How to.. seat swap?

[huskyjackal]

I did searches for this and came up with so many results I feel overwhelmed. If I missed a vital thread, don't even bother to reply, just link me.

I bought an 02 Protege5. It has the grey/black cloth interior. I'm more of a leather fan (or fake leather, I don't even care).
I've never worked on a car's interior before (sans cleaning/detailing). I don't know what tools are required, the amount of time it could take, what hardware comes with/is necessary.. the works. I'm a vehicular n00b.
From what I read there are bolts that need to match to replace the seats in my car.

I would like to replace my cloth seats with leather eventually. Depending on my budget, of course, and where I can find leather seats that fit.
I hear you can use MSP or Mazda3 seats in a P5? If I found a set (front buckets & rear bench) would I need anything special or adapters to install them in my P5?

I checked some of the sale section but couldn't find a whole lot on people selling leather seats. (and I'm with them - if I had 'em, I'd keep 'em too!)
I don't even care about color inserts or anything, any leather seats as long as they aren't destroyed, really.

How do I go about replacing the seats in my P5? Is uninstalling/removing the seats difficult? Can I do this myself or should I get a friend to help?

Sorry for the unsophisticated questions, I'm not going to go out and buy them immediately, but I'm definitely interested in having them and want to know where to start and what to look for.

 

[justanothermp5]

well basically u just unbolt the seats and slide them out, thats what i did for my dads 84 gti
idk how to do it in this car but i do know that the mp3/msp seats will fit directly into the p5, the rear seats are really easy to take out just take the little loop thingy and pull up hard, then u should see what u need to do to slide them out

 

[autoxes]

The MSP seats aren't leather bro...

As far as I know, the protege never came with leather, or imitation leather. I've seen P5's with leather seats, but I'm not sure if those are even stock.

 

[huskyjackal]

Thanks! Sounds much easier than I thought.
I'll have to find a set, nyone have an idea what leather seats run? I'm not interested in buying brand new "racing" seats or anything.

 

[huskyjackal]

The MSP seats aren't leather bro...

As far as I know, the protege never came with leather, or imitation leather.

The dealership I bought my P5 at was selling an 03 P5 with leather interior, but I didn't ask if it was stock.

 

[autoxes]

Then the leather seats may be standard for some P5's. I know for a fact that leather seats never came in the MSP.

 

[huskyjackal]

My bad. I was skimming threads and could have sworn I saw MSP mentioned with leather.
I also hear you can re-fabric (or whatever word is used here) seats as well? I image it could be more expensive?

 

[ProtoType5]

Next weekend, go out and take the seats out and then put them back in...That'll teach you how to do it....

MSP and MP3 front seats are a direct sway...everything lines up...Rear seats do not match up exactly, but can be made to fit...This is due to the folding rear seats of the P5...I think...I know people have done it

I did searches for this and came up with so many results I feel overwhelmed. If I missed a vital thread, don't even bother to reply, just link me.

I bought an 02 Protege5. It has the grey/black cloth interior. I'm more of a leather fan (or fake leather, I don't even care).
I've never worked on a car's interior before (sans cleaning/detailing). I don't know what tools are required, the amount of time it could take, what hardware comes with/is necessary.. the works. I'm a vehicular n00b.
From what I read there are bolts that need to match to replace the seats in my car.

I would like to replace my cloth seats with leather eventually. Depending on my budget, of course, and where I can find leather seats that fit.
I hear you can use MSP or Mazda3 seats in a P5? If I found a set (front buckets & rear bench) would I need anything special or adapters to install them in my P5?
QUOTE]

 

[maxchao]

Well, my P5 has leather seat. I think it's an option, at least here. I don't really like it tho, the seat design isn't very supportive already and slippery leather makes it worse. I found it hard to do shifting and brake/gas and turning all together as there would be nothing support me but the friction of my butt...
There are some aftermarket seat tho, I'm not into it yet but if you drive hard, at least they give more support...
Just my 2 cent...

Josh

 

[Nomad]

Leather was definitely an option. But in the compact car market it is rarely chosen. I bought a full leather interior off a wrecked P5 and swapped out. You can see pics on my cardomain page.

Basically, if you go with a full interior (seats and all) you just need to remember "righty tighty, lefty loosey". Unscrew bolts, re-screw bolts.

You can also buy aftermarket covers to go OVER the existing cloth, some fit pretty darn good.
Or
You can buy aftermarket replacement leather covers where you take out the cloth covers and reinstall the leather covers with proper hog rings etc. Much better, factory type fit but it needs to be installed right to not look like @$$.

 

[turbo_slug]

in canada...

leather seats were an option on 2003 mp5's...i think those might have been packaged w/ the polished(might be chrome) wheels too

some 2002 mp5's also had leather but that was an aftermarket option that dealers offered