I know many have replaced their own leather seat covers. Often, writeups will suggest to use zip ties instead of the metal hog rings for the attachments.

Just curious, what size of ties was needed for as strong of a fit as needed. Also, do the thinner ties (than the hog rings) cut into the leather causing damage? Seems like the pressure would be greater and the friction more than on the large metal hogs.

Any help would be appreciated. The local installer wants $250 per seat to install the covers, so I'm definitely going to give it a try first.

Did anyone do anything to re-energize the foam before putting the new covers on? I know that after 15 years, there must be some wear and tear.

Thanks for any input.

 

I used zip ties on a seat cover replacement on my Acura TL. Way easier than the hogrings. Just use some decent sized ones and face the joint away from the seat cover (keeps the end from digging into the leather and showing as a bump.

 

If you do go ahead with this yourself I know several members, including myself, would greatly appreciate you snapping a few pics while you are working on the install. Maybe you would be able to find some sort of plastic/rubber ring at a local hardware store to help displace the force being put on the leather by the zip tie?

Noah

 

You could get some small nylon or plastic tubing from lowes or somewhere and put the zip tie through it to disperse the pressure.

 

Man, if you're gonna do it, do it right. Get a set of hog ring pliers and a bunch of hog rings from Eastwood Company - it's not too pricey. I did the seats in my wife's old FC back in the day, and they worked VERY well. I can't see zip ties being any faster - matter of fact, I think they'd be SLOWER.

The hog rings hold VERY tight too. Pop them in the pliers, pull the cover where you want it, place the hog ring in there and sqeeze. Done. You don't have to punch any holes or do anything since the hog rings are sharpened on the ends and will punch their way in.

I seriously don't see the advantage in zip ties. You'd have to pre-punch holes for each tie, pull them tight, then snip the excess. Finally, I can see the small plastic tang that locks the tie in place failing over time.

Dale

 

Nylon zip ties get britttle with age and will eventually break. If you use zip ties, get the black uv resistant ty-rap brand zip ties.

 

The thing I hate about the hog rings is they rust... A few years back I took the factory fabric off of my 240 seats and ran them through the washing machine. Worked fantastic. I used zip ties to hold them back on and it worked out great.

 

I worked at a benz dealership for about 4 years and did several covers, you can do it either way, if your just doing the leather and not the cushion, zip ties can give you a tighter look if you pull the zip tie tighter(be carefull you could FUBAR it if you HEMAN it), if the cushion is degraded. You can always add polyester batting for blankets and all if you need a little "filler." Remember though hogrings are the right way and the way I would do it unless you can't find any and if the cushion didn't look like a sumo wrestler sat on it. PEACE