not bad with the leather swatches. have you consider a re-upholstery shop. i had a friend re-upholstered a brand new honda civics to leather seats for $2k so i would think two head rest should be less.

 

Are you sure xvipers is correct on ebay? Doesn't appear to be a parts seller.

 

Xvipers has both; an eBay Seller's site and a web page.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2002-2009-LE...a0bc97&vxp=mtr I don't know how to make that a link but if you get there they are $145.00

 

Well there you go, it made itself into a link!

 

That's pretty strange.. never seen or heard of that before.

 

OK..........it's 1866xvipers on ebay. That should help! And the ebay store is XVIPERS1.

 

I agree with Mr Blister, no need to by new parts, a good auto upholstery shop can fix it - probably 100 bucks. Or just do the sharpie method or what you used to get one side black and no one will ever notice.

 

Bob,

I agree with JohnnyCake, the job you did will be good enough that only you will notice. Everyone else will think that is the way it is supposed to look, if they even notice it at all.

BTW, my '02 has the same issue. There was an earlier post some years back about someone else who was dealing with the gap but I don't remember if he was able to resolve it. I've only owned my '02 for 6 years and am not sure if it was already that way when I bought it or if the gaps are a development that happened during that time. I wonder if Lexus would consider that to be a workmanship issue and cover it under warranty. (Okay, likely to be a big stretch, no pun intended, but couldn't hurt to ask.)

Let us know how it turns out,
Harold

 

We'll I know it's NOT covered under my extended Platinum warranty. There is a specific exclusion for upholstery.

 

Bummer, but I guess that I'm not surprised. FWIW, there are several folks with the same problem, including me (as I mentioned earlier). I think a discussion with an upholsterer would at least be enlightening. Who knows, the price to haves someone else deal with it may be worth it or you could learn just how easy it is to rectify yourself.

 

I bought my 2002 two months ago with 24k miles on it but my rear headrests looked just like the ones pictured. They are also black leather. Xvipers wanted $145 for each headrest. I had mine recovered in leather at a local trim shop for $100 a piece. He did a fantastic job at matching the color, grain and stitching, plus he ran the edge of the leather one half inch past the plastic edge so I won't have to worry about shrinkage, well at least not with my head rests LOL.

 

Man, I wouldn't ride in that car now!
I once had the side of a seat rip on my truck where i used to get in and out and rub with my pants/***...took it to an auto upholstery place and they matched and replaced for $100.

My guess is 200-400 for the headrests

 

Bob, yeah mine has the same thing, also on he left. I think one positive is that after it lets go it doesn't seem to get worse. I read a post from someone else with the same problem. I painted out mine with just some flat black enamel, but your fix looks good. if you don't know what to look for, hardly noticeable.

 

My 2002 had that problem also Bob. Wife did the sharpie on it. I consider it a temporary fix. Money goes fast here in the desert. Dries up from the heat I guess. kevin