The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors should I redo my seats myself?

How hard is it to re-wrap the frames of the bench seat? 2 local upholstry shops priced me at $500 and the other at $550.. if I can save $250-$350, I'd like to do it myself.. I think it would be fun. Any advice? Thanks!

This is absolutely a do-it-yourself job. Helps if you have a spouse or helper at several points, to hold and stretch the material, but you can get the seat cover kits from many vendors and you can also get the padding and burlap from them or from your local fabric shop. The seat cover kits are about $175. for the pebble-grain version and the padding kits run about $25...both from Jim Carter. I'd recommend the French-stitching version. It has a nice finished look to the seams. I was pleased with my supplies from Carter. I don't know what year truck you have but if its 47-53, which I am most familar with, don't bother with the hog ring pliers and the rings. You can buy the "C" clips that hold the material into the spring frame from Carter, or I found the same items at Home Depot. I cleaned my springs with a wire brush on a grinder, then replaced one tired coil spring and sprayed everything with a couple coats of black rustoleum before recovering.

So I'm a little confused.. I found the upholstry kit in for $175, which is just the vinyl that wraps the seat. Don't I need some kind of cotton to fill the seat? What other stuff do I need besides the vinyl? I didn't follow you there

Tex is right, you can do it yourself. And you're right too... you can buy the seat but then you need all of the rest of the stuff. Here's my experience with it all if it will help...

I pulled all of the old seat off of the frame and wire brushed & painted it all. It was in pretty decent shape. I bought a "Vintage" style seat cover and seat back, hog ring pliers & clips from Brothers ($290 + shipping) And that's without padding... No instructions came with it by the way...

For that kind of cash I was concerned about how nice it would turn out - wrinkles, etc.

I went and saw a boat seat cover guy. He quoted me $350. AND I got to pick out the material & style I wanted... I even had him put in pockets along the front of the seat for sunglasses, etc.

Did it cost me more? Yup. Did I get something a bit different then what you see in the catalogs? Yup. Am I satisfied? Yup.

Click on the link below to see pics of it the finished product.

There's two sides for you!

Good luck!

OK. The seat material comes in a kit. It is cut and stitched to fit your truck. Jim Carter's catalogue has them as do many other vendors. You can also buy from Carter, a padding kit. It is Stock # UP 100. This contains a piece of burlap, some cotton padding, and some "C" clips. The burlap and cotton batting can also be purchased at your local fabric store. The burlap sits on top of the coil springs in the seat and the padding goes on top of the burlap. The seat cover encases the whole seat and hangs down below the lower edge of the seat frame. The lower edge of the seat frame is shaped like a half-round hollow tube. You pull the material down tight, smooth out the wrinkles. Then press one of the "C" clips over the material, down into the groove in the frame rail. The pressure from the spring-steel "C" clip clamps the material in the groove. Just work along the frame pressing the "C" clips into place. If I can do it, anybody can.

I say go for it yourself!my better half is in the procces of redoing the front seat cover in our 49.She sews and kinda knows about how to cut and fold fabrics to get the desired texture's and look that is wanted.This was all self taught and not over a real long period of time(a year maybe alittle more),the front seat cover was her first real big project that dealt with stretch here,more stitch here due to stretch etc.The cover she is do'n now is the second attempt at it,due to not know'n but try'n it any way,she says she has got it figured out(she thinks)and is bowed up right now on the sew'n machine.I thought the first try was alright,were at attempt #2 and have about 60 bucks invested,so I say try it,if you just cant do it after that THEN pay somebody to do it.