These seat panels look amazing, they make a bold statement when you open the door, especially when in direct sunlight. However, unless you are exceptionally handy and skilled don’t attempt to install these yourself. The carbon fiber tabs on top are extremely fragile, the seam cracks very easily, you have to put significant force to get them to fit, yet you have to be very careful and delicate at the same time. Getting the panel to lay over and line up with each tab is nearly impossible. You’ll definitely have to go to the chiropractor afterwards.
The driver panel went on and the screw holes eventually lined up, but not without a struggle. A ridiculous amount of force has to be applied to get the hole to match up to the front threaded hole to get the last screw in.
The most important thing is to get the top center section over without cracking it, it takes some serious skill, these panels only go on one way.
The passenger panel on the other hand was a disaster. The carbon fiber tab on top cracked without much force and I had to drill new holes. I’ll have to do my own repair because you can sort of see it once installed.
The hole for the power module pin would not line up if with the larger round lumbar switch. Even if I forced it to line up, the switches would bind and not move freely once tightened down and screwed in place. Only solution was to drill out the hole for the pin which was not what I wanted to do on a panel that costs this much. But it ended up working out, there was some minor damage to the epoxy where it lifted, but it’s hidden behind the switch.
Once the panel was in place and the rear screw is tightened down, the front hole was off by 3/16 of an inch, I tried to pull as hard as possible but it wasn’t enough slack to get it to line up. So I had to drill a new hole that would line up with the threaded hole on the seat bracket to be able to get a screw in. No way I was removing the panel to do this after struggling to get the panel on a second time, so I had to drill it from underneath the seat doing my best contortionist position. Metal shavings ended up all over my carpeting and seat track since the tabs are metal, which was a pleasant surprise. I figured the brackets on the carbon fiber panel would be plastic.
Finally was able to get the last screw in, both panels were finally installed.
I would’ve given these 5 stars because of how awesome they look, but due to having to drill out the one existing hole larger for the power seat module to sit flush and not bind, and drill a new hole for the front tab, I had to take 1 star off.
I will say customer service is excellent, CalPony is great to deal with, and the carbon fiber parts look great with a few exceptions, just wish I hadn’t encountered so many issues with the various parts I have purchased. I was very close to giving up and sending back the passenger panel, which obviously had issues, but I magically made it work. You’re welcome CalPony.
It’s a good thing they look so good, in the end I guess it was worth the frustration, aggravation and improvisation that was required.