My Leatherseats.com Review and Installation Pics

[Sylvan]

I got around to installing my Leatherseats.com seat covers, so I took some pics and I thought I'd write up my experience. I ordered a set of black 100% Ecstasy leather with black Alcantara body covers. I received the package about 2 - 3 weeks after ordering.

Initial impressions of the kit, before installation:

• The ecstasy leather material is very nice to touch and look at. It's soft and slightly bumpy textured, and it has some grip to it so it's not slick like my old Acura leather (most likely due to age and neglect).
• The reinforcement material, clips, and sewing appear to be of high quality and very strong.

The installation process took me about 2 days. Like they say on the website, the installation really is the reverse of the removal process, however it's by no means a cake walk. You'll be pulling, pushing, grunting, sweating, and swearing by the time you get done with a seat. I have respect for the quality of the stitching, because I was pulling and stretching some parts very hard, and nothing ripped. I had to rest a few days in between the two seats to give my fingers and hands some recovery time. It really is a pain in the butt to DIY these seats, and they probably didn't come out as well as they would have if I had paid a professional to install them. That said, I think they came out great and I am very happy with the result.

My overall rating on this kit: 9/10.

A couple areas that I feel could be improved:

• It would be nice if the kit came packaged with some of the OEM replacement panel retainer push-pins. You end up breaking a lot of them during the removal of the old cover, and the generic ones at Autozone just aren't as good.
• Some of the sewn-in clips don't seem to hold in the seat as tightly as the OEM J-clips did. Once installed, they can still move a bit and can even pop off if you are not careful.

Now, what would a review be, without pics?

 

[Sylvan]

More pics:

 

[Teej]

You did a better job than I think I would have done. One of the better DIY installs I have seen on one of their kits.

 

[Sylvan]

In case any are interested in some in-progress pics (a mini how-to):

Step 1: Install back piece over the bolster shoulders, and pull down TIGHT to get the shoulders nice and tight to the foam. Then stick to the velcro once the fit is correct.

Step 2:
Pull the leather over the bottom seat pan bolsters and stretch towards the front, then attach the front screw. Make sure you pierce the plastic because this gives strength to the screw hole.

Step 3:
Install the push pin retainers to the bottom of the seat pan. You will need to poke holes in the leather flap in order to attach the retainers.

Step 4:
On the outside of the bolster, stretch the leather and wedge the clips into the groove in the side of the seat pan.

Step 5:
Cut holes for the seat switches and harness:

Step 6:
Install the back cushion, followed by the head rest. Use the metal clips you removed to secure the head rest in position. Make sure the two little gray push pins engage the holes and snap in place.

Step 7:
Install the bottom cushion. Again, make sure the two little gray push pins engage the holes and snap into position. You can pull them from the backside of the hole with needle nose pliers to make sure they fully engage the holes. Install the J-clip in the rear of the seat first, then stretch the front of the leather and install the 4 panel retainers.

Step 8:
Install the 3 clips on the rear of the seat cover. This required some major stretching action and you will sweat and swear a lot.

 

[Lamini]

i once asked if someone could post pics on these newer seat installs and a fellow veteran primer basically replied with a stfu noob use search.

i appreciate you taking the time to post your results. it looks like they couldve improved the product by having some cutouts for powerseat buttons.

 

[NSX2398]

Great pics and discussion. I have added links to this thread in the Wiki

 

[DRIFTER]

Those look fantastic. I can never tell of its the installation or the kit that cause the fitment to be hit or miss. I may go back to stock seats of I can get a kit to fit like that. Nice job!

 

[PHOEN$X]

Thanks again Sylvan! Excellent resource in addition to your seat cover removal video.

 

[Sylvan]

Thanks guys! I suspect a lot of the variation in fitment is due to the installation process. While I was wrangling the leather into position I could definitely see how little tweaks here and there and tugging in certain directions would affect the way it fit and looked. It's difficult to do and you have to take your time. A shop that has experience could probably do it with more consistency.

 

[Dynamic-uzed-auto]

Looks great

 

[Sennansx81]

Looks good...

 

[leatherseats]

i once asked if someone could post pics on these newer seat installs and a fellow veteran primer basically replied with a stfu noob use search.

i appreciate you taking the time to post your results. it looks like they couldve improved the product by having some cutouts for powerseat buttons.

Hello,

First off, you did a VERY nice job doing this install! Looks Great!

The reason we do not cut the seat switch holes is to give the installer the freedom to massage the kit to fit its best in your specific car. Unfortunately, switch locations aren't a 100% generic thing. As the foam gets older and more used it shrinks, up to a half inch or more! If we precut these holes off of our pattern (a pattern that was made when the car was much newer) the hole could be off by a good deal, and that's bad news for everybody!

I hope that clears up some questions, and again, op- you really did a nice job!

 

[davidf]

Can you pm me with what that setup costs? Thanks.

 

[myw]

looks like an excellent install job. thank you for the detailed how to pictures as they will surely be invaluable to other members!

 

[Sylvan]

I've been asked to re-upload the pictures. For some reason I can't edit the original posts, but here is a link to a Google photo album with all the pictures:
https://goo.gl/photos/5M4eMfe44qs5U5vz6

 

[B2FiNiTY]

How are they holding up?

 

[redbaronace]

I cannot seem to view the photos that is by the step by step. Any idea of how I can pull them up? Would be helpful If if could view the instructions alongside the corresponding photo

 

[britlude]

I cannot seem to view the photos that is by the step by step. Any idea of how I can pull them up? Would be helpful If if could view the instructions alongside the corresponding photo

that will be a legacy of the photobucket permissions farce a few years ago, whereby they advertised their hosting site on the strength of hosting pics for forums, then, with a change of ceo, asked everyone to stump up something like $400 to carry on..... many people decided they didn't want to do that, left photobucket and deleted their pics.

later that ceo was sacked, forum permissions reinstated, and forum links restored, alas the deleted pics, as above, couldn't be restored as photobucket don't have them anymore...

OP has linked the pics here.... https://goo.gl/photos/5M4eMfe44qs5U5vz6 and said they can't edit the original posts....

 

[DocL]

I cannot seem to view the photos that is by the step by step. Any idea of how I can pull them up? Would be helpful If if could view the instructions alongside the corresponding photo

I did this DIY a long time ago. The first seat I was very careful in removing the OEM leather. On the second seat I took a razor blade and cut it off.