Seat Covers Research Guide

The idea of creating a Seat Cover Research Guide has come from from the fact that there are many who do not realize how important it is. They are also not aware of the sources from which damage is caused to the upholstery. But there is one third mistake they make and that is end up selecting the wrong seat cover and so never actually get the desired results they should.

From this point of view, Coverking’s Seat Cover Research Guide will be of immense value to those who have found their vehicle’s lovely seat covers prematurely damaged or discolored due to a variety of reasons including inclement weather conditions and UV radiation. Coverking, a premiere south California-based car cover and seat cover maker is quality certified QS-9000 and TS16949 and has provided great solutions to overcome this problem.

So go through this guide and find out the various ways in which a seat cover can help you...

1. Create new interior décor that suits your lifestyle
2. Protect the seats from the many hazards
3. Cover existing damage economically instead of re-upholstering the seats

Creating new interior décor in your car to suit your lifestyle

A true auto enthusiast always wants to identify his or her image with that of the vehicle he or she is currently driving. Some do it with loud painting while some others prefer adding accessories suiting his/her taste. But real car lovers enjoy enhancing the décor inside the vehicle by changing the seat covers according to the mood. Coverking extends a helping hand in whatever way you may like to customize your car seats. As for colors and designs, you can select from Coverking’s innumerable color schemes and design outlays or visit their well-stocked library for selecting the right code.

Sources of Damage

Vehicle seats are susceptible to a  number hazard that include the following.

UV Damage
Despite the fact that ultra violet Phototherapy has opened out newer vistas in the medical world, UV itself is not good for our skin and eyes while it certainly is harmful to automobile upholstery. Leather is especially susceptible to sun damage because UV radiation dries out the natural oils in the leather. Without these oils keeping things moist, the leather will eventually start to crack. Cloth upholstery is also in danger. Direct sunlight on your fabrics has a bleaching effect. Where once your seats were dark blue or black, an overdose of ultra violet radiation will leave your seats looking purple or ashen. Since you can't always park in the shade, you can give yourself year-round protection with a snazzy set of seat covers.

Kids and pets
Is there anyone who does not love kids? We all may love them but the mess they create in the seats of the car is simply too much. A spilled drink, chocolate stains, pastry... everything can make the upholstery look really bad. But what can you do because in most cases the kids are unstoppable.

The same goes true for your furry, four-legged friend. Pets can leave their marks in the form of scratches and saliva stains. And the body hairs also find a way of getting in. All this can become a nightmare really. However, the right set of seat covers will shield your seats from the messes that children and pets may inadvertently create.

Moisture
Leather's worst enemy is water. When it gets wet, it becomes tacky to the touch - a sign that the leather's natural oils are being washed out. Cloth seating is more prone to damage from moisture. It matters little whether you're driving home from an outing at the local pool, a kayaking trip or an endless summer's day of surfing, the moisture in your clothing can lead to serious problems for your upholstery. Moisture is especially problematic for residents of the drizzly Pacific Northwest and other wet zones. When water seeps into factory-installed fabrics, it can fester and grow into ugly, stinky, disgusting mold. Never fear; our seat covers come in a wide selection of materials with varying degrees of water resistance to protect your interior forever.

Friction
This constant friction between your bodily attires and your seat steadily grinds away at your upholstery. As time passes, the strength of the leather or the fabric starts to wane, and it will eventually start becoming threadbare, torn and split. That is because every time you go out of the car or board the vehicle, there is friction and it works like a silent killer, damaging the seat covers. Like sandpaper on a jagged block of wood, the texture of your clothing grates against the texture of the upholstery.

Solving existing damage

In case the interior of your vehicle has suffered some cruel twist of fate (such as a leaking pen or rainwater causing the fabric to look really bad), you may want to bring it back to life, without having to go through the hassle of a complete re-upholstering job. Instead of calling up your dealer and having to spend a small fortune, you can simply slide a new set of seat covers directly over the old ones. But what cover do you select. There are 3 options for you and they are... Custom Fit, Semi Custom Fit, and Universal Fit.

Custom Fit Seat Coversare the best of the lot. Just as an Armani suit is properly measured, cut and stitched to fit the unique shapes and contours of the wearer, so too is a custom fit seat cover that is meticulously designed for a precise fit over your seats. No part of your vehicle's seat is forgotten or overlooked - not the position of the head rest, nor the location of the seat's ergonomic controls or where your seatbelts are mounted. Everything is taken into consideration, and these made-to-measure seat covers will fit like they were factory-installed. Moreover, custom-fit seat covers will not obstruct your seat's side-impact airbags, so you'll be just as secure as before, only with better looking and better protected upholstery.

Semi-Custom Fit Seat Coversare the economical alternatives to the tailored tuxedo. They are stitched together following patterns that will work with your vehicle's seats as well as with similarly sized seats in other cars, trucks and SUVs. Though there are some who prefer these covers, but the fact remains that a Semi Custom seat cover can never really offer the complete protection that a Custom cover can.

Universal Seat Coverswill fit any high-back or low-back bucket seat, regardless of make, model or year of manufacture of the vehicle. At least that is what the makers of these covers promise. But the reality is something completely different. Like the semi-custom seat covers, the universal seat covers should not be used on seats with side-impact airbags. These covers hardly offer the fit that is required to protect the interiors of your automobile.

So when you need a seat covers, you should always opt for the Custom made variety.