Does anyone know where I can pick up some inexpensive seatcovers or the front and back seats for my Cabrio S? I'm trying to keep from buying and returning seat covers that dont fit.

 

other then wet okoles
Do a search on here and you will find them.
They fit like a glove and many diffirent colors.
Made in Hawaii
You can get piping, very cool.

www.wetokole.com/MINIC.html

 

However, the piping for orange is way too fluorescent. You may want to stick with no piping or a plain "grey" color piping. You can order the swatches to see if they will match the color of your Mini

 

The Wet Okole's are awesome, but they're not cheap. Expect about $250 for two seats... Don't get me wrong, I have em and love them. But they're not the inexpensive ones he's looking for.

 

Right now cheap is good. Its back to school shopping and thats costs me a small fortune. I'll keep shopping.

 

I've been wanting the Wet Okoles for a while now.

I have leatherette right now and it gives me the dreaded "sweaty back". Do the Wet Okoles produce the same result?

 

be careful with the seat covers you end up getting. If they are not specially designed to work with the airbags in the seats you could have an issue in the event of an accident. Not that you would be having an accident anytime soon or anything.

 

The Wet okoles are designed for use with the air bag seats...

I find they don't get hot no matter how long the car sits in the sun with the top down. I've gotten a slightly damp back maybe twice. We're talking like upper 90's and high 80's humidty. Nothing was staying dry then. By and large they are very cool on the back.

 

I've looked into MINI OEM accessory seat covers for the cabrio. MINI do not make covers for the cabrio rear seat. For the front seats, MINI's official position is that for all cars after 1/05 build (both hardtop and cabrio), seat covers are not to be used because they interfere with the airbag weight sensor. That includes both MINI and aftermarket seat covers. I suspect that it only matters for passengers near the cut-off weight for airbag deployment (40 lbs?) where a seat cover might throw off the weight reading. I think the MINI front seat covers for '04 and earlier should physically fit though.

 

I was told I can't use seatcovers because they interfere with side curtain airbags that deploy from the front seats.

YMMV

 

You were told a little fib. But don't feel bad, dozens have posted that ;-)

Again, the Wet Okoles among others have holes in the side to allow the seat side air bags to deploy. Also they do NO effect the sensing of the passenger seat air back system, that light works as normal. Warning light off seat empty, on light weight in seat, off with person in seat. The seat covers weigh little and are the Okoles at least are designed so that they aren't tight across the seat bottom in such a way as to through off the sensor.

 

I asked MINIUSA Assistance last year, and they said the problem was interference with the weight sensor of the 05-06 models. Also they said since they couldn't offer front seat covers for the cabrio, "it made no sense to offer only rear seat covers [for the cabrio], so we have no plans to offer rear seat covers at this time."

Some front seat covers, including the MINI's own version for 02-04 model years, do allow for deployment of the seat airbag. As I alluded to earlier, I think that the weight sensor issue probably only affects children. The system is designed to deploy only when it senses weight above some amount (something like 40 or 50 pounds). An error of 10 pounds or more could be significant in the case of a child. Apparently, MINI's own seat covers didn't pass muster. Perhaps the Wet Okoles could do better but understandably MINI doesn't want to get into the business of testing and approving aftermarket seat covers.

 

Wet Okoles are the way to go. They'll keep you dry in the summer and a tad warmer in cold weather. No problem with the airbags either. They are not cheap, but I think they are the best seatcover out there. Remember, you usually get what you pay for.