Those turned out great! I am still waiting on all my parts to arrive. My seat cushions should be finished today or tomorrow, guy said he would be able to make them like new for $100, so I am very curious to see how they will turn out.

 

I’m curious about the Ridies as well. My brother is about to reupholster his ‘06 seats and he’s been waiting to see my results.

One small ding against the leatherseats.com skins is the way the hog ring rails are configured on the seat bottom. Instead of plastic, the factory skins have metal rods (similar to a thick coat hanger) that extend all the way back and interlock in the corners. This provides tension all the way back into the corners. Leatherseats.com uses the same plastic rails as everywhere else, but they end an inch or so shy of the corner (represented by the red lines in the photo below). Thus, the corners don’t have anything to pull them down and they stay somewhat loose. I’m curious if the other aftermarket kits do this differently.

 

When I removed my old leather, I used a pair of needle noise pliers (sometimes two) to open the old hog rings for removal. It was much easier than trying to cut them with dikes.

 

Picked up my bottom cushions today from the local shop, they did a great job. They cut and replaced most of the foam on the worn sides, added new foam and matched the shape. he said they had some machine they use to do it. The seam where the foam joins up is matched to the seam line of the seat covers, and he also added reinforcement underneath so the metal bar won't wear through again. New foam also matches the feel of the originals. He said they have done a ton of S2000 seats in the past. Just waiting on the covers now.

 

Very nice. I bet those will look great under new leather.

 

I got my covers today, they look great. Leather and suede both feel very nice. They had them folded up in the box so they are kind of creased, but that should not be a problem.

However, I already ran into an issue. The stock seat skins have the plastic sewn into them for the front section, like dadaDaveed mentioned, but the new ones do not. Instead, it looks like I need more of the same metal rod used in the other sections of the seat. They left a looped channel for the wire to go, same as the other sections. They also did not come with any wire, I had to swap it from the other skins, this is going to be a problem again for the second cushion, because I don't have that damaged skin anymore.



Stock

Ridies

So now I just need to figure out what kind of wire that is. I have thick coat hanger wire but it bends more easily than whatever the seats come with. Any ideas?


Here are some other photos.



Loosely installed.

 

Dangit. I completely ignored the voice in my head that said "you better remove and save those metal rods before you chuck the old skins". I bet you could repurpose something like wire yard stakes.

 

Yeah, I'm running around my house and workshop looking for some wire to use. I did find some that looks promising but I still need more. I guess it doesn't have to be too stiff.... considering the originals just used that sewn in plastic.

 

Found some wire, I ended up sacrificing some of those Milwaukee tool bags. They have a thick stiff wire in them around the zipper lol

started installing them today, The bottom cushions are much easier and I don't have many wrinkles aside from a few where they folded the covers to put them in the box. I think with the heat / steamer they should easily come out. The upholstery guy said they actually just leave them in the sun for a day after installing. The repaired section of the bolsters are slightly thicker then stock, making installation a tad bit more difficult - but once installed they compress to the normal size.

The backrest is soooo much more difficult. I'm not happy with some of the wrinkles so I may cut some of the hog rings and try stretching again.... Or maybe I should try the steamer first? Not sure.
Sidenote - there were a few spots on the backrest cover where the stocks used the sewn in plastic, but again they leave a loop for the metal wire. Not a big deal since I found wire to use, but I don't really understand why they used the plastic rail in some places but not others.


Pics. Note that the cushion is just sitting there, it's not bolted down. I have to cut the hole for the bolt still. Also I didn't install the rings on the very top yet, since I may cut some of the side ones and re-stretch again.

 

Hey, you're headed in the right direction! Seat bottoms look good. I agree though, the seat backs could be tighter. For reference, here's what mine looked like prior to steam and heat. I also didn't have any notable creasing due to shipping.