There’s an easy way to upgrade the appearance of your Mustang’s factory cloth seats, without having to shell out a lot of money for leather upholstery. For less than $300 you can get a set of custom-fitted seat-covers that not only look and feel like real leather, but that also add a layer of protection against abrasions, damaging sun rays, and moisture.
Manufacturers such as CalTrend, have faux leather seat covers called “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Leather®” that are easy to install and fit perfectly around the factory front and rear seats. Because the seat cover patterns are designed using CAD/CAM systems, they fit very tight around the factory seat cushions, and come complete with headrest covers, and are compatible with factory side airbags.
Installation takes about an hour, and involves slipping the covers over the Mustang’s front seat cushions, and securing the adjustable nylon retaining straps from under the seats. The seat covers for the rear require removing the seat bottom from the frame. On convertible models, the rear seatback covers fit over the cushions and are tucked behind the plastic rear molding. On coupes, the covers are held in place with adjustable nylon straps.
In this example, the Mustang’s factory cloth seats were upgraded to a light gray that stands out against the darker interior door panels and carpet. CalTrend’s ICBINL seat covers are also durable, utilizing reinforced seams, and high-quality clips. In addition, the covers feature a foam backing that makes them comfortable and soft to the touch, and the front seatbacks feature a large pouch to store gear and personal items. Additional colors and two-tone options are also available to make your Mustang’s interior really stand out, without having to empty your pocketbook.
Source:
CalTrend Custom Seat Covers
2121 S. Anne St. Santa Ana, CA. 92704
1-800-846-8621
www.caltrend.com.
Installation Procedure
The factory cloth seats in this 2014 Mustang convertible can be upgraded and protected with a set of custom-fitted seat covers.
For this installation, a set of CalTrend I Can’t Believe It’s Not Leather® seat covers were installed by first removing the factory headrests and slipping the correct side covers over the factory seatbacks.
The seat covers have a bottom flap that is tucked in-between the seat cushions so they can be attached using the sewn-in Velcro strips from behind the seat.
The bottom front seat cushion covers also have a rear flap that is tucked in-between the seat cushions so the sewn-in attachment clips can be reached from behind.
Nylon attachment straps are sewn at the front of the covers, and are routed to the heavy-duty clips from under the seat. Once adjusted they firmly hold the cover in place.
The edges of the seat covers tuck into the plastic seat molding.
All CalTrend seat cover kits come with headrests. These slip in place and use sewn-in Velcro strips to hold them in position.
In order to install the rear seat covers, the back seat bottom cushion must be removed by pulling up on the seat and releasing the retaining clips from underneath.
The seat cover fits over the bottom rear seat cushion.
Elastic straps with S-hooks secure the cover to the hard molded seat cushion backing.
This is the completed rear bottom seat cushion properly covered and ready to be reinstalled.
The rear seat back covers slip over the factory cushions.
On convertible models, the edges of the covers tuck into the plastic molding under and around the seat. On coupes, the seats are folded down to secure the nylon retaining straps.
The rear seat bottom cushion is then reinstalled into the Mustang.
Covers for the rear head rests are slipped in place and held in using the sewn-in Velcro strips.
The finished installation gives this Mustang convertible’s interior excellent protection, as well as a custom appearance with the look of leather at an affordable cost.