they fit allright. to be honest i modified mine some to help. i sewed up the top hole some so they secure under the headrests. that fixed the top. the bottom, i try to tuck them in seat cracks to secure them better. i wish they were larger so they would hang of the sides of the seat more and there was more to tuck. honestly, if you found a large beach towel and cut a hole for the headrest it would work as good. but you would have to do some sewing on the hole so it would not rip. im still shopping for a large MINI logo beach towel to try my idea. let me know if you find one!

 

Used mine yesterday. It is a lot thicker than those standard folding shades. It works so well, that given a choice I think I will park with windshield towards the sun.

 

I had a earlier BMW with leatherette seats and without air. I purchased some sheep skin covers. It was not the expensive kind that covered the whole seat but just the front of the seat. They were great. Cool in the summer and warm in the winter. May be old school but they work. Only one problem, if you ever left your windows down and it rain, they were like a big sponge.

 

We thought the leatherette looked and felt cheap - never thought of the sweat factor - imagine it in a convertible. Glad we avoided it after reading this thread and went with OEM leather on the MINI.

But you can do it over again - in Katzkin leather.

I did - my new 2008 GMC truck came with cloth that was an incredible link magnet - not even my 5 hp shop vac could clean that material. I learned you had to put on a rubber glove and push the lint into piles then suck it up. They even came out with replacement material it was so bad.

I tried several seat covers from cloth to sheep skin, but they crept around and looked cheap.

So I ordered up installed Katzin leather thru a local installer. You totally customize it to your liking - colored inserts - perforated inserts - colored stitching - even custom embroidered designs at no extra cost - anything you want. I had them match my pin striping for the insert embroidery - the installer took a pic of my pin striping - sent it to Katzin who digitized it. Cost for charcoal with red perforated inserts and red stitching for a 4 door crew cab truck was $1,300 installed.

The real beauty of leather is it's so easy to clean. On one of the first touring drives with the MINI - I get out at a scenic view and there is chocolate melted into the seat for miles under my rump. Get out a wet rag and wipe it right off. try that on cloth or fake leatherette. Every 3 months I wipe them down with a good cleaner/treatment. I tried Lexol and others and have settled on Leather CPR worked in with a damp rag on the truck. The MINI gets Meguiars Gold Class Leather Cleaner/Conditioner which is a little faster, just spray and wipe off.




It's actually looks a shade darker today than the red on the truck. These pics are not true to color. 4 years and 53,000 miles later still looks great!

 

That's good news! Which one did you get? I think the first one, but just want to double check. Thank you!

 

I ordered through Amazon--but the company is the same--Heatshield.

 

Excellent. I need one for summer. I'm sure it will help some with the heat issue. Thank you for the info!

 

The seat wraps from GoBadges are on sale, but they're out of stock right now! Shucks.

 

I was just sitting at a stoplight reading the little corner window sticker on my CM and it mentioned some very specific reasons not to install non-MINI approved seat covers.

Namely the seat-mounted airbags.

Something to be aware of if you cover those up--you might have some serious issues if you're ever in a wreck.

 

y8s, I do know about the airbags, which is why I was asking here. I just need to find something that will help with the sweating issue. Perhaps GoBadges has the answer.
Thanks for the post.

 

good to know. as I was reading it, I was thinking of this thread. hopefully you find a good solution.

my solution so far is: remove jacket, open roof, open four windows, turn up music.

seems somewhat effective so far!

 

Get out the pocket book already - fully perforated Katzkin leather customized to your liking - airbag friendly........

 

Ok, this isn't fancy by any means, but it was less than $20.

 

I did the towel thing for a short time. The issue I found is it did not stay in place at all, it would fall down very easily (one could poke holes and have the headrest attachments hold it in place as a solution). It does help the sweat problem.

 

dw1, I attached buttons and hooks into the towels and wrapped the top portion around the head rest attachments. I'll take a couple pics tonight to detail what I did. So far, no problems with the towels falling or moving around.

 

OK, now you are all making me nervous about ordering the leatherette!

 

It gets hot for me in the Texas heat, but if it doesn't get too hot where you are, you're probably fine.

 

Well, New Jersey hits 90s and sometimes 100+ in the summer, and HUMID! Should be ok for 9-10 months out of the year though.

 

I think the big issue here is getting air circulation. I've had leather in a few cars, and it wasn't much better than vinyl for the sweat factor, although seemed cooler to the touch. Of all the suggestions given, I think beads or genuine wool would be best. The beads are cheap, and won't interfere with the airbags. I think that's worth a try. Might look funky, but a big wet stain on the back of your shirt looks a lot more funky.

I have the cloth sport seats in my first gen, and I love them. Not as classic looking as vinyl or leather, but they are grippy in the curves. Plus I let the dogs muddy them up, and simply vaccum or steam clean them later. No worries about scratching, or dirt getting permanently ground in, like with leather. Only issue is the dog hair is harder to vacuum out. I originally would have preferred leather, but you can't always get everything you want in a used car. Now I'm glad I have the cloth. If it is fading, it's so even I really can't tell.

 

Can anybody direct me to the wax and finish forum, what waxing do you use?

 

My husband's car has leather and I don't find that nearly as hot as my leatherette. I haven't had a sweat problem in his car, whereas I have in my CMS. My towels, up to this point are doing great; I folded them in half long ways, attached buttons to one end, folded it down and snapped a velcro strap into it and wrapped that around the headrest attachments/legs. I then tucked part of the towel inbetween the back and seat. No problems yet, but we'll see what happens on our first road trip.

I'll probably keep these around, they're easily removeable when it gets colder, and I'm happy with it.

 

It sure does and yesterday was the first day of me sweating on my leatherette seats. It was hot in Trenton/Pennington. I have a dog and the leatherette is perfect. So far so good.

 

OK, that's good to hear!