Recover my seats?

[vetahlk]

My seats in my 93 are starting to show some wear. I want to recover them. How hard of a job is this? My vette is tourch red with a grey interior. What do you think of red seats in a grey interior? I've seen red seats in a black interior and I like it alot. Someday when money allows I would like to go for this look, but for now I only have the dollars to recover the seats.
John

 

[Eagle85C4]

Do yourself a favor....remove one of the seat cushions and take a good look at all the rods and clips and associated hardware. Doing it yourself is a nightmare. I pride myself with being self sufficent...I took one of mine apart to resew the seat where it had come apart, what a bear undoing the rods and clips then trying to get it back together. Email this guy for a deal on new mounted leather seats... Vetteman904@aol.com better then Mid-Am and Ecklers

 

[WhalePirot]

I used the foam and leather cover kit from Ecklers, plus got the tool. Shops locally wanted much more, installed, than my cost, minus the 'restorer's' discount.

It was a wrestling match, but I won!


Mike

 

[larry bud]

Go for it!

It's definitely a do it yourselfer job if you have a couple of tools. All I used was a long screwdriver that I cut a hook in to be able to pull the various parts along.

I recovered my '86 from covers from The Last Detail Corvette. Seemed to be the best prices, and the covers were cut exactly like the original.

Replace the foam while you're at it. In fact, you may have trouble getting a nice fit with new covers and old, compressed foam.

Do one seat at a time, and you can reference the old seat as to positions of the various clips. The hardest part of all of this was reattaching the foam to the back. If I had an extra pair of hands it would have been much easier, but you need to really compress it, then clip it in.

 

[berky2500]

larry bud said it all. Do it yourself, expect a couple of hours for each seat cushion (back, bottom, 4 total). It is hard work, but worth it compared to the additional cost if you are trying to save money. Do yourself a favor though, don't go through the work without replacing the foam.

Search the C3 and C4 forums for additional posts about "technique" (mostly brute force, straining, and a fair amount of swearing).

:bang

 

[Vettelt193]

I know if it isn't done right, the seat will wind up looking like a teenager wearing baggy clothes.

I think the Red seats would look pretty cool... Although, I am a huge fan of red!

One more place you may want to look... EBay has full seats from wrecked cars listed all the time. I saw a pretty good deal on red ones a few days ago too.

 

[berky2500]

Here's some before and after, I've never done upholstery before, but I'm fairly good with taking things apart and putting them back together. Draw your own conclusions.

 

[berky2500]

One more.

 

[larry bud]

I don't really see how you can do it "wrong" as long as you put the retaining clips in the same place. The leather just molds itself around the new foam. There's really no adjustment of anything that can be done.