How To: cheapo leather seats (covers)

[fishdonotbounce]

Alright well I posted a pic today and a member recommended that I do a write up on how I did it so here it is.


That is the final product. Now keep in mind, I did this at night, with no prior experience with anything.

Also a WARNING: this is basically irreversible. You will probably be able to pull the covers off, but what will be left underneath, I dunno. I decided to do it because if I ever need to take my covers off because of a rip or something, I will just replace them with new ones. I was just informed that you can probably take the stock cloth off of the seats. If this is true, go ahead and do that before starting this. I didn't but hey you can learn from my mistakes. Ok now for the quick write up.

Materials you will need:
1: 3M General Trim Adhesive - I bought some at the supermarket right next to me in the car aisle. ($10)

2: Seat covers for your car. Protege pplz, these are the ones I have and they fit basically perfectly. ($50) http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1999...007QQitemZ170231103303QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW
(If link is to an old posting by the time you're reading this, just look up Protege Seat Covers on ebay and find the ones you like.)

Procedure:

1: Make sure your hands are clean. Take the 3M General Trim Adhesive and just like the directions say, spray just the bottom part (where you sit) of your seat. Do two layers immediately after one another and do a criss cross pattern.
Note: MAKE SURE TO NOT GET ANY OF THIS STUFF ANYWHERE ELSE BUT THE YOUR SEAT. IT STICKS LIKE CRAZY AND IT SUCKS TO GET OFF.

2: Wait for about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes for it to dry and get tacky. Don't wait too long though.

3. Take your seat cover and carefully begin placing it over the seat. Work from the front to back making sure that you have no wrinkles and push from front to back while keeping the unplaced part of the seat cover pulled tight. It's kind of like applying a decal. If needed, you can pull it up and re-lay it down but don't take your sweet time here. Work at a nice pace so your adhesive doesn't completely dry out. Make sure that your covers are touching and actually sticking to every part of the seat. The covers fit really well to the point where they edges will line up with the edges of the seats so don't stretch them to the sides because then your middle won't stick cause it is too tight.
This is what you don't want to happen. I got a big wrinkle on my driver's seat now but ehh whatever.

4. Once you have got it to the part where the backrest meets the butt portion, make sure that everything is smooth and setting right. The next part is the trickiest.

5. Next, you essentially do the same thing with the backrest as you did with the butt part. The difference is that it is very difficult to get the seat cover over the backrest once you have laid down the adhesive without getting crap all over it.

6. Apply the adhesive in the same way that you did before. Stretch the cover using both hands and pull it up and over the top of the backrest. Try not to get adhesive on the outside of the seat cover. Pull the seat cover down so it is roughly where you eventually want it to be. Don't let it adhere where you don't want it to. During this step, the bottom that you recently adhered will probably pull off a little bit. Don't worry, you can just push it back down when you're done.

7. Pull the cover down all the way so that it is completely taut. Make sure that your seat cover is lined up properly and proceed with pushing it from the top down like a decal once again.

8. Make sure that everything is straight and not off. If it is off, just pull it up a little and make sure to center it.

9. Repeat on the passenger seat.

10. Enjoy!

 

[TWISFM]

more pics!
also are you able to move the seat back and around and tilted with no problem?

 

[fishdonotbounce]

More pics for you tomorrow or should I say today but yea I'm able to basically move them with no problems because there's just a little bit of material in that crack there (lol) for the seats to be able to tilt with no problem.

 

[Tasty]

Um, I guess that's cool if you like the look. As your thread title states though, it looks "cheapo".

 

[Nomad]

Good work on doing something you want. I think the covers look better than some other covers, the headrest is the only real eyesore though. Try to redo those and pull the fabric super tight over them and roll/tuck the extra fabric under the headrest the way the stocker is done.

I believe you can take the factory cloth covers off though, did you do that? I think that would be the best option really as you would be able to have a direct fit to the seat.

 

[fishdonotbounce]

lol Nomad I never thought about taking the cloth covers off. I didn't even know they were covers. I'll definitely try to do something about the headrest though.

 

[JDM-P5]

Hey man cheap is cheap.
Thx for doing the write up.
Like Nomad stated, it may have been a good idea to check about removing the stock covers.

 

[fishdonotbounce]

Thanks JDM. First write up so I hope it's good. I added a few pics to it too. Tell me if you need any other pics

I also tried to pull the headrests taut but they're just too big. I'll see if i can get my grandma to tailor them lol

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

I've had these covers on my seats since the car was new. First set lasted over 3 yrs before wearing out bolster on drivers side getting in & out. No they aren't show quality & aren't meant to be but they do protect from sweat & look better than the factory pattern & if you do go without them then you have fresh new seats still so WTF, better than sweated out oem cloth. My car still has new car smell - no kids, no food, no spills, no smoking, no sweaty ass seats. Never used the shower cap looking headrest covers on front or back seats or the belt pads. Never used any adhesive either, they stay in place good enough IMO. The rear is not split so both sides have to be released for seat to lay down but really, how often does anybody actually use the split option? Trade off, 50.00 for butt sweatless smellin interior & no trophy at the car show. Hmmm, wasn't gonna enter a daily driver anyway. Take them for what they are. They aren't katskinz or oem leather covers. You won't cry over 50.00 & 2 hrs to replace them either, just don't use them on your show cars. BTW, I went with the same color so the light gray goes with the trim & headliner.