After 22 years of having the Integra, the cloth interior was really starting to show its age. The drivers seat bottom and seat back both had holes through the fabric and foam. I had already installed a Katzkin leather kit in my truck a few years ago and was very happy with the results, so I decided to take on the challenge and redo the stock cloth interior in the Integra with leather also.
I ordered the kit from www.shopsar.com for just over $800. It brought everything I needed except the hog rings and the tools. I was surprised that it even included the leather cover for the armrest (which most stock Integras do not have).
For those that have never seen a Katzkin leather kit, you dissasemble the seats and completely remove the stock cloth or leather covers. You fix any holes or rips in the foam with new foam and glue. You then install the new Katzkin covers on your original seat frames and foam. While I had the interior completely apart, I took out the carpet, cleaned it thoroughly, and took care of a few other cosmetic issues inside the car.
The kit also came with the leather inserts for the doors and rear quarters (the panels under the rear seat windows). I haven’t installed those yet because I’m still researching the best way to do it.
The kit can be ordered in any color combination and with different types of leather or patterns. I went with the simple flat leather in a two tone color combination with black and cobalt (blue).
It was a ton of work and took me almost a week to complete, but here are some before and after pics of the finished interior. I am very happy with the results.
That’s pretty awesome that they offer that kit. It’s a bummer that they don’t offer a cloth kit or anything that more closely resembles the OE materials. BTW, did you happen to try using a heat gun on the leather at all? IIRC I saw a video once with someone fitting leather skins on seats and they used a heat gun to ensure that they could really pull and stretch the material to get it to fit really snug and hug the contours of the underlying frame.
[QUOTE=1ntegra;2325235]After 22 years of having the Integra, the cloth interior was really starting to show its age. The drivers seat bottom and seat back both had holes through the fabric and foam. I had already installed a Katzkin leather kit in my truck a few years ago and was very happy with the results, so I decided to take on the challenge and redo the stock cloth interior in the Integra with leather also.
I ordered the kit from www.shopsar.com for just over $800. It brought everything I needed except the hog rings and the tools. I was surprised that it even included the leather cover for the armrest (which most stock Integras do not have).
For those that have never seen a Katzkin leather kit, you dissasemble the seats and completely remove the stock cloth or leather covers. You fix any holes or rips in the foam with new foam and glue. You then install the new Katzkin covers on your original seat frames and foam. While I had the interior completely apart, I took out the carpet, cleaned it thoroughly, and took care of a few other cosmetic issues inside the car.
The kit also came with the leather inserts for the doors and rear quarters (the panels under the rear seat windows). I haven’t installed those yet because I’m still researching the best way to do it.
The kit can be ordered in any color combination and with different types of leather or patterns. I went with the simple flat leather in a two tone color combination with black and cobalt (blue).
It was a ton of work and took me almost a week to complete, but here are some before and after pics of the finished interior. I am very happy with the results.[/QUOTE]
That looks great. Thanks for sharing the images. There’s a guy locally who will redo an interior in leather. There’s a DA that shows up at the local dealership that he did. That looks nice too, bit it’s pricey.
Anyone had any experience with perforated leather seats on warm days. My car doesn’t have A/C. It’s not needed up here too much, and sucks power . . .
yeah… i dont like that at all. but hey, not my car right? i would have personally saved the money for mint seats and wrapped the panels myself… kinda like i did for 150$
but i also really dislike leather as i find it very uncomfortable (to hot in summer, to cold in winter)
for 800$ it seems like a good kit but i think it could have fit better. watch that those wrinkles dont turn into creases… leather breaks quickly once its creased and dries out a bit
The kit is made to fit a little loose when you first install it, then when it sits in the sun for a while, it tightens up and the wrinkles go away. The one I installed in my truck was the same way when I first installed it and after a week or so, all the wrinkles went away and it fits like a glove.
The kit is completely customizable when you order it, you pick the materials, style , flat, pleaded, perforated, etc and the colors for each panel. You can have logos embroidered, and many other options including electric seat heaters and others.
I went with the two tone because I personally like it, but I could have easily gone all black and it would have looked more elegant and stock.
Update. On Saturday, I decided to install the leather door inserts. After doing all the seats, I was confident I was up to the task… BIG MISTAKE. I completely butchered them. The edges look like crap and the material is stretched in some places which will not allow it to stick. Apparently, this part of the install requires more “artistic talent” than “mechanical abilities”. I was so upset that after all the work I put into the seats, I completely ruined it with the doors. I cpuldnt even bring myself to post about it until today. LOL
Now that I’ve had some time to regroup, and come up with a plan, I decided to make a change. I had originally ordered the insert panels in black (they give you the choice when you order). I have re-ordered the panels in the cobalt blue because I found that the Black inserts on black doors just disappears, so the blue panels on black doors will “pop” a little more and go better with the rest of the interior.
And NO, I’m not going to try to do it myself again. The panels are coming off and going to an auto upholstery shop to get done by someone who won’t butcher them the way I did.
Maybe try doing the rears on your own and hire out the fronts? The rears I suspect will be easier since the panel that needs to be covered is removable. I actually like the color of the black, it does blend in, but it’s also quite similar to the OEM leather door panel inserts (although a little darker).
The rear panel is removable??? Please tell me more about that, because the upholstery shop I spoke to today wanted to quote me a fortune because they claimed they had to dessasemble the whole rear interior to get the rear interior quarter panels out. If the insert panels can be removed without having to remove the whole interior, that would be awesome.
The rear inserts can be removed from the rear panels but unfortunately you DO have to remove the rear panels from the car to access the tabs that hold the inserts in place on the panel. They are bent on from the back. Why not remove them yourself? It’s a bit time consuming but not difficult to do.
Thanks. And yes, I’ll probably end up taking all the panels off and loading them in the back of my truck to save on the teardown and install charges. Unfortunately that will probably be a little complicated on my car because I have a panel installed behind the rear seat with all my electronics (audio system, amateur radio equipment, inverter, etc, etc). I need to see exactly what needs to come out in order to remove those panels.
The right panel needs to be replaced anyways because it has a tear in it from wrestling some house speakers into the back seat a long time ago, so maybe I’ll take a trip to the local u-pick and find a donor car to dissasemble for practice. LOL.
You did a better job than I did trying to wrap the door cards… I spent about two days fighting with it until I gave up, cleaned off all the glue and painted the inserts black. (I know its cringe-worthy, painting interior panels, but it actually came out really good.) Still need to do passenger side and now that I know the back ones come off…I’ll probably wrap those in vinyl. Nice to see something different here on the seats
they only have leather though, no fabric, right? All I saw was leather on the site.
