I bought the Corbeau Moab seats for my Jeep with high hopes. They looked right for the kind of Jeep I was building, and when they showed up, I was actually glad I went with the cloth/vinyl combination instead of full vinyl.
The cloth portion felt solid and well made.
The vinyl? That turned out to be a different story.
Installation Was Easy
Getting them installed was about as painless as you could hope for.
I unbolted the factory seat risers from the tub, flipped them over, removed the stock seats, and bolted the Corbeaus right on. No drama, no fighting brackets, and no complicated fabrication.
Once everything was back in the Jeep, though, I noticed two things immediately.
First, the seat didn't slide back as far as the factory seat.
Second, the seating position was a couple inches higher.
I'm 5'11", and that combination put me noticeably closer to the steering wheel and reduced the legroom. It worked for me, but just barely. If you're much taller, I'd want to check the fit carefully before buying.
That said, the seats were extremely comfortable when they were new.
And they looked fantastic.
Two Years Later
This is where my opinion changed.
After about two years, the vinyl started tearing along the sides. More importantly, the foam in the side bolsters started breaking down.
This Jeep isn't my daily driver. I rotate between it, my truck, my wife's car, and my Harley. The Jeep and Harley probably get the most road time, but we're still not talking about a vehicle that's being driven every day.
I don't think two years is enough time for the seat bolsters to be falling apart under those conditions.
I really noticed the foam problem when I was running the Jeep doorless one summer. Without the door there to support me, I could feel myself leaning outward because the bolster had lost so much of its shape.
For reference, I'm 5'11" and about 235 pounds. I'm not a tiny guy, but I'm also not expecting a seat to survive only a couple of years before the foam starts collapsing.
They Still Look Damn Good
That's the frustrating part.
Even with the problems, the Moabs still look great in the Jeep.
I'm going to see if I can repair the damaged foam and vinyl rather than immediately replacing the seats. If I can rebuild the bolsters and recover the damaged areas, I may get considerably more life out of them.
I also still have the original Jeep seats. They're pretty rough and desperately need new covers, so another option is learning how to reupholster them myself.
Either way, I'm not throwing the Corbeaus away just yet.
Would I Buy Them Again?
After two years of actual use, I wouldn't buy these new for a daily driver—or even a vehicle that gets regular semi-daily use.
For a dedicated trail Jeep that doesn't see a ton of road miles, I think the equation is different. They're comfortable, they look good, and installation was easy.
But for the amount of use mine actually received, the vinyl and bolster foam didn't hold up the way I expected them to.
That's the kind of thing you don't find out from a five-minute product review.
You find it out two years later.
And that's exactly why I like revisiting the gear I've actually used instead of pretending everything is awesome because it came in a nice box.
Adventure isn't a product. It's an experience. The gear just has to survive the experience.
