So after 5 years of bucket seats and complaining from my gf/wife I finally decided to go back to stock seats. I loved my bucket seats- very comfortable and gives great feel. However, I found myself not driving the car much due to its harshness. In an effort to put more miles on, I reverted back to stock seats. Looking at all the recent posts about ridies I decided to give them a shot.
The seats before the skins were installed:
The seats skins I ordered were the Nappa grain leather with performation inserts. They shipped from Pakistan. While I am sure ridies makes a nice profit off of these, I did receive my leather in great condition and within a week so I am not complaining!
I went with a local installer here who had pretty good reviews. He charged me $500 for the labor. I was not too happy with the install, but maybe I am just nitpicking. I should have printed out the OEM seat skins replacement instructions to give to his employees.
As you can see, the leather is crumpled in some areas, but I don't blame ridies for that. I feel like the upholstery shop could have done a better job of stretching the leather. Then again, if I had given them instructions maybe they would have done a better job. Also, you may have noticed they never cut holes for the seat switches. I had to do that myself! I will save you the gruesome pictures but it was largely guesswork by feeling where the wires were and cutting small holes. I really really hope that my cuts don't expand over time and end up ripping the leather. Anyway, if the upholstery shop had paid attention to detail they probably would have asked me if I wanted them cut. Just be aware: ridies leather skins do not come pre-cut for the seat switches!
And here they are back in my car:
All in all about a ~$2k venture to bring my seats back to stock. I would definitely recommend Ridies for replacement leathers.
The seats before the skins were installed:
The seats skins I ordered were the Nappa grain leather with performation inserts. They shipped from Pakistan. While I am sure ridies makes a nice profit off of these, I did receive my leather in great condition and within a week so I am not complaining!
I went with a local installer here who had pretty good reviews. He charged me $500 for the labor. I was not too happy with the install, but maybe I am just nitpicking. I should have printed out the OEM seat skins replacement instructions to give to his employees.
As you can see, the leather is crumpled in some areas, but I don't blame ridies for that. I feel like the upholstery shop could have done a better job of stretching the leather. Then again, if I had given them instructions maybe they would have done a better job. Also, you may have noticed they never cut holes for the seat switches. I had to do that myself! I will save you the gruesome pictures but it was largely guesswork by feeling where the wires were and cutting small holes. I really really hope that my cuts don't expand over time and end up ripping the leather. Anyway, if the upholstery shop had paid attention to detail they probably would have asked me if I wanted them cut. Just be aware: ridies leather skins do not come pre-cut for the seat switches!
And here they are back in my car:
All in all about a ~$2k venture to bring my seats back to stock. I would definitely recommend Ridies for replacement leathers.
