I just finished the passenger seat on my 2007 Lx470 and thought I'd write a review comparing Rides an Lseat since about 2 years ago I did a DIY on a 1998 LC using lseat. I decided to go with ridies this time since they are a sponsor (I think ?)and they are active on the forum furthermore I got the impression that their customer service was much superior than lseat (and it was until there was a problem). So here are my thoughts:
Customer service winner: both loose
I had no issue with lseat personally I used existing threads to find out my color, made my order and in a few weeks they arrived. I had no need to reach out to them but from what I understand there is absolutely no customer service and many many people have had issues with receiving the wrong order, orders never arriving, or ordering samples for them to never arrive. I have emailed with ridies maybe a dozen times and they typically respond within 48 hours and sometimes much less. Trouble is now that there is a problem they are denying any responsibility. Conclusion ridies is great unless there is a problem.
Fit and ease of install winner: Lseat
I had struggles with installing both seats but on the ridies the plastic runner that wraps around the underside of the seatback is simply the wrong size for my LX. This has been recently mentioned by myself and another member in another thread but there is simply no excuse for this. The leather should fit without modification and for my 07 LX the cover just plain wouldn't work without modification. The other member used his old fastener, removed the attached one from rides and stapled the original to the ridies cover. I used some self tapping sheet metal screws to attach the ridies fastener which is too small. Not a huge deal in the end but a real frustration and hurdle trying to figure it out as you are struggling through the install. I had to make many adjustments to my hog ring attachment points on the ridies seat but the bolsters on the seatback just wouldn't stretch for a nice looking clean install at least to my liking. It does not look bad but not as good as the LC did. I did steam the foam for both installs in the same way and despite the LX foam being newer and less used the LC/lseat install looked better. I can't comment to the seatback cover because on the lc there isn't one but I'm currently trying to install the one that came from ridies and the fit is poor at the lower corners. I also had to add 1 inch foam behind the seatback upper most panel, there was so much slack there without it looked terrible. I tried adding foam to the seatback bolster panels but it did not come out to my liking. Part of this comparison may be unfair to ridies. I think the shape of the LX panels may make them more susceptible to these problems. I wouldn't be surprised if the ridies LC cover fits better than the LX cover. Also the shape of the rounded portion of the seat insert on the upper is a little wonky compared to OEM on the rides cover. The seam swings out toward the bolster before curving over the top. Not that noticeable but after staring at this thing for a few days the shape is different than OEM.
Construction winner: Rides
Just a casual look inside the covers it is obvious to see that the care taken on construction of the Ridies covers is superior. The loops that the metal wires run through are excellent on the rides covers and suspect and sloppy on the lseat covers. Ridies wins over OEM easily in this department.
Leather quality: Both leave something to be desired, lseat fails less but still not great
Initial quality on the lseat leather was fine it wasn't a soft as I would have like but it was adequate. For the price at the time of 300$+shipping it was reasonable over time however it developed this shiny look and rubbery feel I thought especially on the seat bottom which sees the most friction. It held up fine I suppose. Initially I was happy unboxing the ridies covers but on install I began to see many many issues with leather inconsistency, small ?threads? sticking up in the leather, black marks in the leather, places where the stamped on grain pattern is light in some areas and heavy in other, and lastly several places where there appears to be imperfection in the leather that is not adequately hidden by the grain stamp. I reached out to rides to see if they would compensate me for these issues. They blamed me and offered no solution. If the price was less than lseat I'd be ok with these issues but at 550$ I'm not happy!
Leather feel: ridies
I always felt that the lseat had a fake feel to it intially it was a bit rough and on the seat bottom eventually kind of rubbery. The feel of the ridies leather is what I would expect nice and soft/plush.
Color match thoughts I was expecting my ridies covers to match in color a little better than they did. They still look good but they are a bit darker than I was expecting and a bit darker than the sample ( I think but am not 100% sure). Unfortunately I threw away the sample so I can't be sure of this. Ridies does say on their sample sheet that the actual leather may vary slightly in color so I can't really fault them for this. Just something to keep in mind that the color might be slightly different. From looking at photos of my LC the lseat color was also just slightly darker but less so than the ridies.
Console cover: The one sent from lseat did not fit. Some have had an upholstery shop modify the cover to fit but as it is it is way too big. Ridies sent two console covers. I'm hoping the smaller one fits.
Seatback cover: rides sends leather to recover the seatback for the lx (I don't think lseat does this but I'm not sure). This does not apply to the lc since the seatback is plastic but on the lx it is vinyl. A nice touch if it actually fit somewhat. The seatback pocket is so irregular and oversized that I gave up trying to make it fit. I really wanted to make it work because the color match to the vinyl isn't great and one of my seatback vinyl panels has a hole but the fit is so bad I gave up.
The first photo is of the LC about 2 years after install, the middle photos are of the ridies imperfections, the last photo is the LX with the new cover.
Customer service winner: both loose
I had no issue with lseat personally I used existing threads to find out my color, made my order and in a few weeks they arrived. I had no need to reach out to them but from what I understand there is absolutely no customer service and many many people have had issues with receiving the wrong order, orders never arriving, or ordering samples for them to never arrive. I have emailed with ridies maybe a dozen times and they typically respond within 48 hours and sometimes much less. Trouble is now that there is a problem they are denying any responsibility. Conclusion ridies is great unless there is a problem.
Fit and ease of install winner: Lseat
I had struggles with installing both seats but on the ridies the plastic runner that wraps around the underside of the seatback is simply the wrong size for my LX. This has been recently mentioned by myself and another member in another thread but there is simply no excuse for this. The leather should fit without modification and for my 07 LX the cover just plain wouldn't work without modification. The other member used his old fastener, removed the attached one from rides and stapled the original to the ridies cover. I used some self tapping sheet metal screws to attach the ridies fastener which is too small. Not a huge deal in the end but a real frustration and hurdle trying to figure it out as you are struggling through the install. I had to make many adjustments to my hog ring attachment points on the ridies seat but the bolsters on the seatback just wouldn't stretch for a nice looking clean install at least to my liking. It does not look bad but not as good as the LC did. I did steam the foam for both installs in the same way and despite the LX foam being newer and less used the LC/lseat install looked better. I can't comment to the seatback cover because on the lc there isn't one but I'm currently trying to install the one that came from ridies and the fit is poor at the lower corners. I also had to add 1 inch foam behind the seatback upper most panel, there was so much slack there without it looked terrible. I tried adding foam to the seatback bolster panels but it did not come out to my liking. Part of this comparison may be unfair to ridies. I think the shape of the LX panels may make them more susceptible to these problems. I wouldn't be surprised if the ridies LC cover fits better than the LX cover. Also the shape of the rounded portion of the seat insert on the upper is a little wonky compared to OEM on the rides cover. The seam swings out toward the bolster before curving over the top. Not that noticeable but after staring at this thing for a few days the shape is different than OEM.
Construction winner: Rides
Just a casual look inside the covers it is obvious to see that the care taken on construction of the Ridies covers is superior. The loops that the metal wires run through are excellent on the rides covers and suspect and sloppy on the lseat covers. Ridies wins over OEM easily in this department.
Leather quality: Both leave something to be desired, lseat fails less but still not great
Initial quality on the lseat leather was fine it wasn't a soft as I would have like but it was adequate. For the price at the time of 300$+shipping it was reasonable over time however it developed this shiny look and rubbery feel I thought especially on the seat bottom which sees the most friction. It held up fine I suppose. Initially I was happy unboxing the ridies covers but on install I began to see many many issues with leather inconsistency, small ?threads? sticking up in the leather, black marks in the leather, places where the stamped on grain pattern is light in some areas and heavy in other, and lastly several places where there appears to be imperfection in the leather that is not adequately hidden by the grain stamp. I reached out to rides to see if they would compensate me for these issues. They blamed me and offered no solution. If the price was less than lseat I'd be ok with these issues but at 550$ I'm not happy!
Leather feel: ridies
I always felt that the lseat had a fake feel to it intially it was a bit rough and on the seat bottom eventually kind of rubbery. The feel of the ridies leather is what I would expect nice and soft/plush.
Color match thoughts I was expecting my ridies covers to match in color a little better than they did. They still look good but they are a bit darker than I was expecting and a bit darker than the sample ( I think but am not 100% sure). Unfortunately I threw away the sample so I can't be sure of this. Ridies does say on their sample sheet that the actual leather may vary slightly in color so I can't really fault them for this. Just something to keep in mind that the color might be slightly different. From looking at photos of my LC the lseat color was also just slightly darker but less so than the ridies.
Console cover: The one sent from lseat did not fit. Some have had an upholstery shop modify the cover to fit but as it is it is way too big. Ridies sent two console covers. I'm hoping the smaller one fits.
Seatback cover: rides sends leather to recover the seatback for the lx (I don't think lseat does this but I'm not sure). This does not apply to the lc since the seatback is plastic but on the lx it is vinyl. A nice touch if it actually fit somewhat. The seatback pocket is so irregular and oversized that I gave up trying to make it fit. I really wanted to make it work because the color match to the vinyl isn't great and one of my seatback vinyl panels has a hole but the fit is so bad I gave up.
The first photo is of the LC about 2 years after install, the middle photos are of the ridies imperfections, the last photo is the LX with the new cover.
Last edited: