Katzkin Leather Seat Covers Reupholster Install Experience and Photos

[Kokorone]

I had the opportunity early on to work with Katzkin in California to fully reupholster my 4Runner SR5 with their XT line of leather seat covers.

All three rows have been fully reupholstered and the front two seats have heating and ventilation added in with their Degreez system.

Attaching some photos to start.

The overall experience was less streamlined than I expected but the end result is a solid 8/10 for the covers themselves and a 2/10 for install and care for my vehicle. From start to finish, it took approximately 3 weeks. I chose Atlantic XT leather throughout, but they opted to only have the front seats with full leather surface and a portion of the second row with leather. The remaining elements are a vinyl version of the XT offering. Second and third rows are flawless, but both front driver and passenger chairs are actually going to be warrantied with Katzkin as the covers have some QC issues, exposed foam, and they did damage plastic elements throughout the car that are on order for replacement.

If I had to find fault here especially since I'm the first to get this kind of reupholstery on a 6th gen 4R, I'd point out that the mobile installer they sent out just did not respect my vehicle. Plastics, clips, and other elements were manhandled and generally had a minimum level of care and I found 10-12 plastic elements that will need to be replaced for various issues. Most every seat element has some form of surface scratch or gouge, but it happens I suppose.

On the side of Degreez, they installed the system into both the driver and passenger chairs, but I'd honestly recommend skipping it. The features do work, but the heating is minimal and the ventilation is subpar. They did tap into several harnesses that I asked them to avoid and also installed large relays that block a few body panels from sitting as they should.

I currently have been in contact with Katzkin support and they are actually very helpful and responsive, regularly updating me on the status of what's happening on their end.

I think that for me specifically being the first, a lot of these issues were going to happen, but hoping that others who do this in the future have a better experience.

Attaching a few photos of the various sketchy elements.

 

[ModernDay4Runner]

Why did you do this and what was the cost?

 

[Kokorone]

Why did you do this and what was the cost?

I think the cost for this for anyone else will be around 2.5k iirc. I did this because they needed the pattern from my vehicle and I have three dogs so the seats need to be stain proof.

 

[ModernDay4Runner]

Oh, I see. Would that be about half of the price difference between a premium trim and a lower trim 4Runner?

 

[JenningsESQ]

That turned out nice. I like the dark blue / teal look of the Katzkin leather seats. Thanks for sharing the sketchy parts too, makes sense you may have seen those as their prototype vehicle.

 

[Cityzen10]

Aaaahhh... So that is what you have been up to. The color is really nice. Good that they are working with you to resolve the issues. Once you get those resolved you should have a nice final product.

 

[Dead Horse]

I understand things happen, and I'm generally not that picky...But DAMN I'd be heated if this was my car. That's some shoddy work.

 

[mars001]

I understand things happen, and I'm generally not that picky...But DAMN I'd be heated if this was my car. That's some shoddy work.

I'm also worried about the patched wiring. I would at least crimp it better and put heat shrink tubing around.