Seat Cover - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

PewterSS#4302 · 11-02-2020, 09:41 AM

I ordered a seat cover for my driver side seat from the dealership and it came in today. Does anyone have a how to video on the Recaro seats for replacing the covers? Thanks

HoodCheck · 11-02-2020, 01:23 PM

They are still selling the Z/28 seat covers? I thought they discontinued them.

What'd ya pay for it? Happen to have part number?

I'll check the service manual when I get a chance to see if it, no pun intended here, covers the seat covers (I've never checked for that).

PewterSS#4302 · 11-02-2020, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HoodCheck

They are still selling the Z/28 seat covers? I thought they discontinued them.

What'd ya pay for it? Happen to have part number?

I'll check the service manual when I get a chance to see if it, no pun intended here, covers the seat covers (I've never checked for that).

I ordered it in July and it came in today. I just ordered the back side driver side cover. The part number is #23278903. It was $1000.00.

ariZona28 · 11-03-2020, 01:24 PM

I'm thinking if I have a grand into one seat cover I'm paying a highly reputable professional to install it.

Shoupaloop · 11-03-2020, 05:10 PM

When I worked at Roush, we had dedicated seat leather installers. They used steam machines (like a wand or vacuum looking thing) to make the leather more supple when installing the covers. Other than that, it was a bunch of stretching/smoothing and hog rings.

Zslash28 · 11-03-2020, 10:32 PM

No one has posted any seat upholstry removal or installs. And this would be the first time we've seen a seat cover posted. Cool to know they're still available.

mikeman · 11-04-2020, 11:40 AM

$844 at gm parts outlet.

ariZona28 · 11-04-2020, 12:00 PM

Here we go, another expensive Z/28 maintenance item. I like to refer to my car as "the Corvette in disguise". I hereby declare: Nobody sits in my car unless they are wearing a silk hooded jump suit, gloves and protective booties. Minimal breathing too. Got to protect my investment. LOL!

SIM GhostrdrZ · 11-04-2020, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PewterSS#4302

I ordered it in July and it came in today. I just ordered the back side driver side cover. The part number is #23278903. It was $1000.00.

Are my eyes playing tricks on me. Is the seatbelt loop buttoned on both sides, unlike the original design. If so, it’s about time they did something smart about that thing.
Thanks for sharing the info on the seat cover

SIM GhostrdrZ · 11-04-2020, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ariZona28

Here we go, another expensive Z/28 maintenance item. I like to refer to my car as "the Corvette in disguise". I hereby declare: Nobody sits in my car unless they are wearing a silk hooded jump suit, gloves and protective booties. Minimal breathing too. Got to protect my investment. LOL!

The difference is almost everyone has corvette parts. Try finding anything for a Z28 from say.... summit. They’ll sell you SS or ZL1 parts.

Level300 · 11-04-2020, 05:24 PM

It’s not hard to remove/replace the Recaro seat covers. It is time consuming though. If you can change oil, you can remove the seat cover.

-There are no hog rings in the Recaro seats. The ss seats have the hog rings. The Recaros have plastic clips embedded in the foam that clips to the seat cover wire. No tools needed.

-DO NOT apply steam directly to leather. You can damage the leather. Research this before you attempt! From my experience steaming leather didn’t remove any creases or do much.

-Do not apply stream directly to Alacantra. Alacantra is a man made fabric. It may melt if you steam it in one place for too long. You don’t really need to steam Alacantra. Just use a cleaner made for Alacantra. I personally use woolite dark and warm water when cleaning my steering wheel or seats. I use a microfiber towel and rub gently letting the warm water break down the oils and dirt.. I “rinse” using a microfiber and clean warm water until it’s no longer soapy. I also use a wet/dry vac to suck up any moisture.

-You can apply steam directly to bare foam. Doing so brings back its shape and makes it fluffy again. But move the steam head around. The foam is like a sponge holding iwater from the steam. Let it sit for a couple of days to make sure it’s completely dry before you put it back on the frame. If you can’t find any more oem replacement foam, you can get used foam from a donor seat. You can cut, shape and glue the repair piece in place. There are lots of videos on this. I couldn’t find a oem seat cushion for my Recaros so I cut out the compressed/crumbling pieces, and glued in a piece of foam for a donor camaro seat and shaped it to match. I used 3m spray adhesive compatible with foam. It works.

-if you remove the seat cover and foam, check the seat bolster bracket (next to your left thigh-driver side). The bolster support is welded to the seat frame which is somewhat thin. If you’re a heavy guy, cracks may form over time. I had to get my used Recaros welded there to to fix this. If your bolster has a little “give” a crack may have formed and it will only get worse. Also make sure the bracket is at the proper angle before you get it welded. I think it was 27 degrees. Try not to put your full weight on the bolster or use it as a support when getting in and out of the car.

-the back and sides of the seat back cover is vinyl. The rest is leather or Alacantra. Keep your leather conditioned using lexol or Leatherique (my personal favorite) especially at the seams. If the leather gets dried out it loses its elasticity and starts to rip at the seams.

-There is a high stress area near and below your shoulder (seat back) area where 3 leather panels meet. Keep an eye on this area. If you start to see the seam widening. Take a picture of the area and send it to your local auto upholstery guy. He may be able to reinforce the area before the damage cannot be undone and the leather tears at the stitch holes.

-if your Recaros are already damaged you can still fix them and no one will be the wiser. There is nothing on the seat covers that can’t be fixed/replicated by a competent upholstery guy. Maybe the z28 embroidery but even that can probably be replicated with an embroidery machine. If you do need to get your seats repaired make sure you tell them you want the damaged panels back. You want to keep the original pieces so you can use them as templates in the future. Look for a shop that does car restorations or specializes in car upholstery. You want a very detailed oriented shop. There will be one or two in your area that everyone uses. Make sure the shop you select uses air bag specific thread where needed..Be careful. The airbag is a safety item. I chose not to have my guy replace the air bag side leather panels so the leather surfaces don’t 100% match. I did not want them messing with the airbag thread. The airbag need to deploy in milliseconds. It wasn’t worth the risk to me. You have to really look close to see the difference in textures of the left and right side panels.

Electrically, both the SS and Recaros are the same...airbag,wiring harness,etc..

I’ve replaced the seat covers on my SS leather seats and I have also removed and replaced both the seat and seat back covers on my Recaros when I had to get the leather repaired. The Recaros is much easier than the SS seats when removing/installing the covers. The hog rings are a pain and there are lots of them in the SS seats.

For my driver side recaro, It cost me a little over 200 dollars to fix the high stress area seam and get the seat bolster bracket welded/repaired. I removed the cover myself. You can’t tell it was ever repaired.

I have some pictures of the Recaro bare frame let me know if anyone is looking for something specific, I may have a picture.

You can follow and use some of the SS seat cover instructions. The only differences between the two are...
-Recaro belt holes (2 torx screws at the rear, pull apart the two halves).
-Pull the center seat back release trim straight out, it’s just clipped on (there maybe something else you need to do here...).
-no hog rings, just gently unclip the seat cover wire from the orange plastic clips. Be careful there is Velcro at some areas that holds the cover on. The lined patch behind your neck has Velcro and there is Velcro down the side bolster where it meets the Alacantra.

I can do a more coherent set of instructions if someone really needs it.

PewterSS#4302 · 11-04-2020, 09:42 PM

Got it on tonight. It was easy to do.

PewterSS#4302 · 11-04-2020, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SIM GhostrdrZ

Are my eyes playing tricks on me. Is the seatbelt loop buttoned on both sides, unlike the original design. If so, it’s about time they did something smart about that thing.
Thanks for sharing the info on the seat cover

They did change it. It swivels.

Brutale arancia · 11-05-2020, 05:30 AM

Level 300 thanks for coherent info. Always appreciate the people who take the time to share their knowledge.

11-02-2020, 09:41 AM	#1
PewterSS#4302 Drives: 2000 Camaro SS 2015 Camaro Z28 Join Date: Feb 2020 Location: Georgia Posts: 10	Seat Cover I ordered a seat cover for my driver side seat from the dealership and it came in today. Does anyone have a how to video on the Recaro seats for replacing the covers? Thanks Attached Images __________________ 2000 Camaro SS 2015 Camaro Z28

11-03-2020, 10:32 PM	#6
Zslash28 Jumanji Drives: '14 Z/28 - AGM - No A/C Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Alaska Posts: 1,688	No one has posted any seat upholstry removal or installs. And this would be the first time we've seen a seat cover posted. Cool to know they're still available. __________________ Keeper of the 5th Gen Z/28 Registry. Registry Facebook. Follow: @5th_gen_z28_registry I track wrecked Z/28s Total lost -41

11-04-2020, 12:00 PM	#8
ariZona28 Give speed a chance Drives: 2015 Camaro 2LS, 2015 Camaro Z/28 Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Mesa, Az Posts: 2,223	Here we go, another expensive Z/28 maintenance item. I like to refer to my car as "the Corvette in disguise". I hereby declare: Nobody sits in my car unless they are wearing a silk hooded jump suit, gloves and protective booties. Minimal breathing too. Got to protect my investment. LOL! __________________ 2LS: a TREMENDOUS machine. Z/28: it's a BIT MORE POWERFUL, of course.

11-04-2020, 09:42 PM	#12
PewterSS#4302 Drives: 2000 Camaro SS 2015 Camaro Z28 Join Date: Feb 2020 Location: Georgia Posts: 10	Got it on tonight. It was easy to do. Attached Images __________________ 2000 Camaro SS 2015 Camaro Z28 Last edited by PewterSS#4302; 11-05-2020 at 09:29 AM.

11-02-2020, 01:23 PM	#2
HoodCheck Drives: 2018 ZLE (M6/hyper blue) Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: Lithia, FL Posts: 762	They are still selling the Z/28 seat covers? I thought they discontinued them. What'd ya pay for it? Happen to have part number? I'll check the service manual when I get a chance to see if it, no pun intended here, covers the seat covers (I've never checked for that).

11-03-2020, 01:24 PM	#4
ariZona28 Give speed a chance Drives: 2015 Camaro 2LS, 2015 Camaro Z/28 Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Mesa, Az Posts: 2,223	I'm thinking if I have a grand into one seat cover I'm paying a highly reputable professional to install it. __________________ 2LS: a TREMENDOUS machine. Z/28: it's a BIT MORE POWERFUL, of course.

11-03-2020, 05:10 PM	#5
Shoupaloop Drives: 2015 Z28 Join Date: Nov 2016 Location: Michigan Posts: 136	When I worked at Roush, we had dedicated seat leather installers. They used steam machines (like a wand or vacuum looking thing) to make the leather more supple when installing the covers. Other than that, it was a bunch of stretching/smoothing and hog rings.

11-04-2020, 11:40 AM	#7
mikeman Banned Drives: 2015 Camaro Join Date: Aug 2018 Location: My Garage Posts: 1,125	$844 at gm parts outlet.

11-04-2020, 05:24 PM	#11
Level300 Drives: 2015 Black rs/ss/1le Join Date: Apr 2018 Location: PA Posts: 271	It’s not hard to remove/replace the Recaro seat covers. It is time consuming though. If you can change oil, you can remove the seat cover. -There are no hog rings in the Recaro seats. The ss seats have the hog rings. The Recaros have plastic clips embedded in the foam that clips to the seat cover wire. No tools needed. -DO NOT apply steam directly to leather. You can damage the leather. Research this before you attempt! From my experience steaming leather didn’t remove any creases or do much. -Do not apply stream directly to Alacantra. Alacantra is a man made fabric. It may melt if you steam it in one place for too long. You don’t really need to steam Alacantra. Just use a cleaner made for Alacantra. I personally use woolite dark and warm water when cleaning my steering wheel or seats. I use a microfiber towel and rub gently letting the warm water break down the oils and dirt.. I “rinse” using a microfiber and clean warm water until it’s no longer soapy. I also use a wet/dry vac to suck up any moisture. -You can apply steam directly to bare foam. Doing so brings back its shape and makes it fluffy again. But move the steam head around. The foam is like a sponge holding iwater from the steam. Let it sit for a couple of days to make sure it’s completely dry before you put it back on the frame. If you can’t find any more oem replacement foam, you can get used foam from a donor seat. You can cut, shape and glue the repair piece in place. There are lots of videos on this. I couldn’t find a oem seat cushion for my Recaros so I cut out the compressed/crumbling pieces, and glued in a piece of foam for a donor camaro seat and shaped it to match. I used 3m spray adhesive compatible with foam. It works. -if you remove the seat cover and foam, check the seat bolster bracket (next to your left thigh-driver side). The bolster support is welded to the seat frame which is somewhat thin. If you’re a heavy guy, cracks may form over time. I had to get my used Recaros welded there to to fix this. If your bolster has a little “give” a crack may have formed and it will only get worse. Also make sure the bracket is at the proper angle before you get it welded. I think it was 27 degrees. Try not to put your full weight on the bolster or use it as a support when getting in and out of the car. -the back and sides of the seat back cover is vinyl. The rest is leather or Alacantra. Keep your leather conditioned using lexol or Leatherique (my personal favorite) especially at the seams. If the leather gets dried out it loses its elasticity and starts to rip at the seams. -There is a high stress area near and below your shoulder (seat back) area where 3 leather panels meet. Keep an eye on this area. If you start to see the seam widening. Take a picture of the area and send it to your local auto upholstery guy. He may be able to reinforce the area before the damage cannot be undone and the leather tears at the stitch holes. -if your Recaros are already damaged you can still fix them and no one will be the wiser. There is nothing on the seat covers that can’t be fixed/replicated by a competent upholstery guy. Maybe the z28 embroidery but even that can probably be replicated with an embroidery machine. If you do need to get your seats repaired make sure you tell them you want the damaged panels back. You want to keep the original pieces so you can use them as templates in the future. Look for a shop that does car restorations or specializes in car upholstery. You want a very detailed oriented shop. There will be one or two in your area that everyone uses. Make sure the shop you select uses air bag specific thread where needed..Be careful. The airbag is a safety item. I chose not to have my guy replace the air bag side leather panels so the leather surfaces don’t 100% match. I did not want them messing with the airbag thread. The airbag need to deploy in milliseconds. It wasn’t worth the risk to me. You have to really look close to see the difference in textures of the left and right side panels. Electrically, both the SS and Recaros are the same...airbag,wiring harness,etc.. I’ve replaced the seat covers on my SS leather seats and I have also removed and replaced both the seat and seat back covers on my Recaros when I had to get the leather repaired. The Recaros is much easier than the SS seats when removing/installing the covers. The hog rings are a pain and there are lots of them in the SS seats. For my driver side recaro, It cost me a little over 200 dollars to fix the high stress area seam and get the seat bolster bracket welded/repaired. I removed the cover myself. You can’t tell it was ever repaired. I have some pictures of the Recaro bare frame let me know if anyone is looking for something specific, I may have a picture. You can follow and use some of the SS seat cover instructions. The only differences between the two are... -Recaro belt holes (2 torx screws at the rear, pull apart the two halves). -Pull the center seat back release trim straight out, it’s just clipped on (there maybe something else you need to do here...). -no hog rings, just gently unclip the seat cover wire from the orange plastic clips. Be careful there is Velcro at some areas that holds the cover on. The lined patch behind your neck has Velcro and there is Velcro down the side bolster where it meets the Alacantra. I can do a more coherent set of instructions if someone really needs it.

11-05-2020, 05:30 AM	#14
Brutale arancia Drives: 2013 ZL1 Camaro Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: Michigan Posts: 218	Level 300 thanks for coherent info. Always appreciate the people who take the time to share their knowledge.