Katzkin Leather Samples Pay it Forward

I'm a picky bastard, and I wasn't willing to guess on the colors for the leather when I decided to redo my seats with leather and heat. After I decided on Katzkin (I had the dealer install some on my 2017 Tacoma and liked it), I went ahead and ordered the sample book ($30 with shipping) so I could see the actual colors, then I ordered my seats with @jhuey8947 on here because he gives tundras.com members a discount.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/katzkin-leather-interior-offer.52217/page-8#post-1647664

I'm willing to mail this out to anyone else who wants to use it as long as you agree to mail it back for the next person who may want it. Just let me know.

 

off to you sir.











That electric lime is calling my name.....

 

Not trying to start a fight or anything, but you might be able to beat certain prices quoted by certain people to certain people on certain forums even with said forum "discount". If you pick up what I'm throwing down.

Oh and who needs samples? Black!!! My choice was really easy. I can't stand light colored seats haha.

 

That's a kind gesture.

 

I got several quotes but his was as good or better than anywhere else and ordering was easy...by all means, shop around. I don't have any skin in that game, it's just where I got mine.

I don't like black seats...too much black makes the interior feel smaller to me (I hated my all black Tacoma interior), but light colored seats get dirty too easy, so I wanted something inbetween. We only have gray and beige interiors for the most part (a few special editions notwithstanding) and personally I don't think black seats go well in either, which is completely subjective of course. I have the gray interior...which means there are several different shades of gray on all the interior pieces from very light gray to fairly dark...I went with lunar grey for the seats with frost contrast stitching and some TRD Off-Road logos in the body of the seats with the TRD in red (to go with the decals on the exterior) and the Off-Road in frost. We'll see how it looks. I had charcoal gray leather in my 2005 and it looked pretty good.

 

I'd really love to put that cardinal red all through my GTI. The seats are beat to hell. Only thing holding me back is all the gray trim parts, if I ever find a donor car with the black interior it's on.

 

Do you have any pics of your seats in your truck? I'm kicking around the idea of Katzskin in my truck.

 

I don't have them yet, but I'll post pics when I do...I believe @KarmaKannon has some pics of his though...?

 

Wow, those look really nice. Did you do the install yourself?

 

Yeah it wasn't too bad. I still need to go back and fix the worn foam on the driver's side bolster though.

 

Nice. I'm not sure if I go ahead with it whether I'll do it myself or have an installer do it. Kinda depends on my available free time.

 

I did the front in a weekend with family in town. If I was left alone without anybody bothering me I'd consider it a weekend job for front and rear. Honestly it's not bad as soon as you get the hang of it.

 

Good to know. Thanks!

 

Just dont put the headrests on backwards like somebody did.....

 

Or put the back ones on the front! I don't think the other way is possible.

 

Wish they sold cloth seat covers. Yes leather richer looking but just when new. Never seen leather hold up 10 years and still look good. The fabric ones can still look new after 10 years.
Even look at over 100k luxury cars with top of the line leather. And they dont age well.

 

10 years? My wife's current car is an MB with what is technically vinyl and not leather and at 7 years old it looks good besides her not knowing how to get in and out of a seat without sliding. Her old car was about 10 years old and had about the same amount of wear. My old truck was a 10 year old Titan with factory leather and it all looked great besides some light wear on the driver's seat that I touched up with dye and it looked really good after that. I don't know how my katzkin will wear, but I've seen 10 year old leather look about as good or better than cloth. It just seems like the leather is more dependant on the amount of care and the sliding in and out where we the cloth is more about the sliding.

 

29 year old leather.

 

Swam ass sufferers prefer cloth seats. Most used 1st Gen Tundras with leather pics I’ve seen look nasty, even when the rest of the truck has been kept. Never been a leather fan, but these Katskins look nice. Time will tell.

 

I bought a 2005 Tundra back in 2015 with 10 year-old leather that looked and felt brand-new. It's very simple, heat, especially direct sun, and neglect KILL leather seats. The recipe for keeping leather seats like new for decades:

1. Avoid heat...especially direct sunlight. ALWAYS use a sunshade when parking outdoors...parking in a garage or shade whenever possible.
2. Clean and condition the leather with frequency based on the environment...the hotter and sunnier the climate, the more often you need to do it. If you are in Ohio and garage it, once a year might be enough. If you are in Miami and don't have a garage, you probably want to condition it every 2 months.
3. Don't slide into the seat. If you have a lift, get some running boards or even better, sliders that act as steps.

It really is that simple.

Something else I've noticed, aftermarket leather seats on non-luxury cars, in my experience, seem like better quality than the factory leather. The OEM leather seats in our 2016 Honda Odyssey just feel thin and cheap. The Katzkins I had in my Tacoma felt much thicker and like they would hold up longer. We'll see.

 

Yes, but the majority of vehicle owners don't take care of their vehicles like you and I. So the majority of 1st gen Tundras I see with leather, look like dog shit. I love the look of the Katzkin though. @KarmaKannon 's looks amazing. My cloth seats still look new though.

 

I miss my ‘92 SHO.

 

92 you say?

 

I agree. Heres the same model of car, but with less care. Both are 91s

 

Yes but how much better would it have looked if cloth and taken care of like that car with half the work.
Go to a place like Carmax and look around at cars. Leather and cloth.
Man made materials seem to last longer. Natural cotton and leather not so much.

 

Here's my Katzkin interior. Storm leather with frost stitching. I had the install done at a local shop. My one gripe is that they use a lot of vinyl in the seats. The entire rear seats are all vinyl. The front are leather on the seating surfaces only, which is fine (I don't expect leather on the backs of the front seats, however it would have been nice to have it on the head rests). I have another local shop recovering my center armrest in leather, and he's going to do the padded panels at the tops of the doors as well. I may also have him swap some of the vinyl in the back seats for leather (he had to purchase the entire hide from Katzkin, so I might as well use it).

 

Reviving an old thread here...I’m going to be getting a set of these soon for my new to me 05 DC. @speedtre donyou have pics of your interior and do you still have the samples by chance? Thx!

 

Reving an old thread you say? Don't mind if I do.....