"Rebuilding" a bench seat

[noahwins]

Is there such thing as a "rebuild" kit for a bench seat? The foam on my DD is tired and the vinyl cover is tacky and totally trashed. If I can't do it myself, how much should I expect to pay an upholsterer to redo the bench seat with new foam and cloth cover?

[Merrill]

Prices vary based on where you go and where you live. I know in SoCal I could get a bench done for about 200 bucks, but here in LV, its about $600.

Start calling all the shops in your area and see how much they would charge. Only takes a few minutes out of the day.

[BradMph]

Take it to Tijuana Mexico for some diamond tuck mon! :lmao:

[noahwins]

My stepdad did that on his Tri 5. Drove his car down from Santa Barbara to TJ for paint and interior. He said tuck and roll was OK but it you wanted to be a baller you had to save for the next level up and get button and tuck, which is what he had. You could also get diamond pleats. Velvet, tweed, vinyl, leather, whatever you wanted.

Is Tijuana upholstery still a thing? All those old Mexican guys who ran those shops back in the day probably moved here and now their sons are doing it in the U.S. Some of that lowrider upholstery like in the magazines is art work. Mexican dudes know how to do interiors right.

[BradMph]

Ya they still have shops down there. Nothing much changes there except the drug lords. Still a nasty place, but cool to visit.

[noahwins]

I rolled the dice on my shitbox truck and got this replacement velour cover off Amazon. It actually fits pretty well. The key was pulling the bench out of the truck, disassembling the back from the lower bench, cutting off the old covers, removing the old hogrings and taking my time to stretch the cover over the foam pieces and smooth it out. I give the fitment a solid 7/10, maybe more if someone took even more time than I did.

It turns out the foam for my bench was OK after I got rid of the ratty covers BUT I learned you can go to a foam store and buy a chunk of foam for a few bucks and then cut it down using razor blades and a hot wire. Not hard or expensive at all. Motorcyclist do this for custom saddles.

Model A27 for manuals.

MADE IN THE U.S.A.!

http://www.amazon.com/1995-Premium-Headrests-Controls-Shifter/dp/B00BN0QFXM

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[tink]

Oh hell yeah my earliest travel memories are from the upholstery shop down there in TJ WOW I was just telling the kids about shops down there this month! So happy to read they're still there!!!!! Searched & found as I'm contemplating switching from the bench to buckets... but even the buckets I have neat redone BADLY.

Those covers look pretty decent indeed Noah, would be nice to know if they're stretching out of shape or if they stay lookin that good, too. God knows what stained the seat that came with the truck (and I don't even want to know what it was :rolleyes: )

Man I'd love to go to Tijuana 'one more time'. jeez.

[noahwins]

They've held up well for 3 weeks. No shifting around. Stitching is holding up. The velour is padded and feels really nice, not like that shitty, paper thin tweed material from McAutoparts. These are not bad for the money at all.

[roebling]

The Amazon link above no longer works so, since I'm 2000 miles from Tijuana, I got a custom bench seat cover from www.seatcoversunlimited.com, $165. Product arrived today and I just installed it. Looks real well made but they're covers, not factory upholstery. Took the seat back off and got it covered semi-professionally. Got lazy on the bench & covered it in place. Looks better than before, it's rugged and comfortable & it'll do until I have $500 or a grand to do it right.
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[Law Dog]

Looks good they need a little padding added if guy gets it done professionally to that corner when you get in it's hard on the tail bone!