Clazzio's, a few tips

I just installed Clazzio's into my 08 Prius, and found a few things which I didnt deal with all that well, which could be of use to future purchasers of these popular covers. Theyre great covers and the really tidy up and renew the interior. These are mid-grey covers, my car is silver, theyre a very good match



those of you that have fitted Clazzio's in the past would be familiar with this, the sagging back cushion where the armrest folds in.


I researched the forum for a fix, and found some hints to do with double sided tape. Well its not even hot here yet, but the tape failed within hours, so I had to find something else.

I hit on the idea of a backboard. When upholsterers do this sort of work they add backboards for support. Problem for me was the covers were already installed, and taking them off may well damage them doing more harm than good, so I had to install a backboard in-situ.

This meant it had to be pliable card, for which I first made a template, test fit the template and then cut some corrugated card to size.



ok now just to clip the corners off the card to help prevent snags, and apply some glue keeping a safe distance from the edges so that the glue doesnt smear. Clearly it would be far better to do this before the cover is installed, as you can make the card full size and securely glue it down, but in-situ you are forced to keep glue amounts down, use glue that doesnt seep off the card (vertical fit), and use a card that fits through the aperture rather than full size.

So did it work, well not entirely, but it does look better than it did, and it is still a WIP, I just have to fix these sags at the bottom, but Im reluctant to get into while the glue is still tack dry. Im more confident that I can fix it when the glue is dry.



hope this helps someone else, you can right click the images and open them in a new window which makes them a little bigger.

 

I guess pricing varies, I had to find someone that would ship to au, about $400

they look darker in the first image as that was more or less at night

 

ummm,.... no

but I guess (thinking abeam here) if you found buckets you liked and replaced the ones in the Prius, you could cover them with Clazzio's to make front and rear match. They are pretty terrible seats though, the cars so much fun to drive mostly I dont notice

 

what they do is tidy up, renew the interior look and feel. You simply shouldnt expect covers to make improvements on what are poor designs in the firstplace.

Besides being as hard as rocks, I actually think there are 2 things wrong with Prius buckets, theyre too high, and the backrest is a very poor fit. Not having any meaningful adjustment just makes that situation seem all the more worse.

Be nice if someone could come up with a way to lower the seat height, and improve the backrest even if it means replacing it. If that cannot be done then complete replacement is the next best answer. Replacing with what is the next problem though , but whatever you do, Clazzio could provide covers to make front and rear seats follow the same style..

hmm therein I have a thought
if the seats are hard, perhaps some of the bolster can be removed to make them softer, that would lower the ride height too