Will a Leather Interior Kit give me good results?

[kcmullan]

I am in the market for a Toyota Corolla, but finding a newer model with leather interior has proved difficult. I need the leather because I have a dog with a serious shedding problem and live in a notoriously muddy area-- cloth won't cut it for me anymore. I have researched buying a $450 leather interior replacement kit from ebay and having it professionally installed-- has anyone had a similiar experience? Does this work? Does it look nice? Is it worth the money? If not... is there another Toyota that comes with leather (under 13k) that might be a good buy?

[gideon1331]

I've been looking at the leather kits myself. If you get the right ebay auction, you can buy the same kits that the dealers installed on new cars. All Corollas came with cloth seats, and if you ordered leather, the dealer would remove the cloth and install the leather.

It shouldn't be too difficult to install, since you simply undo the zipper for the cloth, slip off the covers, and put the leather on.

I too would like to hear from anyone who has done this...as I have been eying the leather kit for my 05.

[kayxrs]

Katskin whatever its called makes leather kits for our cars. btw why not just buy seat covers to cover the cloth seats? since you have a dog, you wouldnt feel bad if the seat covers just ripped or anything.

[Marc M]

Originally Posted by gideon1331

It shouldn't be too difficult to install, since you simply undo the zipper for the cloth, slip off the covers, and put the leather on.
I too would like to hear from anyone who has done this...as I have been eying the leather kit for my 05.

It's not as easy as you paint the picture. It requires much more than just slipping covers off and on.

I put a leather kit with seat heaters in my '06 Tacoma. Every indented line in the seating surface, back and bottom, has a metal rod that slips into a pocket in the upholstery. They are then held to the seat cushions with hog rings. It's not extremely difficult, but it is time consuming.

I now know why the local shop wanted $600.00 to install the kit.









Marc M

[NMGeorge]

Marc, I am impressed - very nice kit/install.