danthony

I am thinking about redoing my seats myself and I's like to hear some experiences/advise on how difficult of a task this is to make them look right.

I have good mechanical abilities in general but never did anything like this.

Finally, who makes the best stuff?

Before I forget, 72 BB coupe with Saddle vinyl.

Thanks!!

Jims79

Its HARD but it can be done. My buddy did his 77 took two weekends, and said he would never do it again. I purchased new leather covered seats from mid-america and replaced my old ones in under an hour. G/L

rponfick

The only mistake I made was to try to change the foam cushions at the same time. I got halfway through one seat bottom and then took the whole mess to an upholstry shop. If I had used the old cushions, I may have made it.

Zoomin

I took one seat apart wondering "How big a deal could this be?" It's probably not a big deal if someone can give you a few pointers, but I wound up taking them in to be done.

I bought my covers from Wilcox off eBay. Nice product.

28buick

I just finished recovering my seats. The first one was a challenge but the second wasn't that bad. I spent a lot of time with the MIG welder rebuilding the cheap GM seat frames. Even if you send the seats out to be recovered make sure you get the frames straightened and reinforced.

mooneyd

I got mine from Wilcox and I got the covers mounted on new foam. Really nice product. Don't know if you can get them on the foam for your year. My '82 has a different type seat. Good luck.

nelson71

I recovered the seats in my 71 coupe last winter. My father and I spent the better part of a day doing the first one. Of course once we had it done the second one went much quicker. I had no experience at all with upholstery and mine turned out real nice. One thing I remember is that the reproduction seat foam was not accurate to the original and we had to trim it in places to make it fit. The biggest consideration is which is more valuable, your time or the satisfaction of doing it yourself.

1mollyd

I recovered the seats in my '69 coupe with no trouble.

I bought new seat covers, seat foam and installation kit from Willcox. They turned out real nice.

First I removed the old covers and foam then straightened the frames and sandblasted and painted them then installed the new ones.

They look great.

Dave

7T1vette

You can do it. The real key is to make sure you understand how they are put together and the process needed for disassembly and reassembly. I just redid mine because all of the scrim foam (surface channel foam, not the main foam pieces) had all turned to yellow dust from the UV over 35 years. What a mess...and I had to come up with a way to not destroy the seat covers and still re-foam them. I finally worked it out, but it was a chore. The end result was new looking seats with the orignial covers. I'm very happy with them. If you want some pictures of the process and some details, write me direct and we can talk about it (cmanker@msn.com).

jn76vette

You can do it yourself, we did. It's difficult and it takes awhile. but just take your time and you'll do fine. Good luck

67VetteMan

See this thread, many different opinions on how difficult seat covers are to replace...

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1286655

69FI

I would pass on two tips I learned doing my 69.

Use very thin plastic trash bags over the foam before you pull the seat covers on. Lets you pull them over with much less effort. For the seat back I used the whole bag but for the seat bottom I cut out a plastic ring to go around the sides of the foam. You can pull most of the plastic out when you're done if it bugs you.

Look carefully at the position of the seam at the top of the seat before you start. I found that my new front and rear foam pieces for the seat back were joined together to form a pocket for the seat frame to go into. I should have separated them to allow the metal seat top itself to be directly under the top seam of the cover. By leaving the foam together as a pocket the foam at the top kept me from getting the seam in the right place.

I didn't realize this until I had buttoned up the seat and was putting in holes for the headrest and seat belt clip. The location of the holes I made didn't match the old seat covers.

dariopop

Did mine a few years ago and found it pretty easy after I called the manufacture and they told me to spray some silicone on the foam before you install the covers and they went on like butter. Its a good time to add some gussets on your weak points of the cheap metal seats that GM put in. I spent about a half day welding them up and well worth the effort.

73jst4fun

Try Al Knock for your seat covers, lots of the NCRS guys use his stuff.
My covers and conv. top are from him and look great and are holding up nice...

71rdster

I did my 68 vert seats (Blue Vinyl). Takes patience, hog ring pliers, and I suggest wearing gloves. My seats had been customized so there was foam work to do. Al Knoch and Corvette America make the best covers. Wilcox sells Corvette America products. I don't know about Ecklers seat cover quality. I am thinking of doing the 80 seats going in my 71, but with those seats, you can get new foam with leather covers mounted from Wilcox, for very little more than the cost of the covers and foam.

lucky76

Be sure to purchase the installation kit with the seat covers. It's extra. Don't expect the instructions to be of much use. I got one sheet of paper with a small picture on it for instructions. I couldn't understand exactually how the wires went through the foam until I started taking the first cover off the drivers seat. Then you realize what all the rods and wires are for and how to install them. 4 hours on the first seat and about 2 on the second one the next day. I got them at Corvette America.

jdmick

It's not that easy. As some have mentioned the frame may need extensive welding and straightening first. My little MIG worked good for that. The two toughest parts I recall were fishing the rods through the new foam and getting the last couple of clips wrapped around the frame.
To pull the rods up I measured where the holes were on the old foam and marked that location on the new foam. I then stuck a very stiff wire with a hook bent onto the end through the foam to pull the rod back up and then slide the retainer rod through the loop.
To get the last few clips on it may be necessary to use one or two hair dryers to heat the vinyl up enough to be able to stretch it.
Good luck.

68/70Vette

I've replaced the vinyl on my 68 and the leather on the 70. No problem. I didn't change the foam. The 68, although it looks basically fine, a critical person would spot that the vinyl isn't all that smooth fitting. A professional shop, as I understand it, will use a steam gun to tighten up the vinyl and also leather. I plan to redo my 68 in leather. If it's convenient, I'll try to rent/buy a steam gun. (I didn't use a steam gun on my 70 Al Knoch's and they look just fine.)

I bought repro foam buns for the 70. I gave up replacing the original. I didn't think the foam repro buns had the right shape - they seemed too big. Maybe next time I'll try the plastic bag/silicon spray techniques. It really seemed to me that the repro buns were too large. Maybe I was wrong. Another problem I have with the repro buns is that alhough I didn't use them, I had them setting around for a year or so. They turned from white to a dark orange color and the surfaces became brittle. I gave them a toss. I really wonder about their quality. If I would have installed them, would they still have oxidized, turned orange, and brittle? Maybe if they were covered and protected from air, they would have been fine (assuming I was wrong that they were oversize.)

G dad

Easy...get good quality Hog Ring pliers & change the foam....looks good... & make sure the covers are at a decent temprature don't try to stretch covers in a cold garage....use a blowdrier to help stretch them so you don't get too many wrinkles It's not the worst job you"ll don on a Corvette

7T1vette

In response to 68/70Vette's question.... the seat foam is very sensitive to sunlight. Ultraviolet causes it to get brittle and then turn to dust. If the foam is inside of a seat cover which cannot get sunlight through it [leather, for example], you will have no problem with foam deterioration. On the other hand, if you have mesh seat surfaces, the sunlight will eventually destroy all of the scrim foam (cloth backed channel foam sewn to the seatcover surface). That is what I had to replace when I rebuilt my seats. The main body foam was inside of the whole cover assembly and it had no deterioration.