Quote:
Originally Posted by johnnyM
the port-installed leather front seats have a very uncomfortable raised seam down the center. i don't know about anybody else, but this hits my tailbone every time...and i'm sore after a week.
complained to the dealer. they're sending me to their upholstery shop tomorrow to see if they can add some padding underneath the leather on each side. not more liqui-cell or whatever crap it is, but some soft padding that will hopefully raise each side enough to help me avoid the seam.
i've owned 5 Lexi in a row...all with leather. none had a seam down the center, just on the sides...so i've never encountered anything like this. never had a problem at all with my various fabric-upholstered vehicles either.
i agree with previous postings...these are expensive, loose-fitting, and may even be something i must replace on my own $$. love the car, but **** it's very very disappointing when you can't even sit in the bloody driver's seat. i wanted the factory leather, but didn't wanna risk waiting and mi$$ out on the tax credit...so i believed the dealer when they said these would be "just as good as factory". and of course, they had no vehicles to sample or sit in first. my greed took over i guess...
oh well, live 'n learn.
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Old post, new member reply. Not a TCH owner, just an 07 XLE. But, you've got some good discussions here (like this one), so I thought I'd jump in.
Bottom line:
Oh, trust me, the OEM leather is no better. Could be worse. Actually, it's not "bad leather" or anything, but it is that DANG CENTER SEAM!!
For crying out loud, who thought that one up?? But, look around, and you'll see center seams like the Camry has in all sorts of other cars these days. Your aftermarket leather seat covers are just imitating the OEM Camry configuration, center seam and all.
If that wasn't bad enough, I could really feel what turns out to be the "wiring harness" that the seat heaters plug into, at the very back of the seat "cushion." That, along with the dang center seam, was driving me absolutely nuts.
The dealer really wouldn't help, but I asked about the upholstery shop that they must use for all of their aftermarket work, and they actually have a "mobile" shop guy who comes around to them every Friday. I went and talked to him, and as you describe above, he thought adding padding on each side of the center seam would help cushion the wiring harness, and allow the seam to "drop into the middle."
So, he hooked me up with that for $100 total -- not a bad investment. As many folks have mentioned, the seats seem to be on the minimal side in the padding department, so a nice extra layer of padding didn't sound bad to me, at all.
That has actually helped whole bunches -- he filled in from the very front of the seat cushion to the very back, which helped in a number of dimensions. It makes for a bit more padding at the front of the seat cushion, which helps provide more thigh support, and it fills in the back of the seat cushion, where I could virtually feel the edge of the seat cushion "drop off." And, it helped with the center seam quite a bit, and he took great care to pad around the wiring harness.
So, something to think about for anyone concerned about the dang seats -- this sure made a positive difference for me!