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I have no experience with the Ebay seller. However, I personally would rather stay within the Rx7 community and purchase from Rotary Performance. Their covers are great quality and color matching is perfect.
i bought those exact same seat covers (appears to be the same covers through a different seller) back in 2008 and they were very nice. made my car smell like new leather.
it was very labor intensive re-hog-ringing every connection point, but the seats ended up very nice. felt like a new car after i got those plus the shifter boot and ebrake boot (redline).
I just purchased my second set of covers from them. Only because I wanted a theme/color change. Here are a couple considerations:
They are made in China even though the seller location is Houston, Tx.
Both sets I purchased have an odd smell to them. Not a nice leather smell like you would expect. I do not think they smell bad though, just odd.
These have a few minor differences from stock covers. There are no back pockets. The center sections of the seats come with single row stitches instead of double row like factory.
These covers when installed properly will fit tight and nice and snug.
You can install these yourself but takes patience and quite a bit of time, because you have to fabricate some listing rods out of coat hangers or whatnot for the hog rings to mount to.
Be careful with the seat belt guides when transferring them over. I made custom guides because my old seats were red.
Both times I purchased them the reserve was 279 so about 300 shipped. Great value if you ask me.
Material/leather seems to be of a decent quality. No problems with longevity here, but my car is not my daily, and it is garaged.
If you want to order any color other than black, just order their color sample swatch to make sure you get what you want.
Last edited by Andre The Giant; 07-04-13 at 04:46 PM.
Thanks!
Their "feedback" is really solid. I redid my seats in 07, so I know what is involved.
I know we have some great vendors on the forum, not always the best value though.
yeah andre is spot-on. i used some thick plastic coat hangers to make the rods for the hog rings to grab onto. if you've re-done your seats before, you know all that.
i thought the seat covers i got were high quality and definitely worth the 400$ shipped.
Have Noel (Salva) do a set for you. His covers are A+in quality. They are all leather including the backs and have the OEM pockets as well. The leather is from Italy and you can pick your color and then type of leather (perforated or solid). You can contrast the stitching and he does double stitching. I had mine made with "Mazda" on the headrests.
They won't be a cheap as the ones from China but ultimately you'll be better off with higher quality and thus, a better value.
I also wanted to mention, the texture of the eBay covers is different from the smooth OEM leather finish. It is more of a medium "pebble" texture, and it grips you in the turns. No sliding around like the stock seats.
Of course you've also brought up another good point about the leather content. The China covers are synthetic leather on the back and part of the sides. The seating surfaces are leather, decent thickness. Surely one of the reasons they are priced lower than a custom job, aside from the obvious "made in china" factor.
If they had been priced at 400 or maybe a bit more, I would have definitely gone the route you did. But for the DIYers out there, the lower price makes new seats easier to attain.
I was thinking of buying a set myself from the Ebay seller. My stock seats are cloth though. Will this mean any differences for installation?
How long roughly did it take to put the covers on? Since this is my daily driver, I dont exactly want to be without seats for a long period of time while I put the covers on.
I was thinking of buying a set of the black Ebay covers and taking them to an upholstery place and having some 'Mazda' or 'RX-7' insignia stitched into the headrests before I attempted to put the covers on..
Shouldn't make any difference if you start out with base cloth seats or leather.
The eBay seller has an optional embroidery for the headrest area. They were pretty helpful with my custom requests and questions. Just make sure you're both clear on what you want before you send any money. They make them quickly and send them fast. No time to change your mind. I had mine on my doorstep 9 days after payment.
Here's what they say about it:
We can make any custom or oem embroideries or embossing logo on the covers. you can send any logo picture which you want be embroideries or embossing on the seat cover.
I was thinking about getting it also, but decided on a more simple look.
I think I did both my seats on a Sunday. Taking my sweet time and making them look perfect. Took quite awhile to measure/cut/bend the wire hangers into the listing rods and arrange them in the seats. Your hands will be tired from the wire cutters, needle nose pliers, and hog ring pliers. Make sure you buy a pair of hog ring pliers off amazon or something.
If I can force myself to stop being lazy, I may install my new covers this weekend and make a write-up of the process.
Andre, that would be awesome if you did a write up with some pics. I'm definitely not upholstery-familiar, and the seat covers would be outside my comfort zone (I prefer electronics and mechanical/body work naturally)..
I wanted to get something similar to the Buick Grand National turbocharger scroll symbol (that orange & red badge the turbo GN's had) on each headrest, but obviously different colours to suit the FD. Maybe some sort of twin-scroll looking design thing....
So would 2 hours per seat seem reasonable for a re-cover? I'll look into hog ring pliers...
I'd just really like to get rid of the cloth. Its faded to a pinky-gray over the years, and it looks outdated. The cloth lets the rest of the interior down IMHO.
I personally would have a reputable upholstery shop do the work. They have specialty tools and knowledge that allows the learning curve to justify the cost.
I had a close friend recover his FB seats with Racing Beat's new leathers. It turned out "ok". After a bit of frustration he took it to a professional. He was charged $100 a seat and they looked excellent afterwards!! They "re-formed" the OEM foam with a steam machine, and also added some new to bring back the shape. The work is guaranteed and warrantied. For $200, it was worth taking it get it done right.
I personally would have a reputable upholstery shop do the work. They have specialty tools and knowledge that allows the learning curve to justify the cost.
I had a close friend recover his FB seats with Racing Beat's new leathers. It turned out "ok". After a bit of frustration he took it to a professional. He was charged $100 a seat and they looked excellent afterwards!! They "re-formed" the OEM foam with a steam machine, and also added some new to bring back the shape. The work is guaranteed and warrantied. For $200, it was worth taking it get it done right.
I would definitely go that way for quality, but here in Australia, last time I checked (around a month and a half ago) to have that same level of work done by a reputable upholsterer on both front seats, I was quoted $1200-$1500.00 AUD in time and labor... I walked away shaking my head. I had the whole interior in my '70 Chrysler reupholstered in Ferrari-beige leather and vinyl, and that cost $5000.00 AUD about 4 years ago. Aussies seem to be paying a huge premium in upholstery costs compared to the US. Hence my extreme interest in the Ebay 'Seats01' route.
(sorry for the thread hijack. Felt it was worth an explanation)
I meant have a shop install the covers. Some shops are just out of control on their pricing. It really depends on location, cost of materials, and how much they love their own work.
A shop should be able to give you a good price on installing the covers, and get an amazing result.
Finished most of one seat last weekend. Takes twice as long when taking pictures of every step
Was going to finish Monday night and get started on the tutorial, but my home AC decided to dump all the refrigerant out through a hole inside the condenser unit, so my nights after work are going to be devoted to fixing that first.
I was going to recommend Leatherseats.com but I looked and they have almost doubled in price since I purchased (I think it was a group buy) several years ago. great quality and they have held up well. . .
I purchased some from ebay a while back, they do smell weird due to the synthetic leather.
They will fade over time if let them out on the sun. Tinted windows will help reduce the fading though, the install is not as bad as you might think.
Anyone know anyone or anywhere that sells JUST the rear seat covers (folding back part included). Mine are rubbish and it's one of the last few unsightly things requiring attention in my interior. Are they willing to ship or located in Japan. I'm on a mega budget (student) and can't pay premium coinage. So hoping 🙏.
Have you tried taking them to an upholstery shop? I've never personally had to recover Mazda seats, but watching people on the forums... In my opinion the custom upholstery shops do 10x a better job than the premade covers people buy online.
Do you know of any reputable shops in Japan? It may come as a surprise, but I hardly let any ships do any work on my car here. With all the experiences I've had with them the jobs have been half-arsed with the premium price tag.
07-04-13, 06:19 AM
Anyone bought Seat Covers from Seats01
