Katzkin Leather (Self-installed)

[UnOvertime]

Finally finished my Katzkin Leather swap. Took a few days over the course of a few weekends to get all the seats finished trying to find time between my friend and my schedules. We did not use a garment steamer to get the wrinkles out, just the Florida heat. So after tackling this fun project, I can now say my leather interior is self installed, it is not perfect, but I am fairly pleased. Matches well with my @JPM Coachworks interior pieces too, might need to finally finish with the speaker panels and door armrest pieces.


So thank you @greenguy101 for all the help. Not bad for two guys who had zero experience at all with this sort of thing.

Pictures:
1. Supplies
2. Stock Front
3. Stock Rear
4. 2 Weeks Settled Front
5. Completed Rear Seats
6. Single Rear Seat
7. Back of Front Katzkins.
8. Stripped Passenger Seat
9. Just skinned Drivers Seat
10. Just After Install

[FastLane1000]

Looks great! Alot of those wrinkles will work themselves out in the heat. A little bit of wrinkling is natural. It also helps to unpack the leather and let it sit out for a couple days before installing.

[UnOvertime]

That is what I am hoping for on the passenger side. We had to redo that one (it was the first seat we did) to get a large bubble out. My driver's seat is pretty good, but I also sit in that one and I rarely have a passenger so it doesn't help that the leather doesn't get worked.

[Buddhalite]

IMO that looks fantastic.

[greenguy101]

I'm not going to lie, the install was a total pain in the ass!! LOL. That being said I had a blast helping out, learned a lot about the process and would totally do it again.

[frs10]

so for the driver seat, was it easy to remove the original?

[UnOvertime]

Originally Posted by frs10

so for the driver seat, was it easy to remove the original?

Incredibly simple. Undo the four bolts in the floor with a e10 torx socket and then two plastic connectors in the front for the airbags and it comes right out. As for the fabric, you just need to cut the hog rings throughout the cushion and it slips right off. The Katzkin hog rings go back right where you took out the factory hog rings.

[frs10]

Originally Posted by UnOvertime

Incredibly simple. Undo the four bolts in the floor with a e10 torx socket and then two plastic connectors in the front for the airbags and it comes right out. As for the fabric, you just need to cut the hog rings throughout the cushion and it slips right off. The Katzkin hog rings go back right where you took out the factory hog rings.

oh man... i smell this coming in the future!

thanks man!!

[UnOvertime]

We had zero experience when we started this and it was not too difficult if you just take your time. It is a great mod and I will be interested to see future Katzkin interiors. Part of me wishes I would have got the Hot Lava and matched it with orange stitching.

[n2oinferno]

Originally Posted by UnOvertime

We had zero experience when we started this and it was not too difficult if you just take your time. It is a great mod and I will be interested to see future Katzkin interiors. Part of me wishes I would have got the Hot Lava and matched it with orange stitching.

Yeah, but then the steering wheel, shifter, and ebrake would need to be redone to match.

Looks like it turned out really good.

[AG3NT_5CARFAC3]

Originally Posted by UnOvertime

Finally finished my Katzkin Leather swap. Took a few days over the course of a few weekends to get all the seats finished trying to find time between my friend and my schedules. We did not use a garment steamer to get the wrinkles out, just the Florida heat. So after tackling this fun project, I can now say my leather interior is self installed, it is not perfect, but I am fairly pleased. Matches well with my @JPM Coachworks interior pieces too, might need to finally finish with the speaker panels and door armrest pieces.

WOW the seats look great! Where did you order them from if you don't mind me asking?

[ttknf]

Steam the seats with a small clothing steamer and those wrinkles will dissipate.

[UnOvertime]

Originally Posted by n2oinferno

Yeah, but then the steering wheel, shifter, and ebrake would need to be redone to match.

Looks like it turned out really good.

That was what I thought when I was looking at buying the car. However now that I bought the JPM Coachworks shift boot, knee pads, and ebrake boot I realize I could have contacted them and asked for orange stitching if I went the Hot Lava route.

@AG3NT_5CARFAC3 I bought them from Canadaseatskins.com. I looked around and they had the best pricing I could find.

@ttknf I might have to borrow one from a friend although I did see a video in another thread about the SARD seat covers where Ish from West Coast Customs used a few towels microwaved in water for a few minutes and then laid them on top of the seat and the wrinkles came right out.

[S84kam]

Just wanted to bump this. Looks amazing!