Clazzio Seat Covers -- rear seat question

Hello all!

New owner of a 2013 Prius III. The very first purchase I made was to buy the Clazzio seat cover kit (Grey, Grey, Grey, leather inserts). I did much research, and am sure I will enjoy them. However, I did have an installation question for those of you who have had the pleasure of installing Clazzios.

While I am still waiting for my delivery to get here, I was trying to mentally prepare myself for everything involved. I've read other threads on these seat covers, but I have yet to find an answer to this question. For everyone who has experience with the 2010 kit, did you completely pull out (out the car) your rear bench before you began the rear installation or did you just pop up the front end of the rear bench to get under the bench leaving it inside the car?

I share a garage, and it is looking a little full right now. So, I'm trying to figure out if I need to make space in my work area to completely pull the rear bench out so that I can install what looks to be a single installation piece for the lower rear. If it is completely do-able to install the lower rear piece without pulling the whole bench out of the car, then I'd prefer to go that route.

Wish me luck! I should be able to start my installation on Tuesday.

 

Sounds like removing the bench is the winning answer. Unless anyone thinks I shouldn't, I'll start cleaning up my work area to make room for the bench.

I'll report back with pictures after the installation is done! Thanks for the feedback!

 

The big Clazzio box came in today!

I was a little worried because the wear made it look like it had been sent around the world and back again. After opening the box up the contents appear to be intact albeit a bit smelly. I'm going to let them air out tonight.

So, I thought I was going to wait for Tuesday, but I had just enough daylight to work on the lower rear bench.

SoCal65SS: I had seen that video, but I must be a weakling because I can't push forward on the seat nearly as well as he seems to be able to. I slid both front seats all the way forward, and then jumped in the rear facing forward using my back to push the bench eventually lifting upward to pop the bench out one side at a time.

Attached are some pictures of the rear interior of my car along with some bench install pictures. I have the dark grey interior in my Prius. I purchased the "grey" Clazzios with "grey" leather inserts and "grey" stitching. Due to poor lighting, they look almost black in my pictures.

*When tightening the black straps that go under the bench, DON'T OVERTIGHTEN!!! The black nylon straps are threaded through some cheap plastic buckles that just don't like a lot of tension. You'll see in one of my pictures that I have snapped off the inner part of one of those plastic buckles. I tied that strap to one of its neighbors to help secure it.

More later!

 

So far not bad at all! Which from all accounts means that I am either doing it wrong, or I haven't got to the hard part yet...

 

Wes_33073: I like your explanation the best. In retrospect, I think I did it the hard way.

 

Wooooo! New update for Tuesday.

DAY 2 -"Oh... That is what they meant by sore fingers (hands and wrists too)."

I didn't think I was going to be able to get any work done today due to bad weather. However, I woke up early to knock out what I could, and continued intermittently throughout the day as the weather allowed.

I've finished most of the rear except for 1 sidepost. My fingers, hands, and wrists are swollen, numb, red, and extremely sore. I have little abrasions and cuts all over from who knows where. However, it's a good kind of pain. I'm getting close to the finish line!

I chose to do the rear seats first because I expected it to be the hardest part. My expectations weren't wrong. Included in my Clazzio kit was a color printed instruction sheet. While it helped a little, a number of steps remained confusing.

For starters, it told me to unbolt the center most bolt of the passenger side rear seatbelt. If you look at the picture that I have attached, you will wonder why the center most bolt (right bolt in the picture) and not just the bolt farthest to the right (left bolt in the picture) of the car as you face forward.

However, this is sort of an optical illusion. The only bolt that can actually be loosened by a socket wrench is the center most bolt (right bolt in the picture). Why is this? The other bolt is secured on the flip side of the bracket with another bolt that has been welded in place (picture attached). I don't know how long I spent trying to loosen that welded bolt before I realized that there must be a reason the other bolt was specified. Sure enough, I saw the problem after I freed the seatbelt bolt and flipped the bracket.

A free like and my gratitude to anyone who can tell me what that hard, layered, silver material in the seatbelt picture is.

Back to the install... After it started raining harder, I decided to save time and took all of the rear headrests inside to work on installing their covers. I've attached pictures of the front and bottom of the newly covered headrests. I'm viewing the pictures on an IPS, color calibrated monitor. So, I can definitely say that these shots of the headrests do a better job of representing the shade of "grey" that my kit came in that I wasn't able to show earlier due to bad lighting.

About the headrests... I want to say that these headrest covers contributed to half or more of the soreness in my fingertips. They fit so tightly that it was truly a nightmare to fasten the end connectors at the bottom. The headrests ends fasten with a J-connector and an I-connector. In short, you have to force that I-connector around the hook of the J as you flip the head of the I into the gullet of the J. I make it sound easy, but I assure you all that it was not. There was much shouting and cursing in between all the squeezing and reshaping to make those ends fit.

This brings me to my new best friend. I've attached an image of my friend. It's a black plastic wedge that came with my Clazzio kit. VERY LITTLE of what I have accomplished would have been possible without this little miracle worker. It's kind of shaped like a butter knife with thin, dull ends. This thing provides leverage on fittings, ends, and connectors in a way that your fingers cannot. Before the week is done, I think I shall name it.

My last picture for now is the almost finished rear. The hardest section has probably been the rear passenger side. That cover is longer than the rear driver side cover, and extends around and behind the rear center armrest. For the longest time, I just couldn't figure out how to make the center part of it fit correctly until I realized that it had to be folded under and behind the arm rest then velcroed to the upper end.

1 more side post and some general smoothing, and the rear is done!

Up close and personal these covers feel great! A friend of mine has been really blown away by how close to factory these covers give the feel of.

 

DAY 3 - "FINISHED!"

I would say not as painful as yesterday. The front seats were far easier and faster to complete than the rear. The only complication was making sure that the black nylon straps that wrap under the seats were not pressing against any tubes or wiring. It was also really hard to get any of the velcro from the top cover to mate with its opposing end. I suppose it is a testament to how well these seat covers were designed that they fit so tightly.

No wall of text today!

I hope you all enjoy the pictures! Attached are pictures of: the completed rear, start of the front, completed front, and completed front with rear view.

Clazzio seat covers rock! Time for a drive!

 

Thanks! My first drive with the new covers felt great!

Do you spray yours with any particular brand of surface protector?

 

I know the feeling! The rear headrest covers were the worst for me. The material was so tight that I really felt like I was going to rip the material or the seams while trying to hook the connectors. That black plastic wedge came in handy for forcing the connector ends to mate.

The front headrest cover material was far easier in my kit. There was much more material. I nearly cried at how simple it was in comparison.

Shop vac method sounds interesting... I have one. Perhaps I should experiment one day.