jax seat cover review

[j13smiley]

with our limited choices for new uphostry, i shouldn't complain. overall these are nice pieces. i guess i was just expecting a little more as far as build quality. i also didn't know all the detals about installing seat covers... i removed my seats from the car and wanted to find a shop where i could drop off the seats, let them remove / replace the seat covers. well - i called 5 local shops / individuals - all quoted me $400 minimum. so i figured i might as well go with the best... ended charging me an extra hour of labor for a grand total of $500 for installation.

one thing to remember - the plastic side bolters (plastic, ribbed things on the side of the seat backs), the leather gets sewn onto the plastic! so this is probably not a a do-it-yourself uphostry swap. it's a little bit more than some hog rings. now - think plastic... think plastic that has holes in it from a big sewing needle. the plastic gets weak there, and sewing on new seat covers makes another row of holes.... so remember the risk you are taking by doing this. if your plastic is still in good shape (still soft, not split anywhere) you'll probably be ok - but there is no gauruntee. my installer suggested cutting the old leather about 1" from the pastic - and sewing the new leather to that old leather instead of the plastic. luckily my plastic was in good shape and it all worked fine (so far), but if your plastic is showing age - you make want your uphoster to try this technique.

here's the covers. 2 bottoms, 2 tops, 2 headrests. look exactly like the stockers down to the carpeting bottoms and black wraps...

http://smiley.tzo.com/fbody/pics/tta/covers.jpg


as for the quality - the leather is good, color is good, grain pattern matches on all pieces compared to stock, really good stuff - except for the stitching. obviously colors will change in 15 years so nothing will be a dead on match but here are some color comparisons....

http://smiley.tzo.com/fbody/pics/tta/match1.jpg
http://smiley.tzo.com/fbody/pics/tta/match2.jpg


i was really disappointed with the stitching. the seams were nice - but the stitching that runs parrallel to the seams did not match worth a crap! look at some of these pics to see how wavy it is. i took lots of pics to show that this wavy stitching wasn't just found in 1 or 2 spots. look at pics 4 and 9 for the worst spots

http://smiley.tzo.com/fbody/pics/tta/stitch1.jpg
http://smiley.tzo.com/fbody/pics/tta/stitch2.jpg
http://smiley.tzo.com/fbody/pics/tta/stitch3.jpg
http://smiley.tzo.com/fbody/pics/tta/stitch4.jpg
http://smiley.tzo.com/fbody/pics/tta/stitch5.jpg
http://smiley.tzo.com/fbody/pics/tta/stitch6.jpg
http://smiley.tzo.com/fbody/pics/tta/stitch7.jpg
http://smiley.tzo.com/fbody/pics/tta/stitch8.jpg
http://smiley.tzo.com/fbody/pics/tta/stitch9.jpg
http://smiley.tzo.com/fbody/pics/tta/stitch10.jpg


this is an example of how they didn't tie off the ends where the stiching ends... i hope these things don't fall apart.

http://smiley.tzo.com/fbody/pics/tta/stitch11.jpg


i haven't put the seats back in the car yet - i'm working on cleaning all the interior since they are out of the way i'll post some installed pics when i put them back in.

 

[89ICBM]

I went another route with my interior, it's all custom.

 

[89ICBM]

Originally posted by 89ICBM

Here's my seat

 

[Metal]

I have no complaints with the Jax covers I put on #1415 but if you had issues with the quality why did you install them, I would have called them and addressed the issue.
No flame intended
Jim

PS
Howdy Frank!

 

[TT/Ameasap]

I would have sent those back if time allowed. They are nice IMO ,but the stitching was a little goofy. We would have to warn them about the stitching quality before I would do a GP on them.

They do look like a good match tho.

 

[j13smiley]

well - limited availability.... where else can we go? carmotorsports doesn't have them anymore and want to charge twice as much to make 1. i don't exactly want to drop the $$$ for a one off custom interior some where :dunno: i figured we don't have many choices. yes i could see some stitching issues before i put them on - some were harder to see until they were stretched over a seat.

i did say that overall they are pretty nice. the seams are straight - just the stitching around them is all weird. how many people will notice that - besides car nutz/ detailing freaks like me... there's not many of us. but i did want to post it all for anyone doing resto on these cars. maybe i did just get a bad pair people have been asking me about them since i ordered them... especially some of the guys trying to get the gp going...

 

[chicagoTTA]

EXCELLENT info. I am sure I'm just one of many here looking to replace seat covers.

CarMotorSports isn't making them anymore? That's really a pisser since that makes Kax really the only choice then.

Thanks for the extremely detailed pics and post.

I'm in for a GP. If we get them to take more time on the stitching it otherwise looks pretty good.

 

[j13smiley]

well i guess i can't edit my first post... but here are the installed pics! looks really nice!

http://smiley.tzo.com/fbody/pics/car_89_ta_seats2.jpg

http://smiley.tzo.com/fbody/pics/car_89_ta_seats1.jpg

 

[Jan Larsson]

I had no issues either with my Jax seat covers, looking closly at the seams maybe they are wavy in one or two places but nothing bad. I would have talked to them if you were not pleased with the quality, Jason is good to deal with at Jax. I'm impressed you managed to install them your self, I had a local guy do it in the evenings (took 2 weeks ...) and paid back then about $150 or so.