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2025 C3 ('68-'73) of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2024 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2023 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
Originally Posted by AkrHack
If your seats still had the unrestored comfortweave material, you'd most certainly be seeing the yellow dust that Alan mentioned. My '70 has unrestored seats and I have to vacuum the covers after every drive. And while driving with the windows and/or convertible top down, the yellow dust gets in my eyes. It is very unpleasant and I'm going to address it over the winter (I'm going to attempt to save the original covers and install new scrim foam).
Here is a picture after a recent drive that shows the yellow dust (I had vacuumed the seats before the drive).
AkrHack: Really, it's really, from my seats officer ...............!! Police Officer: Looks like Cocaine to me, where are you coming from ??
If your seats still had the unrestored comfortweave material, you'd most certainly be seeing the yellow dust that Alan mentioned. My '70 has unrestored seats and I have to vacuum the covers after every drive. And while driving with the windows and/or convertible top down, the yellow dust gets in my eyes. It is very unpleasant and I'm going to address it over the winter (I'm going to attempt to save the original covers and install new scrim foam).
Here is a picture after a recent drive that shows the yellow dust (I had vacuumed the seats before the drive).
I had that same "yellow dust" from the comfort weave seats in my '71. When I redid the seats recently with new foam and new covers, I was surprised that it wasn't the seat cushion foam that was deteriorating, but the thin foam that was sewn onto the back sides of the covers themselves.
Yellow dust source
My covers were in such poor shape that they weren't worth trying to save. Good thing too, it looked like that job would take a lot of finess I don't have!
I just want to say if you send your seats to corvette America watch out for hidden fees like welding charges and poor fit I had a horrible experience with them a few years back when they offered the Christmas buy the covers and will cover them for free sale … nothing is free after I had had my welder at work weld 2 spots on my bottoms they tried to charge me for work my guy did already and then I had to send the seat back twice because of poor fit I told them I wanted a new cover and they just sent it back I marked the seat from inside so I knew they never replaced it .. don’t send the seats to them whatever you do and I would never recommend any services from them because of the experience I had with them ,,,,, tell me how you really feel
I consider myself lucky that my foam hasn’t gotten to that point?
Buuut… It’s a Midwest / East Coast car, and I’d take yellow dust inside, over the underside rust I’ve got to invest time in. By which I mean time & money for a chassis. So, yeah, I’m working on my priorities.
forman,
Great advice on not sending them out to C.A. due to hidden costs and [apparently] poor workmanship. I’m sorry you had to go through that, but it serves as a warning to others, so I can see the silver-lining.
I'm stubborn and proud sometimes, so if I can do it myself, I will.
Guess one of the things I couldn’t do myself was determine the difference in the seat covers
You guys definitely came through on that!
I plan to take the “drum brake” approach, and only do one side at a time [I think I mentioned that before…].
Thank you for your accolades... I sometimes don't deserve them. My brain isn't what it was a few years ago.
The reason I showed the date stamps is to illustrate how close in time the covers were produced to the date they were installed. There was very little room to store parts in the assembly plant so often there were just a very few days from when a part was made until it went on a car.
Regards....
Alan 71,
You’ve mentioned [in other posts] that your memory isn’t what it was - I know mine’s getting that way too. The info you’ve posted warrants well-deserved accolades.
Career change had plenty of new info & rules to follow, and I think when all that got stored inside my noggin it pushed old knowledge out .
And I’m sure many of us have forgotten more than others know.
You can do this. Lots of great tips here. (I really like the vacuum bag ideas.)
I got the bright blue leather seat covers and new foam from Corvette America. I found them to be flawless. I used the Wilcox video I believe.
It took me about 4 hours on the first seat. The second seat took less than 2 hours. There is a learning curve and you need to get the good tools when you order your seats.
I read that the CA foam was easier to use than Al's. I don't know if that's true or not. I did my seats about 5 years ago. People were ordering foam from CA and seats from Al.
It's really not that hard using quality materials. Seat recovering on my old Bronco was a nightmare using the crap from J. C. Whitney!!
VERYSOON
And yes, Alan71 is a truly wonderful human being!!
You can do this. Lots of great tips here. (I really like the vacuum bag ideas.)
I got the bright blue leather seat covers and new foam from Corvette America. I found them to be flawless. I used the Wilcox video I believe.
It took me about 4 hours on the first seat. The second seat took less than 2 hours. There is a learning curve and you need to get the good tools when you order your seats.
I read that the CA foam was easier to use than Al's. I don't know if that's true or not. I did my seats about 5 years ago. People were ordering foam from CA and seats from Al.
It's really not that hard using quality materials. Seat recovering on my old Bronco was a nightmare using the crap from J. C. Whitney!!
VERYSOON
And yes, Alan71 is a truly wonderful human being!!
Thanks for the encouragement VERYSOON !
I'm willing to dive into this based on everything in this thread - encouragement, reviews, shared knowledge, etc…
And I figure if there are two styles of pliers for hog rings, go with the quality one - save some headache and some band-aids
Back in ‘96, nextdoor neighbor in the college dorm was telling me about reupholstering his mustang. The seats came out beautiful, but he said it came “at the price of those gd hog rings tearing up his hands” - I’ll never forget hearing the anger and frustration in his voice when he talked about what it took to get them perfect.
So that memory survived, and I’ll heed his advice.
As far as quality materials go (along with tools), I’m budgeting for about $1000 to do the Al Knoch seats. If my parts list is correct, and my seat frames are good, it should be foam, covers, pliers, zig-zag springs, and then move to the headrests - an additional cost, but age and seat-tipping has caused the headrests to wear on the A-pillar. So… foam & covers.
With the engine, exhaust, and interior work I’m doing right now, the seats can hold off a lil bit til the weather’s nasty outside, and I clean off my workbench.
I think the 'weave' vinyl seats were supposed to be porous and could vent - air could pass thru the weave fabric - correct? (thus the yellow 'dust' comes out thru there as well)
Do the modern replacement 'weave' covers duplicate that 'venting'?
At one point I'd heard that while they had the correct look/feel of the weave - they lacked the venting is why I ask. Thx
Octane … I mean C8H18
Nice user name! Better than C6H12O6 and we all call you Sugar!
I can’t speak for my experience with that dust, but the general consensus is: comfortweave will allow that dust through.
I'm taking my knowledge of my (Dad’s) car into account here:
Late ‘69 production
East Coast / Midwest car
Always garaged
96k on the odometer
Dad & I are similar height/build/weight, at over 6’, ~200lbs.
He’s taken care of it as best he could, as long as he could.
I've never seen that dust, and I’m assuming the foam is going to be in pretty good shape when I pull the covers - it’ll get replaced anyway.
With all that in mind, I started wondering if they put ‘70 seats in it (Late ‘69 and all). But those didn’t have headrests. So they’re either in really good shape (no dust), or that pattern is unique to Late productions in some way?
I'm all for more input on what y’all think & what y’all know about this phenomenon.
Any case, I'm just looking forward to the inserts matching the door panels & the stitching being in-tact.
Current condition of the seats: Driver side Driver close-up Passenger
Better pics of the inserts [close-ups] earlier in thread.
I would probably go with Al Knock. I bought covers and foam from Wilcox years ago. I can’t remember who he used as a supplier (maybe Corvette America?), but the repro comfort weave, stitching and sheen on the outer vinyl was not exactly like OEM. The seats turned out great and look great and you’d never know, but when you hold and look at the original polaris rzr accessories covers you can tell the difference. I am not sure if my covers have the tiny perforations as mentioned by Alan, something I did not know until now, but I have not noticed a real difference in comfort. I too had the yellow dust coming through my covers before I redid my seats. I redid them myself after looking at many YouTube videos and posts. They turned out awesome and actually way better than other cars that I have seen with seats redone. I also bought the frame repair support. My driver seat frame was cracked. Common issue.
For a 1969 Corvette seat restoration Al Knoch is usually considered the best vendor because their seat covers have the most accurate fit grain and overall factory correct appearance. Corvette America often sold through places like Summit or Top Flight is still good quality but tends to be a bit less precise in fit and detail making it more of a driver quality choice than a top level restoration option. As for vinyl versus leather the original 1969 Corvette interior including Comfortweave is vinyl not leather. Vinyl is what the car would have left the factory with and it is easier to maintain and more UV resistant. Leather is an upgraded option that feels softer and more premium but it is not original and requires more care over time.
2025 C3 ('68-'73) of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2024 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2023 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
Originally Posted by cosaren
For a 1969 Corvette seat restoration Al Knoch is usually considered the best vendor because their seat covers have the most accurate fit grain and overall factory correct appearance. Corvette America often sold through places like Summit or Top Flight is still good quality but tends to be a bit less precise in fit and detail making it more of a driver quality choice than a top level restoration option. As for vinyl versus leather the original 1969 Corvette interior including Comfortweave is vinyl not leather. Vinyl is what the car would have left the factory with and it is easier to maintain and more UV resistant. Leather is an upgraded option that feels softer and more premium but it is not original and requires more care over time.
In 1969 ( Deluxe interior ) LEATHER was an ORIGINAL factory option for $79
genuine leather seats were available as a factory option on the 1969 Corvette, and they were often paired with what is known as the "deluxe" (or Custom) interior package. Leather was an optional upgrade (RPO) costing roughly $79.
Leather Availability: Optional leather seats were available to replace the standard vinyl, with 3,729 Corvettes (9.62% of production) equipped with them.
Deluxe Interior Features: While not having a specific RPO number, the Deluxe/Custom interior package included special door panels with a separate Comfortweave material insert.
Seat Differentiation: 1969 Corvettes with the optional leather seats (Deluxe interior) had special door panels, distinguishing them from standard vinyl-interior cars, which had comfortweave embossed directly into the door panel.
Correctness: Authentic 1969 leather seat covers are available from specialists like Al Knoch Interiors.
Color Availability: Leather was available in all original colors for that year, including Black, Dark Blue, Gunmetal, Red, and Saddle
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