Getting seats redone.

Ceth · 04-14-2006, 09:15:06 PM

Anyone have any good tips how to get my seats done cheaply? Interior shops want a good amount of money. Has anyone made their own car seats successfully, or anything else that doesnt cost $300-500 for the front and back?

Door panels too. Im looking through catalogs and any 2nd gen door panel is like $300 for a pair? I dont feel like blowing that much money. Cant I just throw something semi plain looking on there? Just want my interior to be black. Im already doing new carpet myself and trying to do a vinyl dye job on the dash and plastic trim pieces. The headlining is cheap, so I'll buy that. It looks like it will cost $800-$1000 to have the seats and door panel done.

tom3 · 04-14-2006, 10:14:25 PM

Hit the junk yards. $50 buys a decent set of GM seats and they will probably fit your car if you use your lower brackets/sliders. Later model Camaros have pretty decent seats and if you can tolerate a little wear you can find some bargains.

Jbd77 · 04-14-2006, 10:48:59 PM

Do you just need your seats recovered, or are you in need of the entire seat (buns, springs, etc)?

Ceth · 04-14-2006, 11:30:44 PM

Recovered. I have the original seats in the car, the back are in good condition and one front is ok condition and one drivers is trashed, so i have another 2nd gen seat I got from the junkyard. The door panels are pretty bad looking. Its a 78LT that I have, and personally I think the interior is ugly as poo. Im converting from red to black and im not going to keep the pattern of the original seats or doors, theyre just not good looking. But Id like it all to somewhat match. I wanted something like a theme of black/gray, kinda like the houndstooth look of the 1st gens. I can probably manage to make door panels, but the seats look kinda hard to do yourself.

Nitroexpress · 04-15-2006, 12:08:21 AM

I did my own,It's not as hard as it seams.I posted some pics of mine a couple posts before yours hear.You just need a hog ring tool.hog rings & seat covers.All available on E-bay or threw the aftermarket.Each bucket seat will take about 2hrs from start to finish and the back seat about 2.5+.It's not that a hard a prodject.It just takes time, patients and strong hands!Reserch this site there are threads that go into detail about this job.
Good luck.

Ceth · 04-15-2006, 04:24:42 AM

I saw your thread. Id love to buy the seat covers for a good price, but I dont know where. I was talking about making my own. Does it sound too hard???

tom3 · 04-15-2006, 09:43:24 AM

Be darn near impossible to sew up your own covers. I've had this done a couple times and it's a very specialized art. And the material costs about as much as a complete kit from the vendors. Might look on Ebay, there are some closeouts on kits from time to time but generally it's for an oddball color or something.

Nitroexpress · 04-15-2006, 09:50:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ceth

I saw your thread. Id love to buy the seat covers for a good price, but I dont know where. I was talking about making my own. Does it sound too hard???

Hmmm hope you got an industrial sewing machine! Keep your eye out for the E-bay deals or the many aftermarket sources can help you. I got extreamly lucky with my deal. You could expect to pay at least $250.00+ for a good repo set of seat covers!
MAKING THEM YOUR SELF WOULD BE VERY HARD!

If thats the case then go to Autozone and get some cheapo slip-on covers & be done with it.
Good luck

Ceth · 04-15-2006, 07:24:12 PM

Yeah I tried the cheapo seat covers, I might have to go that route, though I dont see anything made to fit out rear seats. And that doesnt help the door covers. Oh well, Mexico, here I come! Cheap automotive labor!

snyguy · 04-17-2006, 01:47:41 PM

Like some of the other guys said this isn't an easy task. I'm lucky enough to have a wife that likes to sew. I'm even luckier that when she got her sewing machine she got an industrial one that will handle leather needles. I got my fabric from the fabric store. Its a very nice faux leather. Looks and smells just like the real thing. I got enough to cover everything plus some for a little over $200. That being said, I spent about 3 nights carefully taking seat covers apart in order to make her patterns. She almost has the back seat done. It has taken a long time. I'm not in any hurry though. She hopes to have all of them done by the end of the summer. I'm also going to try and recover a spare set of door panels some day. First I need to get the thing put back together and running!

Dustyfle · 04-17-2006, 02:26:49 PM

my seats are black leather and in really good condition... except the driver seat (bottom part) the stitching has come loose. what would be a decent price to have someone stitch it back... Its only the middle stitch right where your butt is.

owen1980 · 04-19-2006, 03:09:30 PM

My 80z has deluxe interior. I just bought their deluxe set cover set with my 20% off coupon. I am doing them myself, if you have the time and the patience try to do them yourself. If you do not feel comfortable doing that and do not have a friend that can do it. You might want to do to some of the GM shops in your area and ask around if anyone wants to do them for some side money. At lest 30% of the tech's in the dealership have done this or can do it for you.