where can i buy katzkin leather seat covers?
where can i buy katzkin leather seat covers online? they told me they dont sell them to general public. that i need to go to a retail sallers. i want to buy it and put it on my self.
One Response
Leatherman_Craig
29 Oct 2009
You’re right – they don’t sell to the general public. You have to purchase it through one of their retail shops….
Installing the leather seats from Katzkin (or even Classic Soft Triim, their competition) is not an easy task….
it’s not like the seat covers you can buy at the local auto parts store and just slide over the original upholstery….
The katzkin and CST interior covers are made to REPLACE the seat covering material you have now….
what happens is that the old material (cloth, vinyl, whatever) is removed from the seat cushion material – it’s pulled off, cut off, etc…
First you remove the seats from the car… also, if the door panels have material that is to be recovered, you pull them off as well.
you have to remove ALL the trim from the seats – all that plastic side trim, any armrests, headrests, and all that… Then remove the existing cloth. In many cases, the cloth is also attached to the seat framework and springs – using "hog rings" – which are circles of metal that start at a C shape and are bent to the O circular shape – around the seat springs and support bars….
once all the material is removed that can be, the seat foam is usually sprayed with an adhesive glue…. then the new leather trim set is installed and those hog rings are used to attach (again) to the seat springs and structure… it’s all pulled tight….
Then the headrests are covered, as may be any armrests or other seat parts/sections… then the plastic trim is all installed back again and the seats are put in the car again… any material for the door panels is installed – either by using the spray adhesive and other glues and/or using the screws and other materials that hold the door panels in place….
It is a very labor intensive project and requires some specialized knowledge….
Best bet is to leave it to the pros…..
One other word of advice – take major care if your car has side-impact airbags that are mounted in the seats…. you have to disconnect the battery before you can unplug the wires and remove the seats….
Also, if you do replace the interior material or add seatcovers over airbag seats, they have to be made to "rip open" if the airbag needs to deploy…. if the seat covers do NOT have a rip open seam, then the airbags will not deploy or will deploy incorrectly and cause more injuries….