Review: bench seat cover for 05-08 from ebay

hey guys, in what i hope will be the first post in a potential review section that we can all post in,
I'm putting up my review of a set of seat covers for an 05-08(09?) bench seat.

here was the original ebay link, for a grey velour cover:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2005...QitemZ170259940412QQtcZphoto#ebayphotohosting

and their provided pic:


i'll get up my own pic when i can soon.

first off, let me say how hard it was to find a taco bench seat cover.
when i found this seller had tailored ones at that price, i had to jump on it.
even if it was crap, it would protect my seats for at least $40 worth of time, right?

probably so.

it shipped fast and was packed well. right off the bat i saw they were tailored extremely well. when i got them on, this was verified. with following exception, they fit like a glove. not generic or universal in any way. literally made for the seat and headrests. you get a lower bench cover, a back cover and three headrest covers.
the fault in the design- and it's only bad for 07 and up, apparently, is that there is a hole for the child belt where there should be a slit. since the 07 and ups have stupidly made their child belts permanently fused/locked, you can not remove the belt to get the buckle catch through the seat hole.
so for the time being i had to tuck the lower cover tightly around it, making it puckered unless i want to cut a SLIT and hem it up or drill out the plastic of the buckle lock.

so i blame toyota for this and not the cover company.

the fabric:
they call this velour. it feels pretty strong and that's good but it is not soft.
crunchy 'velour' that is smooth one way and rough another.
not the kind of thing that is going to make you stick to the seat, really not all that bad but i just expected it to be softer.
it is also very synthetic and time will tell how much it'll make me sweat. my hands were sweaty just handling it.
i don't know the fireproofness of it but it doesn't seem good.

they also offer a twill, but so far, only in tan that i can see. Velour comes in gray and black.
all are seamed with lines that match the existing bench. it is not just a flat panel, which is a good thing.

the back cover poses no problem to install, and even has a nice, huge, elasticized three pocket pouch built in the back. nice to have with a reg cab. i could literally put all the gear i had behind my seat in it, and the weight doesn't do anything but seem to make the cover fit better.

the lower cover is trickier. beside the child belt problem, is the fit width wise.
back to front, it holds with strapping that goes under the seat from back to front and cinches in buckles. there are about 6 points of this, and they work well to eliminate wrinkles.

side to side though, is a joke.
one long rough velcro strip on the passenger side, and one long fuzzy strip on the drivers side are supposed to run under the seat and meet in the middle.
they are velcro the entire length of the strip.

but the taco has a hump in the middle that you can't get your hand between. the only way to connect these strips would be to remove the seat. i'm not doing that for a seat cover. it was frustrating trying to do it when the rough strap kept sticking to the floor's rug.
so in the end i pulled each strap taught and tied them to the seat's support underneath.
what they should have done was have elastic strapping with just enough vecro to get the job done. my way works though.

overall, i'm ambivilent about it.
good price, awesome fit, kinda crappy fabric, and one major design flaw.

but if you want something to keep the dirt and crumbs out of your seat for a few months, it's a good deal.

 

So, how's the cover holding up? Issues? Also, it looks like they offer the twill in grey now, if anyone's interested.

 

I know this is a few months old thread, but I also bought a set in Grey Velour, I got them today, they look pretty good, the material looks strong, Same material some seats come with from factory (My brother 93' F150 seats are in this material), Im sure they will hold up great for normal use. Not bad for $50 + S/H, if you are not looking for anything fancy. I will install them tomorrow and write a small review here. Here are some pictures: