Please talk me out of it.

I have about decided to recover the bucket seats myself. The local upholstery shop that has been in business for over 50 years just closed(my luck). The back seat looks fairly easy, so I will probably start with it to get the hang of it. But I've heard horror stories on the buckets. I've read all the helps and tips but all I can still think about is....

Please talk me out of it.

I have never did any seats before and I did my own. I used monte carlo cores for my chevelle so they were slightly different but it went really well.
I added about an inch more padding on the lowers both front & rear seats. Put a garbage bag over the bucket seat backs to help get the covers over. I took some pictures of hog ring placement and any special folds to help in re-assembly.
All in all just a remove and replace, They are not perfect but I am very happy with them and all it cost me was about $25.00 for a little padding and a hog ring plires.
By the way, I used PUI covers and they are very nice.

LK

Good idea starting with the rear seat. My wife and I did ours last year in the driveway.

Make sure to get the material warm. Pick a sunny, hot day and let the new covers sit outside in the sun to warm up.

Must have been 95 degrees, 95% humidity when we did ours. I can't remember sweating so much- - -but they turned out good.

The next day your fingertips will be QUITE sore!
Otherwise, it's not that bad of a job. Make sure you consider putting the extra inch of foam on top of the buns. (the SEAT buns!) It tightens everything up really nice.

I went out and bought about 8 yds of clearanced woven fabricl to wrap the springs with first. Then I sprayed some glue on the material and set the seat foam in place and covered it with the the plastic bag, although in my case I didn't really need it. I thought it may help preserve the foam in the even of something spilling. (Actually, figured this car is going to be so fast my passengers will wet themselves!) I then laid the 1" foam over the top of that and then set the cover in place and ringed it down.

This process worked well for the two buckets - top and bottom as well as the rear top and bottom. I spent a day on each section because my fingers got so darned tired. They turned out well - never would pay someone to do it after having done it myself!

Don't forget to have a hairdryer close by...it will help when/if your having trouble stretching covers around some of the corners. DANO

Some more tips: 1. Make very detailed sketches of how the old covers are attached and where the hog rings are as you remove them. Pics can miss a lot. 2. Use trash bags on the foam to help the covers slide on. 3. Get many more hog rings than you think you'll need and a GOOD set of HR pliers. 4. If it's not a hot sunny day, just before installing put the new covers in a closet or small space (like a 1/2 bath) or inside the car with a small elect heater and heat the space to about 110 F. Don't let the covers touch the heater though.

If all your going to do is pull the covers on and hog ring it down, that's easy. The hard part is pulling the beaded seam down to give it that tucked look. If you don't do that the seat just looks flat and you will never get all the wrinkles out. I just finished doing mine. The trick is to fasten the pleat to the springs first then pull the corners of the seat cover over. If you try to put the cover on all the way first, you will never be able to get to the pleat. One trick is to actually put hog ring about 1" apart down the full length of the seam. Then fish a electrician's tye through the hog ring and down around the spring. Don't pull them tight until they are all done and you have pulled the corners of the cover over the buns and frame. Once you get the cover pulled over and the edges hog ringed down, the very last thing is to start pulling the electricians tye's tight. This will give the seat a very nice tucked appearance. Don't over do it at first. Start pulling them tight a little at a time until they are all pulled down the same amount. If you watch the pleat from the other side as you pull them down you can see how the pleat is looking. Once again, don't get in a hurry to finish or the pleat will be real wavy.

Some more tips: 1. Make very detailed sketches of how the old covers are attached and where the hog rings are as you remove them. Pics can miss a lot. 2. Use trash bags on the foam to help the covers slide on. 3. Get many more hog rings than you think you'll need and a GOOD set of HR pliers. 4. If it's not a hot sunny day, just before installing put the new covers in a closet or small space (like a 1/2 bath) or inside the car with a small elect heater and heat the space to about 110 F. Don't let the covers touch the heater though.

I would advise great care in putting any type of heater in a very small space like a closet. Any distraction that takes you away from monitoring that space may result in you burning your house down- - -