DIY: Leather Install

After searching online for a DIY i couldnt find anything helpfull, only thing that helped was a video from youtube. Heres a quick rundown of the way i installed my leather, hope this helps!

with 2 people working together it took about 4 hours for the rear.


Tools i used...i heard the hog ring pliers are hard to find and can be expensive, luckily i went to Acehardware and found a pair for $10 and a box of 100 hog rings for $3.










I first took apart the rear seats...



flipped it over and pulled apart the stock fabric...in the cracks youll see hog rings clamped to a metal rod. using your tool snap/break it off by applying pressure and twisting.



Turn the leather inside out and place over your seat...



Next you will be using your Hog Ring Tool...



as you can see it comes with a plastic linning. you insert that between the cracks. at the bottom is a metal rod. thats where you'll attached the ring to.





each side has 2 places where youll need to add a hog ring...heres what one side looks like...



after you apply all the hog rings to the needed places you then pull the leather over the seats. flip it over and it should look like this...then you need to pull the leather over the wedge and push it down so it locks into place. start on one side and work your way around.



heres what it looks like finished.




on to the next seat...


Repeat the steps and take apart the stock fabric...



You need to take apart the plastic back piece...pull the squared corners and with a socket wrench unscrew everything....





heres what it should look like...break/snap off the stock hog rings...



Pull apart the stock fabric...



Then you need to follow the steps from the other seat, turn the leather inside out, place it over and insert the plastic linning into the cracks then use your hog ring tool and attach the rings to the metal rod. after pull over the leather and just like the stock fabric add hog rings all around...





the right side had a pre-cut hole for this strap but my left side didnt so i cut a small hole using a exacto knife or blade then pulled it out...



cut another whole for the seat belt...



In the begining i forgot to mention that you need to take apart the headrest POST by looking from the back, you simply pinch the side and push up.

Here when the leather is now on...using your fingers feel on top for the "square shaped" hole. when your positive on where its at cut a small X in the middle.





Insert the headrest post through the top of the hole, i guess the bigger the hole is the easier it might be but i was scared to cut to much...



It was a pain to fit it all the way down so i hammered it down



NOW that everythings done, put the back plastic together and your seats are FINISHED!



i finished late so i didnt get to fix all the tiny imperfections but ill get to it soon, next ill be doing the front seats with seat warmers, head rest and my custom leather armrest!

**Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics.
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lookin good man.

 

Good start. You're factory upholstery looked like it was in pretty rough shape.

For any Canadians thinking of doing this I found the hog ring pliers and hog rings at Princess Auto. I think it was $10 for the pliers and $5 for a box of rings. Of course I found them there after I purchased some online for about $35!

 

princess auto? Who the hell thought of that name...?

 

Not sure, probably gay though. They have all sorts of stuff there. I have never been to a harbor freight but I'm thinking they sell some similar stuff as they do. Looking at Harbor website I wouldn't be surprised if they were the same company.

 

DAMN that finished pic looks AMAZING! Good job!

Harbor freight is AMAZING.. if Princess Auto has anything by Chicago Electric, its the same company.

 

can we see final product pics?



EDIT: When you finish of course

 

The front seats are already there.... the last pic

 

^^Thanks. yeah ill get pics up sometime during the week after i finish everything.

 

nice work...but ray is rubbing off on you too much...you start going bold and your out!!

 

Super clean man, im loving the color and embroidery on those!

 

looks great. how much for the leather?

 

Oh man Oscar I've been looking at color combos for the past month on katzkin. I want to do the 2 tone as well....what colors did you pick? Looks great! Hopefully I make it over to Downey to check yours and rays leather.

 

^^^Thanks guys. around $900

thanks ty, i went with black and graphite...i was going to do dark graphite but it had no contrast with the black. come out and check it out 2mrw!! if u cant make it to the meet we will be installing my front seats at my house after.

 

Looks great. I want to see it in person.

 

SOOOOOOOOOO sick i wish i had time to stop by the meet and check it out in person!!

 

holy crap...I am so paying someone else to do that

 

Where did you get the leather from? Is there a site where you can just get the leather pre-made and then do all this?

 

great writeup, I want these seats. Just need to come up with $900.

 

If you hear creaking/rattling from the rear seats going over the bumps in the cold weather, check the rectangle hole that you cut and the plastic cover for the middle seat belt. The plastic parts rub against each other making the noise. Took me a long time to find where the noise came from. Didn't happen with cloth seats.