Seat covers quesion

Many members have had great satisfaction with Wet Okole seat covers. They are high quality and very customizable. They start around $235 and they are water resistant. When I can afford to do so I will be buying a set for the front and rear seats. I have ivory interior and it gets dirty very easily due to my line of work.

 

I'd like to find a cover for my driver's seat. I have a pkg IV leather in the light misty gray. I learned from having my Saab for 13 yrs how much leather can wear and crack over time, and I'd like to keep my Prius driver's seat in pristine condition, as much as possible. I rarely have a passenger in my car, so the other surfaces won't get much wear at all.

I don't want to spend $200+ .... any good but cheap(er) options people know of that will allow me to protect the seat?

 

Try the search function for more results. Here are a few to get you started. It appears they are not too difficult to install but depending on your apptitude you may want to have a shop install them. Any competent upholstry shop should be able to do this.

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-main-forum/86682-wet-okole.html

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-main-forum/65997-wet-okole-installation-long-day.html

http://priuschat.com/forums/newbie-forum/58973-seat-covers.html

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...-troubleshooting/16012-seat-cover-review.html

 

I went to walmart,bought 2 bath towels. 2 holes in the top of the towels for the headrest to go through holds the top. A plastic tie to pull it tight.
The bottom is pulled tight with ties from under.
3 months now 8000 miles 6.00 for the towels and they still look like new. It will cost 6.00 to replace them if they get soiled. Or I may just throw them in the wash. Hee Hee!
Be careful how you spend your money and you can retire early. Larry

 

I also brew my own beer for 1.75 per us gal.
That should be a new string on how cheap it is to use a prius to bring home the ingredients for brewing beer cheaply. Hee Hee, Larry

 

Larry,

How 'bout some pictures of your bath towel covers?

 

Back seat comes out easy. wrap with thin type blanket and return back seat.
Walla, cheap rear seat cover. Hee Hee, Larry

 

I will go snap some now

 

These are the towel- blankie seat covers. Not the prettiest but they may be the cheapest. Hee Hee

 

Brrrr @ snow!

Thanks for the pictures. Interesting DIY mod!

 

Honestly to each his/her own.

But it baffles me sometimes when people will spend or finance over $21,000 on a brand new car, and then penny pinch on things that are relatively cheap any way you slice it, in the form of seat covers and/or floor mats.

As before mentioned. Wet Okole is popular...

Costco offers a neopryne seat cover...you can look it up at their website.

I've heard very good things about Clazzio's...but this IS pretty high end and is on the expensive side.

If you have local auto upholstery shops? Just call around, someone would be willing to install.

 

had the misty on my last gen III - that is simply the *worst* fabric for stains etc (it's such a light color) - the cloth is also very very thin and flimsy. Not sure what Toyota was thinking...

You pretty much need to cover the back and front. Personally, I think leather is the best choice (easy to clean) - I think front and back are less than $600 in Classio type (they slip on) - or Katzkins (must remove old cloth, and replace it - this is what the dealer uses) at $1K

 

I apologize for baffling you. To explain the towels, I use the car as a truck. Can't wait for the prius truck to show up. What I haul don't need 300 dollar seat covers. Hee Hee. Thanks for the comment. Larry

 

Sorry, I actually applaud the ingenuity. I also do a similiar thing. I do NOT want seat covers, but find myself occasionally wanting to protect the seatback...so in those rare occasions, I employ pillowcases...

But for me it's a "as needed" temporary tool. I wouldn't drivb around with it permanently...or long term.

But whatever...I'd say your option IS among the thriftiest...

 

Thanks for the comment. At one time with my old Saturn vue, I would slip my harley t shirts over the seat backs.
They are expensive but cool. Larry

 

For those who do employ actual seat covers (and not towels or Tshirts), I noticed there is no separation between the seat back and seat bottom in the ability to push through those tabs that one needs to velcro to the seat back connection point for seat covers.

How does one accomplish this? Does one needs to remove the regular (leather) covers part way in order to get access to the break between the seat back and seat bottom? Hope my question makes sense.

 

Just one more note of clarification - the front seats have airbags (which I have first hand knowledge with - being in a totaled III). I would only say check that what you put on is designed for the Gen III. I run Katz - because they look 100+% factory (maybe better) - Clazzios can be found much cheaper and are DIY - and are very very likely in the 'used' world (from wrecks).

WetOs - not sure of airbag - but it seams front and back gets you close to Clazzio cost (Clazzio comes with center console).

The Misty cloth is a mess - and I'd imagine even the center console would look bad in less than a year...