Twitch

I am getting ready to replace my '69 seat foam and vinyl seat covers. Is it worth buying the installation video and tackling this myself or should I have a professional install them? Thanks

Darrell's 68

I replaced my seat covers and foam material in my 68, and I think they came out looking great. I let my seat covers sit out in the hot sun for about an hour to get them soft and pliable. They go on much easier that way. Then all you need is hog ring pliers, a friend to help - an extra set of hands is always good, and a few beers! :cheers: :cheers:

Jughead

I'm going to have mine redone with leather. I think the covers/foam are about $700. A shop nearby will do the install for $300. Well worth it in my instance.

Paul L

My new covers are coming in next week. My preference is to have them professionally installed.

Eddie 70

My seat covers just came in Wednesday. I bought leather seat covers with new foam from The Last Detail. The seat covers and and foam shipped from Auto Accesories of America. My car is in desparate need of foam. My vinyl seats look like they have pollen in the seats because of the foam deteriorating.

I have never done anything like this but I am going to give it a go. I have confidence in my ability so I think I can get it done. The new seat covers look really nice. The leather is smooth and soft. Should make for a nice setup.

gh78

I paid to have my 78 leather covers installed. Was well worth the cst and they look great. Check em out at cardomain .com at gh1978

ManFromEagle

I did it myself and half way through the process I was wondering if I made the right decision but after all was done It turned out really good. The bottoms were a breaze but the back was the hard part for me.

The absolute hardest part is is sliding the new leather over the new foam. It's tight, like me trying to fit into size 42 waist pants. Do you remember when you were a kid and your mom put plastic bread bags over your socks so you could slide your foot into boots. It works for seat covers also and it's the best tip you'll here for getting the covers on.

Also I bought a video from Eclkers and it was a help but really it was not nearly detailed enough. When you take your old seats apart take digital pics of everything. It all looks so simple and you think you will remember but when you start putting things back togeather you really won't remember what flap went down first or what overlapped what.

Also the back chromed sidebars on my seats wanted to drag so much on the side of the seat bottoms where they attach that the leather would grab and pucker when moving the seat back. I fixed that by cutting circles out of plastic that was the same colors as the seat leather and installing between the leather and the chrome brackets. My seats were red so I used plastic from a detergent bottle. Sounds bubbish but it looks great and fixed my problem.

Good luck. It was a pain but it beats the heck out of taking out a home loan to pay to have it professionally done. :yesnod:

Pete76Shark

I did mine, both new foam and seat cover. The first one took all day and the second seat took about 4 hours. Like thr guy above me here said the hard part is to compress the foam so as to get the seat cover over it and get things to line up the way you want. I didn't but any install video but if it were detailed enough it would have saved me hours on the first seat for sure.

Also check you seat frame for cracks as this is the time to get'em fixed

my74ls4

I also did mine both leather covers and foam. As stated above the bottoms are a breeze but the backs will test your patience. The hardest part about the backs to me were the smaller clips that go through the foam. After several hours of trying to install the clips I cheated and used tie-wraps. Spend the few extra dollars on a good set of hog ring pliers. I'm 6'2" and I am hoping the foam compresses a little as my headroom disappeared do to the new foam. I would do this again if and when the time comes it is time consuming but very doable.

LOTAHP

I just bought C5 seats for my Vette. :D

thermoquad

Royal P I A; but everyone should do it once--kind of a rite-of-passage.

Good Luck!

comp

DIY :thumbs: :thumbs:

Duke94

I've done both my 71 & 78 and it's not that hard. As one said, use tie raps instead of the little wire form hooks. It macks it MUCH easier and looks grteat. Just take your time. I think there may be some instructions in the Tech section of the Forum that will help too. Go for it!