Wet Okole Waterproof Seat Cover Review Testing

[JeepLab]

About 2 weeks ago I’m at a barbeque at a friend’s house, and the forcast had a chance of showers, as my truck is always topless with the safari straps that I love. It’s sunny out so I’m thinking everything is ok. I start to feel a breeze with a little chill in it, the kind that says, “better put your top on”. I walk over to the Jeep and look around. It’s still sunny out, and I had just been burned by my NAV unit the day before. The 730 had a thunderstorm warning, so thinking a monsoon was coming, I pulled over on the side the road immediately and installed the Supertop NX. Wouldn’t you know it, no rain. So I’m standing next to my vulnerable interior and decide that it’s not going to rain. I begin the 60 yard walk back to the barbeque in the backyard. I get about half way there before the downpour comes.

Raindrops the size of baseballs, and all the while the sun was still out. I scramble to my baby and start to put the top on. The Supertop NX is simple enough to install, when im calm I can do it in about 5 minutes. I was not calm this time. Got it unfolded tacked down the rear corners and then one of the front clips was above the inner hook, and I had to lift it off and fix it. It was a real pain, and the rain is coming down diagonally so it’s coming in the windows and the rear. I can’t slow down until all the windows are in and the tailgate is closed. Water everywhere inside. Once the rain stopped which took some time, it took me about 30 minutes to try and wipe it down and dry it out. Needless to say it was a nightmare. The rain made these marks in the seats and the roll bars. The Safari straps show no signs of wear. I wanted waterproof seat covers before, but now they were a necessity.

[JeepLab]

Being a research nut, I began to comparison shop and the seats that seemed like the highest quality were the wet okole seats. The website was easy enough to navigate, but I like to call and talk to people when I buy stuff, just to be sure I’m getting what I expect.

Neoprene – The seats are handmade from neoprene and I know your saying to yourself, wetsuits are neoprene, and they don’t keep the water out. That is neoprene is “open cell”. The wet okole seat covers are made from “closed cell” neoprene. It was the first question I asked and it seemed like they get asked that very question regularly. I ordered the standard black front and back seat covers for my 2012 JKUR. They took about a week to 10 days to receive. Opening the box. First, Ill tell you these are heavier than I expected. They don’t weigh a ton, but they feel like they are high quality. They are rather soft with the padding added, and I couldn’t find any problems with the stitching, and believe me I looked very closely. All parts were there, headrests down to the center console. No silly peripherals to buy.

Waterproof? In a word, Yes. I took the center console, as it was the easiest part to handle for testing and draped it over a Tupperware bowl. Then filled it with water and watched to see if any drips could be seen through the clear plastic. Not one. I let it sit there for 3 minutes waiting for it to soak through, and the neoprene held up. I used enough water that it didn’t get absorbed by the material, the liquid sat on top of the neoprene, what I mean by that is that the neoprene wasn’t absorbing the water, the other side was still dry when I dumped it out.


http://youtu.be/dGWTtiG-qDE

[JeepLab]

Install – Very simple, A little time consuming, I need to make sure everything is perfect when I install anything on my jeep so maybe I took a little longer than others might take. The seat covers had pockets that I hadn’t realized they’d have, like pockets on the sides of the front seats in addition to the pistol pockets in between the front passengers’ legs and the standard pockets on the backs of the front seats. I installed the bottoms first “seat area” and under each seat there were 3 straps to clasp together under the seat. Once clasped, tightend. This is how you get the best look, make them snug. After the bottoms the backs were next. Everything fits really nice and tight.

Once installed – The seats have padding, and it seems like they make your factory seats feel more plush then before. Even if they weren’t waterproof, I’d like them for the comfort and also the look on the seats is great. My truck is black, and the seats were black before, but now they are really black. The Wet Okole seats also have stitching that makes them look like the factory seats. If you didn’t know they were seat covers, you would think they were just the factory seats.

Issues – None really, the fit and finish was very good, and the kit was very complete. They are not cheap, but I feel that they are worth the money after having some other seat covers in other cars that were loose and moved around under you. These stay put and look great.

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