Can’t afford or find original lace covers? Customize your own.
The original Honda Access lace covers are exceedingly rare.
You probably don’t doomscroll parts and other cars as much as I have, but if folks driving Carnival Yellow (crazy rare) Civic hatchbacks with matching yellow interiors (crazily rare) are not repping lace covers (maybe I am crazy), it could be out of reach for even the most diehard (and rich) collectors – you can’t buy rarity, but a factory and tooling is probably doable.
Early in the year, a warehouse clearance was put on Yahoo Auctions with many long-discontinued Honda Access parts, but the most intriguing piece (for the EG owner) was one auction for “Half Seat Cover”. I don’t gatekeep, so the part number is 08P36-SR4-C00 for the SiR.
I caught this auction when it was being processed, but both mistook “C00” for “000” and had no money anyways, where it sold for ¥78k+. It went to a Thai owner who showed two photos of it installed, which gave me the inspiration for mine.
But I wouldn’t wait another thirty years for another miracle like this set – this lace cover and full seat cover are practically a myth by this point! So I ought to make my own.
There are universal lace covers that are available from Chinese-based retailers, but anyone who installs them are almost always grannies, VIP-style custodians and JDM fans – all of which have perhaps a 5% chance of having a car with hollow headrests. If Toyota Crowns had hollow headrests, I could make a living doing these.
Thankfully headrests tend to be a standardized size and so conventional fitting is no problem. But what is a problem are those hollow headrests, which the Civic Ferio SiR has four.
As a test trial (more accurately a forced trial because there’s no going back), the first attempt was shoddy and I cut off more than needed. But the idea of looping the cut piece over and velcroing it was workable.
Lace seat covers on hollow headrests is a super niche medium and then and now do I struggle with any documentation on how they are fitted, but with how I cut the cover, the entire assembly is basically several pieces velcro’d together to keep it removable and wrapped around the cover seamlessly.
At least with this work did I also learn a little about hand sewing, although the materials were crap as was the wielder.
Its not perfect, but after spending about S$40 for two sets and my time in Penang running out, I made do with what I had. From an outside perspective, its definitely a lace seat cover, and that’s what matters.
For the other three, my fellow writer Inui took a different approach and brute-forced the process by putting together several cut pieces together. With some extra sewing of velcro pieces, it looks… like lace seat covers.
First-time effort from me and Inui… its fine? It also is probably one of maybe four or five EG Civic owners running lace seat covers on their SiR seats globally, so that’s something. The rears for the seat itself are too thin as the rear coverage is huge and need the same piece used for the front seats (since its a 2+2 seating layout), while the fronts are fine but don’t look the best as it doesn’t follow the shape of the seat.
But once again, with no specialized covers available and for amateur work, its good enough.
~Efini
Read more: Feriko: Cosmetic completion
Consider subscribing to our website! Most of our posts are uploaded before they reach our social medias, so such means you get to see posts early and some that we may not feature. Cheers!
