Katzkin Leather seats are installed! PICS

[auxmike]

Bought a set of Black leather Katzkin seat upholstery for my 2008 Hatchback. After about 5 hours of HARD work cutting and stretching the outcome is sweet!
This set in actually for a Yaris 3 door with a rear ONE piece rear bench seat. That meant I couldn't do the back with this set since I have the 60/40 seats. ):
Below is a simple spread of pics showing the job as it progressed. You do need hogs rings and the special pliers that go with them too. The metal on the underside of the seats is very sharp, be careful! Questions? Comments? BTW, I think this the first Katzkin car on Yaris World! The leather is thick and all the facings that touch your body are leather on these. Remember, unlike Clazzio, these are permenant! And yes, the OEM seat material is GLUED right onto the foam. Have fun peeling it off....

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[auxmike]

Disconnect the battery before starting. If you don't you may get an airbag light...
Also, I put a thin plastic bag over the top of the seatback to make it slide right on.

[Freestylin]

Great work! :) That is a nice little touch of luxury added to the Yarii.

[kimona]

Nice job. They look great! Now, get the armrest recovered.

[auxmike]

I've already ordered a leather covered armrest.

[bewley]

nice job! i'm very impressed that you undertook this. removing the stock covers would be way too harrowing for me.

[packetrace]

How much you paid for it ?

[pennyracer]

looks nice will the wrinkles come out if so what did that package cost front and back seats for the liftback ?

[auxmike]

The set runs about $750 retail. Lets just say I got a very good deal (: I might be selling the rear seat leathers since they won't fit my 60/40 back..

[auxmike]

Wrinkles come out with steam or very hot wet hand towels. The drivers seat should smooth out after a couple of weeks driving..
They feel great and the car smells like ...well... Leather!

[auxmike]

I would like to recover the front door panel with thin black vynil as I hate that awful polka dot W cloth. Wonder how easy or hard it is??? Or how much a shop would charge me?

[enviri]

its cake. remove door card and grab a heat gun for a small time and peel off the cloth slowly till it comes off in one piece.. get vinyl and cut it according to the cloth you peeled off+an inch or two for stretching. the hard part is finding a very good interior vinyl/cloth spray adhesive. super 77 is ass. V&S 1081 is what i use.
There is a short diy that scott posted a while back.

[suckerface]

Great job man, looks fantastic!

[ilikerice]

luxurious! now throw a Lexus badge on that

[auxmike]

Leather armrest is in! $40 from Ebay, ships from NJ USA too...:)

[bewley]

I got my armrest through that seller too... when he was selling it for $27! Great seller, btw. Mine came a tiny bit damaged, I contacted the seller and I think I received the new one the next day! Looks great with those seats!

[auxmike]

The armrest is nice though to top hatch is kinda fragile. I don't plan on opening it much. It's a lot better looking than the odd design of the OEM part. I took a maguires leather conditioner wipe to everything and it looks great!

[bewley]

Hey Mike, My first latch was fragile because the hinge was a little off. I emailed the seller and he sent me a new one with a latch that makes better contact. It's still kinda fiddly, but not nearly as bad, not that it really matters... but if it bothers you, you could try contacting him (I think it's the same guy as it was sent from Jersey).

[david_827]

luxurious! now throw a Lexus badge on that

+1 :laughabove:

[DeathBeard]

can you buy just the fronts from Katzkin? I have the same rear seat situation

[auxmike]

I think you have to buy complete sets. You don't have the 60/40 part sitting at home do you?

[TOLMACH]

nice

[auxmike]

Finished the back seats....

[bewley]

that looks great. I'm glad this had a happy ending because of your willingness to switch. it seemed tragic to have your front seats so beautifully covered and then leave the backseats in the stock fabric.

[Gogogordy]

I'm curious why leaving the factory glued-on fabric isn't an option. Or is it?

[auxmike]

Removing the original cloth is required to allow room for the very tight fitting leather to go on.

[auxmike]

Since I ended using everything in the set including the rear covers, I will share what I paid for this set on Ebay. Are you ready... $175 shipped to my door! It was an under the radar listing, no pic even. Didn't even say what car it was for in the header either. I bought on the blind and it payed off handsomely. I had gotten a Classic Trim soft tan leather set for my old 1997 Saturn for $129 many years ago. The deals are out there, you just have to search hard and daily:w00t: