How to properly install car covers!
Good day dear friends)) We often post photos of our professional installers, but today we will explain in details how to install automobile covers, what you need to pay attention to, what tips and tricks are, we will show you everything in details, step by step, with photo reports, so that it would be easier to install them yourself, and so let’s begin:
Before you start installing the covers, look carefully to make sure that each part of the set matches the seats of your car. So in order for your seat covers to fit perfectly you need:
1. Remove all headrests, all cars have different headrests. Simple headrests are removed with a lever, which should only be pressed, also there are models with hidden levers, which are hidden under the seat upholstery. Sometimes there are cars with active headrests, which are not removable at all. In such cases, a cover will be provided to install such headrests.
2. It is not necessary to remove the front seats, but if you do, the covers will be easier and simpler to fasten – for this you need to unscrew 4 bolts. You can start with either the driver’s or passenger’s seat, do it very carefully.
If your car has airbag, you must first disconnect the battery. Then disconnect the cable with wires that goes to the airbag and located under the front seats. If you have heated front seats, you must also disconnect the wiring.
When putting the cover on the front seats, you should start putting the cover on the lower seat. Then slip the lower part of the auto-cover between the backrest and the seat, so that the hooks are inside the seat. Then hook the hooks to the furthest places under the seat. Tighten the rubber bands carefully and well, then the cover will not slip under you and will look like a native seat cover.
So looks seat bottom, all the rubber bands with hooks need as much tension and fasten the seat (good place for mounting there a lot) then the covers will sit in an embrace
5. Before you put on the back, you need to look carefully to see where the driver, and where the passenger backrest.
6. After putting on the back of the front seat squeezing the sides of the back, put the cover all the way down. Put on the backrest very carefully, as it can be very tight. Now you need to tuck the front stitching under the back with masking tape and tighten it well, so you can then secure it to the back side. ( If you have rubber bands then you need to pull these rubber bands out on themselves and staple them under the seat) All seams should be straightened and smoothed.
7. All do the same with the second seat.
8. Now you can put on the back row. On almost all cars the back seat is removed very easily, you just need to pull it up (if it is one-piece) if the lower part is divided into two parts, they do not need to be removed, you just need to flip them and start installing the covers. Pull the cover on the back seat, putting the cord behind the levers securing the seat to the floor. Tighten the cord firmly, tie it off. It is best to lace the seat crosswise. If the cover has rubber bands with hooks – connect them to each other or attach them to the frame of the seat.
9. The backrests are much easier to install than the lower part. Now on most cars, the backrest consists of two parts (in this case you do not need to remove them), just flip them out and put the cover (fastening similar to the front seats – Velcro), if the backrest solid, it must also be removed, and only then put on the cover (you need to unscrew the two screws)
On the trunk side will also be all covered eco leather (no strings), all technological holes are made
10. When all the covers put on go to the headrests. Slip the cover on the headrest, pull the cord (if the model provides it), tie the braid or fasten the sides with Velcro. If there is no technical hole in the case under the headrest (it is rare, mostly on the back of the middle, as in some cars there is a complete set with 3 or 2 headrests), you need to make a cross-shaped cut in the cover dressed on the seat, tuck under the plastic pistons edge of the cut and insert the headrest.
Remember to reconnect all wires as these wires are responsible for your safety.
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All about installation of seat covers
The upholstery of a new car seats can quickly lose its original appearance in service, but to correct the situation you can help removable auto covers which can be replaced if necessary, or sent for dry-cleaning. Such covers reliably protect car seats from dust, moisture, mechanical and other damages.
In addition, modern covers can be an original solution to give a unique look to the interior of your car. The appearance of car covers depends not only on the design or the material from which they were made. It is important to properly put on and fasten the covers on the seats so they look neat and attractive.
Do the seats need to be removed?
Car covers, which come on the Russian market, have the same design of fasteners – they can be strong bands of polymer threads or rubber cords with hooks. Such fasteners are equipped with both expensive premium models, and budget versions. To put a cover on the seat, you can use the instructions and do the job yourself, or ask a specialist to help you in the car service.
A set of car covers for front and rear seats includes a standard set of 10-13 items:
- for the front seats – 2 lower and 2 upper pieces;
- for the rear seats – 1 lower and 1 upper part, but if the seat has two parts, you get two lower and two upper parts;
- headrests 4-5 pieces.
For standard models of cars sell universal variants of covers, but if you want something exclusive, you can sew car covers to order, choosing the material, color and design of the cover specifically for your car with the fitting of the finished product to the size of the seats.
Ready-made car seat covers are available in two variations, marked with Latin letters S and M. Products of standard size S are used for small cars, such as “Opel”, “Renault”, “Ford”. Models marked M are suitable for large crossovers and other similar vehicles. Most often in the instructions to the finished products manufacturers indicate the brand of cars for which a particular set of coatings, and in case of difficulty in choosing you can always get advice from the seller.
Modern cars allow you to mount covers without removing seats from their original seats. However, many car owners believe that it is more convenient to perform this procedure on the removed seats with their subsequent installation in their places. Despite personal preferences, you should also take into account the fact that there are models of car seats equipped with special plastic covers, as well as armrests and headrests.
To properly put a protective cover on such a seat, in any case, to facilitate the process of working will have to dismantle the seat, and then first remove from his decorative and other elements. The process of dismantling the seat will not take much time, because they are attached by 4 steel bolts, which should be unscrewed.
Mounting the cover on the removed seat has several distinct advantages:
- You do not have to feel to look under the seats technological fastening holes for fixing the straps or hooks of the cover;
- You get a chance to spread and stretch the material on the surface of the car seat, thereby ensuring the tightest possible fit of the cover;
- Most plastic covers and other details can be easily removed without damaging the cover and they will not interfere with the application of the cover.
An important point in the process of putting on the car cover is the need to first disconnect the power supply of heated seats and airbags. For this purpose, you must remove the ignition key, as well as disconnect the appropriate terminal from the battery.
If your car has electric drive, in this case, experts advise not to disconnect the power supply system. For such cars, models of protective covers are made, which are put on together with the element for the headrest, and then the entire structure is fixed with special Velcro.
How to put on the front seats?
If you decide to install Russian, Chinese or European protective coverings for the seats in the car, the instructions to any such product will overwhelmingly contain the fact that the work should begin with the front seats. At the same time you will need to disconnect the special structure that protects the reclining mechanism of the seat. It is important to note that it is not recommended to dismantle the polymer plastic covers on the sides of the seat, because the clips that hold these elements are disposable. You will not be able to reattach the removed parts with them.
When installing the covers with your own hands will need attention not to mix up between the elements of the set, as between the passenger and driver’s seats there are differences in the location of armrests, seat belt anchoring mechanisms and seatback tilt adjustment system. Your procedure will look as follows.
On the bottom
It does not matter which seat you will start to put on the cover – the passenger or driver’s seat, but the first thing to do is to fasten the product on the bottom of the seat.
- Spread the auto cover on the bottom of the seat, straighten it, then put the tape or cord with hooks in the gap between the backrest and the bottom, then with a little effort pull the fastener down.
- Put your hand under the chair and find the special holes on the bottom of it, designed to fix the hooks. Next, secure in the holes all the hooks located around the perimeter of the cover. If you have not made a preliminary dismantling of the chair, you have to act by feel, it is important not to accidentally connect the hook to the wiring and not to damage it.
- Once all the rubber bands are firmly attached under the bottom of the seat, spread the fabric cover and try to press it to the surface of the seat as much as possible. If the fabric will be tightened badly, you will have to put your hand under the seat again and firmly pull the rubber bands with hooks, perhaps changing their places and having an overlap in relation to each other.
- If the protective cover does not have a hole for the knob regulating the backrest tilt level you will have to make a little cut on the material and then carefully tuck the edges of the fabric under the plastic plug.
Once the bottom parts of the covers of the front seats are securely in place, you can proceed to the installation of parts located on the backs of car seats.
To the backrests
Backs of the seats in the car to cover the cover is fairly simple, you can cope with this task even without dismantling the entire structure. In the work should be guided by the following principles.
- In order to make the task easier and not to damage the fabric of the cover, squeeze the side support ledges of the seat as much as possible during the installation and only then put the cover on. If the cover does not fit tightly, stretch the fabric properly from the back of the product, where it is always made elastic.
- The back cover is attached with clips or Velcro. Protruding parts of the covers must fit into the regular holes of the car cover. If there are no holes in the universal product, for example, to install a headrest, they are carefully cut or burnt with a cigarette. In doing so, the cut or hole should be slightly smaller than the part to be inserted in it.
- During the work, you need to make sure that all the seams of the product were located symmetrically, only in this case, the cape will be safely placed on the back of the chair and will look aesthetically pleasing. The absence of extra creases and folds is a guarantee of long-term service life of the product.
After the car cover is placed on the backrest, you can install the headrest and then put the protective cover on it.
Installation in the back of the car
The rear seats of the car also need to use auto covers, they are also not difficult to put on yourself. Putting on again begins with the bottom of the seat. To perform the installation work was more convenient, you need to unscrew all elements of the seat mounts, as well as disconnect the headrests and remove the seat belts. Installation of protective car seat cover begins with the fact that the cover is spread out on the seat, spread it out and aligned with the center line.
Then you use a special long and sturdy tightening cord, which is provided around the perimeter of the cover. The cord should be tightened as much as possible, in a crosswise position, so that it tightly encircled the base of the car seat. Capes for rear seats also have cords with hooks, which fasten to the bottom of the seat in special technological holes. Plank with these hooks later tucked between the seat and backrest.
Some modern models of cloaks have parts that can be joined together with separable zippers, which greatly simplifies the process of donning. Most often such variants of protection are made for rear car seats, consisting of several parts. When installing the product, it is important to ensure that the zipper connectors of the cover match the connectors of the backs of twin car seats.
To tighten the seat belt buckle connectors and to install the standard head restraints, the covers may have holes provided for this purpose beforehand, if not, you will have to make them yourself during installation. The armrests of car seats are tightened separately, they are usually stretched as tightly as possible, thereby visually achieving the effect of the factory upholstery.
The side parts of the backrest tighten more loosely and the position of the cover is fixed by velcro or elastic bands.
If the seat has 2 reclining parts, the procedure is as follows
- Using the elastic bands with hooks, fasten the cover to the reclining seat parts;
- open the zipper fasteners and level the cover with the split line of the seat parts;
- fix the cover on the place where the backrest and the seat join;
- put the backrests of the two parts of the chair vertically and fasten the zippers on the cover;
- This procedure allows you to distribute the fabric evenly and ensure smooth unfolding of the 2 parts of the composite armchair independently from each other.
How to fasten the seat covers properly?
Among the car covers, a certain popularity have capes-masks, which can be stretched without disassembling the seat in just a few minutes. This option to protect the upholstery is suitable for those who do not want to spend 2-3 hours with putting on a full version of the covers, or had a sad experience with unsuccessful installation of cover. A simplified alternative will cost a car owner much cheaper than full-size car covers, but you should remember that the cape-covers do not protect the entire surface of the chair, as a result the upholstery in the exposed areas not only gets dirty, but also burns.
The mock covers differ from their full-fledged counterparts in that they do not have a back surface. Such products are attached by means of two side and one back side, with attached hooks. The design of modern shirtscovers are very similar to their full-size counterparts, completely repeating the contours of your car seat. There is even a series of “Comfort”, which is equipped with a special lumbar support and a pronounced side support bar. The product is simply thrown on the back of the seat and backrest, spread out and fastened to the sides and bottom. Such a cape can be quickly removed and replaced with another.
Specialists in the field of car service, engaged in professional installation of protective covers for the passenger compartment of the car, when installing the covers, recommend adhering to certain rules:
- choose a dense material of the cover, as this indicator directly affects the life of the product and its appearance;
- during installation, try to maximize the tension of the material by tightening the product, it will also greatly prolong its life;
- If your car has side airbags, it is necessary to choose the models of covers of special modifications;
- when installing do not try to remove the plastic side pads, as it will be extremely problematic, and sometimes impossible to install them back;
- When installing the covers, squeeze the regular seat upholstery, this method allows the protective fabric to be well stretched and achieve the best fit;
- It is better to install the covers in a warm room or outside in positive temperature, as the fabric will be less elastic in frosty weather and it will be impossible to properly tighten the covers.
Choice and installation of covers for car seats requires a thoughtful and careful approach, only if the quality of all stages of installation work can be sure that the protection will last a long time, and it will not have to reinstall.
In the following video you will find detailed instructions on how to install car covers with your own hands.
