Removing seat covers

[mitmaks]

I was wondering how hard is it to remove seat covers? I'd like to install seat warmers and if I could remove skins myself I'd buy a seat warmer kit.

[MrMazda92]

I haven't verified it first hand, but I believe you'd be pulling hog rings from the lower seat portion. Did you want to warm both, or only the lower portion?

There is a guide somewhere for replacing the seat skins, I have been trying to find the link for a while now, it was on a former member's website... He went into detail on removal and repair of the seat cushions.

Maybe Nd4SpdSE has a link he could throw up for us?

[Nd4SpdSe]

I don't have a link but I have info, lol.

I did swap a fair amount of leather seat covers. The hog rings are a pain in the high knee because they don't cut well. My hands hurt for months after I did the rear seats (did heated pads in the front seats and in the rear) on the X, so get a damn good set of cutters.

They're not hard, but the fun part is just finding the hog rings, some are hidden well in the foam, but it's a bit tedious. Takes some patience, and time, but not hard. J-Beef used hog rings, but for me, since the only place (Princess Auto) that had the tool and rings was about an hour away, I used tie wraps in the Mx-3, and did as well in the Xterra, and a friends Xterra. Just make sure the cut end of the tie wrap is facing away from the seat cover, so it doesn't tear the cover, nor poke at your butt/back. I want to say that tie wraps are easier to work with because of the length, you're not fighting so much with the cover (and heating pad), and easy to tighten down because of that, so you don't need a 3rd hand when dealing with a small hog ring, plus the cover, plus a heating pad; just wrap the tie wrap around everything, than pull to tighten it up, I highly recommend it.

On the X for the heating pads, I had to cut holes through them to connect the seat cover to the actual seat support, and the pad sat right in between. You are allowed to make holes in the pads, and they do come with tape to protect the wire mesh that's now open and exposed from being cut. Another pro of using tie-wraps, especially the ones going *through* the heating pads, they don't conduct electricity, lol.