty well
• Multiple patch sizes in the box

Cons

• Slightly Expensive
• No color options

5. SEISSO Leather and Vinyl Repair Kit, 12 Colors Repair Paint Gel Restorer for Couch, Sofa, Car Seat, Furniture, Jacket –

SEISSO professional-grade vinyl repair kit provides a quick and easy solution to repair scratches, tears, cracks, burn holes or rips. Just one repair kit to restore genuine leather, faux furniture, couch, or premium upholstery is perfect for anyone wanting to save expensive leather items and bring new life to them.

The SEISSO vinyl repair kit is widely used for mending leather and vinyl items at home, office. Match brown, grey, walnut shades and fix genuine/faux leather, auto upholstery, car seats, sofa, peeling leather chair or wallet, shoes, and belt. Please select the color that best matches the leather, or you can mix the colors to make it fit perfectly. The repair kit does not require heating for curing. If you are unsure about the effect of color mixing, you can try a bit of color mixing first and then apply after seeing the impact.

The SEISSO vinyl repair kit contains 12 mixable repair compounds to match commonly used colors and mix with other colors easily (Brown, Black, Grey, Red Brown, White, Silver, Yellow, Blue, Red, Amber Yellow, Cherry, and Walnut). The repair kit comes with a 30 Day Money Back Warranty.

Pros

• Wide Applications
• Good color options allow you to mix colors to match many different options.
• No smell, and it dries quickly
• Easy to use and inexpensive

Cons

• This kit is only suitable for repairing in small areas.

6. Magicfly Vinyl and Leather Repair Kit,  for Furniture, Sofa, Jacket, Boat Seat, Car Seat to Restore Any Material –

Magicfly leather couch repair is suitable for repairing or refinishing scratch, rip, tear, burn hole, crack, peeling, etc., on your leather and vinyl goods easily and quickly.  You can also use the professional repair kit in repairing other leather and vinyl items like shoes, handbags, and belts.

The Magicfly repair kit contains ten mixable color compounds. For the frequently-used tan, walnut and chocolate, each tube is 40ml. For other colors (white, cream, burgundy, black, blue, red, and yellow), each tube is 20ml.  It also has two backing fabrics, one mixing jar, one brush, and one spatula as assistant tools. The coloring mixing guide and instruction helps to create a customized color to match and apply to your furniture.

You can mix the colors to have darker or lighter effects for better matching your furniture. A color mixing guide is included in the kit. This kit can provide an ideal solution to repair your furniture and leather items for scratches, burns, holes, peeling, rip, tear, and other situations. No heat tools, patches, glue, dye, and tape are needed. The package includes:

Ten mixable color compounds.

Two backing fabrics.

One mixing jar.

One spatula.

One brush.

A color mixing guide.

Pros

• Easy to use
• Wide Applications
• Plenty of color choices
• Great value simply for the amount and of paint colors included

Cons

• Color Mixing is a bit difficult

7. Coconix Vinyl and Leather Repair Kit – Restores Your Furniture, Jacket, Sofa, Boat or Car Seat –

Coconix vinyl repair kit uses custom colors and a quick-dry formula perfect for repairing your cracked vinyl or leather.  The kit includes backing fabric for large cracks, a spatula and brush for filler application, a mixing jar, and ten different colors for customization.

Super easy restoration for scratch, rip, tear, burn hole, crack, peeling, refinish, and refurbishing. Excellent fix for the best finish matches any color shoes, couches, office chair, belt, bag, or purse. The repair kit comes with an extra compound that helps to patch up large areas. The repair kit does not require heat tools, patches, paint, glue, dye, tape, or putty.

Coconix vinyl repair kit can be used in old leatherette, faux, synthetic, bicast, PU, or premium upholstery, making it perfect for footwear, furniture, and accessories. The repair kit is excellent for repairing cracks, holes, scratches, burns, and discoloration, and it comes with an instructional video and personalized repair advice on the manufacturer’s website. The repair kit comes with a 100% satisfaction and manufacturer guarantee, 30-day money-back, and a one-year free replacement warranty.

Pros

• Suits upholstery use
• Non-sticky
• Versatile

Cons

• Only gray and black matches are available