for slip-ons, the fit don't look too shabby. i've dealt with far worse. how long did the install took you? was it difficult?

 

they look great. alot of money tho

 

The panels are super easy to take off.

 

Would say that if you were able to do this the panel should be a walk in the park. As my 2 year old would say "good job"

 

+1. Very easy to do. Will you please post more pics after you are totally done and have worked the wrinkles out. It looks amazing so far BTW. I might have to start saving up for this.

 

One thing I would change though is the holes in the front seats where the harnesses go through. I think it would look a little better if they were painted black of if you got the carbon ones that a vendor is making on here. Just to have a little more contrast of colors. Maybe I'm just retarted haha.

 

i love it

 

All, Thanks for the positive comments and for the advice on the side panels. The service manual still has me a bit unsure about the right way to do it without breaking anything off. But I'll look to tackle the back panels in the next day or two when the weather warms up again.

Yes, retarded you are j/k ... I might consider those aftermarket inserts but for now I guess the stockers just don't bother me as much as they bother everyone else [shrug]. I suppose had they busted when I removed them it would have been a good excuse, but for now my cost/benefit analysis stops at headunit + leather + window tinting (not done yet). And I'd be worried about painting them and them pealing. I've never had good luck painting plastic.

I will certainly post more pics. I'm just working out how to "tell the story" of the install. And I'll take a few new pics after some wear-in.

These are not slip-ons. It is a full reupholster. No way a slip-on could ever work right on our seats because they are so contoured.

Time: Pretty much it took me the three day weekend but that included a lot of stops along the way for things like soccer games, dinner, happy hours, dog walks. My final write-up will have the times for each step, there are some there already.

I would not call this difficult at all. My hands were sore from all the pulling, pushing and shoving, and I pulled off a few hangnails, but all in all I would say its pretty easy really. There are tricks you learn along the way to help eliminate wrinkles that mostly come down to making sure the stock foam is correctly stuffed into place. Sometimes that means massaging the leather into place, pulling really hard, reaching under the leather to push/pull the foam into the right place or some combination off all three.

Tip #1 Do not skimp on the hog ring cutter. I first tried your typical 7" diagonal cutter and that just was NOT going to happen, period. Then I tried a pair of tin snips and all those did were twist up in my hand separating the blades. So I went to Home Depot in search of something better. What I found were a pair of compound diagonal cutters. They are articulated just like a set of bolt cutters using a double-pivot for mechanical advantage. These things cut through hog-rings using one hand like they were friggin butter. Worth every penny of the $14 they cost and now I have a new tool for my tool box ;-)

Oh and the MOST IMPORTANT piece of advice: DO NOT attempt to remove your seats from the car without first padding the "feet" where they bolt down. I have a few scratches to show for my mistake on the passenger side, but I learned from my mistake and the driver side has no such scratches. A few rags + duct tape and all was good.

 

not sure how you took the front seats out but i found it sooo much easier to pull the 2 front seats from the 2 rear doors.

 

I thought about that with the driver's seat but it seemed like the harder option of the two. Perhaps if I hadn't reinstalled the rear seat bottom I would have thought differently.

What really helped, especially with the steering wheel, was to lay the seat back down a good bit. That made it slightly off balance to handle but required less puzzle-like manuvering. Still, you make a good point and I'll suggest that in the write-up along with padding the mounts no matter what.

 

Looks really good! I was waiting for company to come out with a kit for the X. Finally! Good job on tackling this job on your own. It's no easy task, I installed a set for a friends pick-up truck and it took about 10-12 hours.

As for the door panel inserts. They are cake. After you pull off the panels, theres about 10-15 phillips screws you have to remove and the panel pops right out. If you can reupholster the seats, the door panels will be a walk in a park for you.

 

ha I wish this had only taken 10 hours. Then again there was a fair bit of picture taking, TV watching, and scotch drinking (the good stuff too) involved in the mix ;-)

Oh I know it is easy once I get the panels off. That much I can tell. It is getting them off that makes me nervous I'm going to break some attachment point and then it will be rattle city after that. I know I know ... I should just have some scotch and stop worrying :O

 

Nice job. So the previous owner of my car spilt coffee on my passenger seat. Did your stock fabric survive the uninstall? I'd be interested in buying your stock fabric if it is pristine. PM me please!

 

they came out great. I was thinking of doing this after I get mine. now I know where to order the parts. I will pay a local shop to do it though. I just don't have the time or desire to reupholster seats lol

 

No doubt I'm very pleased with the quality from leatherseats.com, but if you're going to pay the $300-ish for a shop to install consider also just sourcing the leather from them. At the least see what they can offer you.