[Sapilot143]

Although my seats look in pretty good shape. the vinyl is starting to get pretty hard and will surely split one day. I was thinking about replacing them now rather than later

Has anyone ever replaced their seat coverings and where can you get a good deal on the replacements..

cheers

 

[espresso veloce]

I just received a set of vinyl seat bottoms from World Upholstery and Trimhttp://www.worlduph.com/, and they look darn good. I think they're going to match my seat backs on my '86 Spider just fine. I haven't delved into the replacement yet, but hopefully I'll get to it this weekend.

I got a deal on these because I won an item from them on eBay and then discovered that they had listed the wrong part number, and the won item wouldn't fit on my seats. They were very fair to deal with!! You might consider giving them a call and just ordering the parts you need rather than entirely new cover sets.

Tim

 

[144]

Go down to your local car upholsterer and see what he can do. I got both seats covered in nagahyde for $315. Leather would have been about twice that. And that price included installation and rebuilding the cushions as necessary.

 

[Tifosi]

Word to the wise: Price some stuff first though before hitting your local upholster.


The several I checked in my area wanted half again more than what a prefab kit cost.

Them: $650 (cheapest I could find, and they wanted the whole car for a couple weeks, not just the seats for X time, you know, in case I couldn't figure out how to remove the seats all by my lonesome.....)

Prefab: $420 (including delivery)

One even insisted it would take 12 yards of material to cover the seats in marine grade and the price they quoted for the stuff was almost double what it actually cost off the rack at the store that sells it. (I guess they didn't think I'd actually go to a place that sells it and check)

Oddly enough that 12 yards just happens to be the size of a full roll of of the stuff, and if it takes that much to do those tiny seats, I'll eat my hat. (I faked up a set for 1 seat using under 3 yards incuding all the pleats and piping. Now if I could just sew consistantly....)


Not to say upholsterers are bad, just do a bit of research and go in with eyes open and at least an idea of what those things should cost before you end up with that one who's just looking for some dummy to burn for a pile of money.

 

[Peter]

I got mine (67, so no headrests) done for $500 the pair at a local upholstery shop, in leather...turned out nice

 

[torcia]

I got my covers from Centerline. Came in at under $360 because I ordered a few other things that came out to just more than $400 so the order qualified for their 10% discount. That was late in 2004 but the prices seem to be about the same. Replacement was pretty straight forward. I did have to find some replacement springs for the listing (sp?) wire and find some hog rings. Went to an upholstry shop and the guy gave me a handful of hog rings. When I was done though I just couldn't bring myself to poke holes in the top of the back to but the headrests back in. Kit came with both bottom and back for both sides, new headrest covers and additional matching material to redo the backs of the seat backs. Pretty straight forward and they fit perfectly. Took the better part of 2 days to do the job but then I sanded and painted the seat pans as well.

One other thought is that if yours are in pretty good shape now then the foam should be fine and not need the talents of a professional.

 

[AlfaManOne]

Gluing the material to seat foam?

Mike,
A few years ago when I restored an MGB I bought a kit similar to the type that IAP and Centerline sells.....I used spray adhesive to get the foam and the upholstery to fit right. Did you have to do something similar? If so, how did you get it all to fit so nicely?

 

[Tifosi]

I did my S3 seats last summer (sorry, no pix) and ended up using a hair drier to soften the covers and sort of 'spanking' the vinyl into position.

Something I picked up a few years back in regard to getting the stuff to lay where you wanted it without glue and not distort the foam when trying to squeeze things together.

Basically you warm it up til it's pliant, then just kind of pull in the direction you want to stretch it in and slap in that same direction too to settle everything.

No lumps, no bumps, and when it cools off it tightens up even more for a nice finish.

Deep down, I have this suspicion that the seats liked it.....

 

[Farace]

Isn't it the purpose of the springs to pull the vinyl tautly down into the creases in the foam? I hadn't heard of using adhesive, and there certainly wasn't any when I removed the covers from my seats. (I haven't put them back yet, so I don't know what kind of results I'll have . . .)

 

[torcia]

I didn't use any adhesive when installing the new seat covers on mine and I wouldn't advise it. It would probably ruin the foam when you or the next owner had to replace the seat covers the next time. The covers kind of have a center part with some piping and then the bolster covers around the edges. The center part is held into the foam by something I think is called a listing wire with springs that go from the listing wire to the bottom/back frame of the cushion. Actually, I think the back listing wire is held in by rubber loops and the bottom is the springs. Anyway, you fit the listing wire in a pocket on the seat cover and then feed the springs/rubber loops through the hole in the foam and then attach them to the bottom/back frame. Then you pull/stretch or if you are TiFosi, SPANK, the material tight over the foam bolsters and attach to the outside of the frame with hog rings for the bottom cushion and the little clips that you retained when taking the old back cover off. Some pictures to help clearify my prose. The first one shows the backside of the bottom seat cover where the listing wire pocket would be. The second one shows the wire frame on the bottom cushion where the hog rings are used and where the springs attach.

Hope this helps.

 

[Tifosi]

Oh c'mon, what's wrong with a little open spank on your (seat) bottom

On those listing wires:

Mine were roached beyond all use, though I found steel coat hanger rod to be a quite excellent substitute.

 

[AlfaManOne]

Ah...much clearer now....

Good points guys. The MGB kit I had bought wasn't the most high quality and the directions called for spray adhesive. The results were 90% to my liking.....but the method you are talking about makes much more sense. The MGB seats were constructed MUCH differently by the way. I took the seats out of the Spider the other day to clean the rubber mats and found the seat trays are spotless. So now I will add upholstery to my "get to it" list.

 

[torcia]

AlfaManone,

Be sure to check the insides of the the seat pans for surface rust. The outsides might look good but the inside where any moisture might get trapped could be a little rusty. No big deal just might take a look to see if you need leave time to clean them up as well. Four little tabs and the seat cushion will come right out of the seat pan. Two towards the back and two up front. Rear tabs are circled in the picture.

Most of the springs in my seats were also rusted out so you might need some new ones. I went to an Ace Hardware and was able to find some that worked pretty good.


Good luck with the project!!!