Re-upholstered Leather Seats + Seat Heaters

[BamaDrewski]

I have been piecing together parts for the past few months and ordered leather seat replacement upholstery and seat pad from US Autonation on Ebay. Had to order the OE seat back foam from McGeorge (least expensive) and they (USPS or McGeorge) lost the first shipment and had to send a replacement via FedEx.

I purchased a carbon fiber seat heater kit from Ebay and took my time to install everything correctly. REALLY IMPRESSED with the way everything turned out. Only sad thing is the crappy lumbar support (even though I tested it with the covers off) still does not work. Very poor design by Toyota.

PROS: The seats seem to sit “higher” as the new foam is firmer.

CONS: Takes a lot of time and effort to get everything right but better than paying an upholstery shop to do it at $1,000-$1500 per seat. Pictures will be posted later……

 

[plcfcng]

Would really like to see and read more

 

[BamaDrewski]

Would really like to see and read more

Attaching some pics....

 

[brillo_76]

Nice job. The seats look great and I need to do a few sets. I want to put heaters in as well. Thank you for sharing :]

Sent from my SM-J337V using Tapatalk

 

[BamaDrewski]

Nice job. The seats look great and I need to do a few sets. I want to put heaters in as well. Thank you for sharing :]

Sent from my SM-J337V using Tapatalk

If you take your time (and there are some awesome "how-to" videos on YouTube) it won;t be hard at all. Get some hog ring pliers or use zip ties. Zip ties make it easier. ONE THING: when you disassemble your old seats, keep the metal rods and re-use them in the new upholstery covers. You need them to fasten the cover to the seat with zips or hog rings.

 

[APhelps]

Metal zip ties work extremely well, hog rings are great if you can get the pliers to work. The pliers are quite expensive though and a bit of a bear to use unless you have nice ones.

 

[BamaDrewski]

Metal zip ties work extremely well, hog rings are great if you can get the pliers to work. The pliers are quite expensive though and a bit of a bear to use unless you have nice ones.

U used zip ties to get the connections in place and then used hog rings to make sure they stayed. Easier than wrestling down the connection with finicky hog ring pliers and hog rings flying all over the place....

 

[Bad Luck]

I have been piecing together parts for the past few months and ordered leather seat replacement upholstery and seat pad from US Autonation on Ebay. Had to order the OE seat back foam from McGeorge (least expensive) and they (USPS or McGeorge) lost the first shipment and had to send a replacement via FedEx.

I purchased a carbon fiber seat heater kit from Ebay and took my time to install everything correctly. REALLY IMPRESSED with the way everything turned out. Only sad thing is the crappy lumbar support (even though I tested it with the covers off) still does not work. Very poor design by Toyota.

PROS: The seats seem to sit “higher” as the new foam is firmer.

CONS: Takes a lot of time and effort to get everything right but better than paying an upholstery shop to do it at $1,000-$1500 per seat. Pictures will be posted later……

After a 7 hour round trip drive on Saturday I realize that I'm in desperate need of better seats. My stock seats are absolutely torture after an hour!

How are the new seat foams holding up and feeling? Can you compare old vs new foams for me? Is it worth the investment to refoam and reupholster or would you go a different route?

 

[BamaDrewski]

After a 7 hour round trip drive on Saturday I realize that I'm in desperate need of better seats. My stock seats are absolutely torture after an hour!

How are the new seat foams holding up and feeling? Can you compare old vs new foams for me? Is it worth the investment to refoam and reupholster or would you go a different route?

In response to your post and inquiry, I could not be happier!!!!! The seats are holding up (no sagging, shrinking, compression) as well as the leather seat covers from Ebay. I put in seat heaters (carbon fiber from ebay) and when it was cold, they worked like a champ. I would HIGHLY recommend this. It is expensive to gather the parts and time consuming to do the work but at the end of the day, doing yourself will save you a bunch of $$$$$$! If you are like me and love your rig and never plan to get rid of it, I would recommend this.

 

[jgue467]

I had both fronts recovered in pleather with all new foam, bottoms and backs. 2 stage foam, majority is firm underneath and a baby soft upper layer.

They feel awesome and make up for an out of the box not so good ride on these vehicles. I'm lazy so had found a shop. Left in shop for 7 hrs and $750 later (austin) - best money I ever spend on this truck.

 

[Bad Luck]

In response to your post and inquiry, I could not be happier!!!!! The seats are holding up (no sagging, shrinking, compression) as well as the leather seat covers from Ebay. I put in seat heaters (carbon fiber from ebay) and when it was cold, they worked like a champ. I would HIGHLY recommend this. It is expensive to gather the parts and time consuming to do the work but at the end of the day, doing yourself will save you a bunch of $$$$$$! If you are like me and love your rig and never plan to get rid of it, I would recommend this.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. Any advice or tips/tricks to make this any easier? What size hog rings will I need?

 

[shadow247]

I had both fronts recovered in pleather with all new foam, bottoms and backs. 2 stage foam, majority is firm underneath and a baby soft upper layer.

They feel awesome and make up for an out of the box not so good ride on these vehicles. I'm lazy so had found a shop. Left in shop for 7 hrs and $750 later (austin) - best money I ever spend on this truck.

Do you have the name of the shop? I would love to put Pleather in my 3rd gen. I know some people think it's tacky because it's "fake leather" but the newer stuff is great and holds up just as well or better than leather.

 

[Ser1clymb]

Do you have the name of the shop? I would love to put Pleather in my 3rd gen. I know some people think it's tacky because it's "fake leather" but the newer stuff is great and holds up just as well or better than leather.

If you're just looking for the leather, I found a guy on eBay (Wolfman Auto and Cycle) that makes synthetic stuff specifically for our generation 4runner. I installed bottoms and uppers on both front seats and it is great. I think it matches the factory perfectly.