Removing and replacing OEM seat covers
 

Planning on a CR interior. I'm torn between buying used CR seats or just picking up new CR seat covers. They would fit perfectly considering my car is an 08.

Just curious if anyone has done this before and if it's a tough job. Curious how easily the leather ones would come off and if it's difficult to get a snug/smooth fit on the new ones. Any info would be greatly appreciated!

It's really easy to remove the leather from my '04 seats. Check out a DIY for installing seat heaters.

Are you sure that the '08 and CR seats use the same foam? I've heard that CR seats sit a little higher than rest of the seats.

Cool, thanks!

And yes, all 08+ seats have the same height and same foam.

Hey Fish, I was thinking about doing the same. How much are they?

It is very easy to remove and replace the leather (I've done 4 seat heater installs).

Just remove the seats from the car and remove the seat rails from the seats and separate the seat back top and bottom, cut the hog rings, and pull the leather off.
There are hog rings in the middle of the top of the seat on the bottom seat that you'll see when you remove the bottoms.
The rings are easy to cut with diagonal pliers.

I recommend using zip ties instead of hog rings to reinstall--- use the 90lb strength ones available at any Home Depot or Lowes. They're much easier to install as several of the places hogs rings would need to go back into (example--- the middle seat bottom) are very very difficult to reach with hog nose pliers but easy to get to with the zip ties. They ties are much stronger than needed---probably stronger than the hog rings used OEM. Most of the DIY seat heater install threads use them.

Pretty pricey. About $2k for a full set.


Great info, thanks very much! :thumbup:

My biggest concern is getting the new skin tight and smooth.

Pretty pricey. About $2k for a full set.


Great info, thanks very much! :thumbup:

My biggest concern is getting the new skin tight and smooth.
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That's not an issue as they fit so tightly over the foam that there are no wrinkles even before you tighten up the zip ties.

Check out some of the seat heater install threads--- several have good pictures of removing and reinstalling the leather--- (keep in mind when you look at the pictures, the '05 and earlier cars had openings in the headrests so the seat back leather isn't quite the same as our '06+ cars with solid headrests)

Good to know!

In fact, most of the hog rings/zip ties around the bottom seat bottom are not even "stressed". They just hold the leather in place not even under pressure.

Recommend you taking a few minutes to pull one of your seats out (4 bolts) and flipping it over and looking at it to get an idea of what you'd be dealing with (and how easy it would be to do)

Pretty pricey. About $2k for a full set.


Great info, thanks very much! :thumbup:

My biggest concern is getting the new skin tight and smooth.
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welp, recaro here I come lol