KSES300

I've seen seat covers online and I've had people suggest that I replace my interior from a salvage yard. What I'm finding, and its only been 4 trips so far, is that my interior is unique in color. I'd like to stay with the leather(or even a more cost effective "leather look") reupholstering job, but I'm wondering if it would be cost prohibitive. I have very little investment in the car so far and once the hood is resprayed this Spring, it will be pretty mint except for the cracked leather seats, front and back. I think they are beyond repair, especially the tops of the rear seat that's been disintegrated by the sun.

Any experience with having seats recovered? Any recommendations in the Mid-Atlantic area? Is there an oem kit you can buy to recover seats? Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

atlcal

Like you, I was searching the salvage yards for seats in better condition than what I had, gave up after 3 months of fruitless searching and rolled the dice on some seat covers on eBay. $175 for the two front seats, made from synthetic material, but they look 100% better, and fit far better than any generic covers I've seen. They're cut specifically for the car, and do have a rear seat option if those are in bad shape. No, the color isn't an exact match, but there are enough contrasting shades in the interior already that it's not obvious.

This is the company, took about a week to get them.
http://www.iggee.com/

KSES300

That looks like a feasible solution for me. I'm not restoring this car to sell or anything and these seat covers will accommodate my aesthetic desires for the car. I'll continue to look for a leather interior for the car in the meantime. Thanks!

PFB

If your car has side airbags, than make sure that whatever you get is compatible with side airbags. Also make sure that whatever material you get, that it does not emit a foul odor. Many do so permanently. Especially the cheap ones.

KSES300

Can you list (or private message to avoid slander)me the foul odored ones so that I could just eliminate those you've had a bad experience with?

Any weird smells with the iggee covers ATLCAL?

atlcal

Nope, no odd smells to report.

KSES300

Thanks! I'm sold...

atlcal

I'll try to snap some pictures later and post them. I highly recommend taking the seat out to do the job, it was a breeze and only took about 15 minutes per seat once it was out of the car. 4 bolts and a couple wire connectors per seat, well worth it.

PFB

As I mentioned in my reply to you, MAKE SURE that whatever you get, has been specifically designed to be compatible with side airbags.

Your side airbags are inside the seat, and are designed to deploy, through the side of the seat. The original Lexus lether has special stitching on the side, deigned to tear away when the airbag deploys.

If you don't use a replacement with stitching deigned to breakaway in a deployment, the airbag will explode INSIDE your seat.

Phil

KSES300

I'm looking at the iggee covers mentioned. I will see if they accommodate the configuration of the airbags. If they don't, I won't get them. I'm still hoping to find seats in a salvage yard, so I'm not exactly locked into a single plan. Thanks again for the tip!

KSES300

I'm looking at the iggee covers mentioned. I will see if they accommodate the configuration of the airbags. If they don't, I won't get them. I'm still hoping to find seats in a salvage yard, so I'm not exactly locked into a single plan. The car-part sight has given me yet another option. Thanks again for the tip!

PFB

Can you post a picture of your front seats?

This may not be applicable to your circumstance, but in my case my seats were in good condition, so to keep them that way, I bought some clothes seat covers from Wal Mart. Since they were not side airbag compatible, I just covered the bottom cushion part of the seat.

They match the interior of my car (black), and have served me well for the last 5 years or so.I also apply leather protectant to all my seats every month.

KSES300

I'm snowed in at work(day three) so I can't get a pic of the seats right now.

My seat color seems to be a unique "chocolate" color. I see black, gray and tan everywhere, but not my seat color. I can't find a reference to it online anywhere. Even the trim code(LQ95) brings nothing up on Google. The damage to my front seats is primarily on the seat part, so while I'm searching for a matching set of seats, I can get by by covering the seats with a side air bag compatible cover or just covers for the seat part. I'm more concerned with the back of the rear seat where damage from the sun has completely disintigrated the top and headrests of the rear seat.