Bench seat cover from LMC?

[4DSEVEN]

Has anyone tried the vinyl seat covers by LMC or Brothers or similar?

I priced out getting my seat done at a shop and they are wanting $1500 which is more than I'd like to spend.

Just wondering what the pre-made covers are like for fit and appearance.

Or is leather the way to go?

[57chevyman]

Originally Posted by 4DSEVEN

Has anyone tried the vinyl seat covers by LMC or Brothers or similar?

I priced out getting my seat done at a shop and they are wanting $1500 which is more than I'd like to spend.

Just wondering what the pre-made covers are like for fit and appearance.

Or is leather the way to go?

what material are they using for that price?
in my area, i got a bench seat redone at a shop with new foam and two tones of vinyl for $500.00 The seat i had redone was in my dump truck, the seat is much larger than a pickup truck seat..

[wolffcub]

ah yes......i remember doing this last summer. The kit was well tailored and made. Only beef i had was the amount of hog rigs and black covering clips they sent with it. When i started i divided the rings and clips up (1/2 for the bottom and 1/2 for the seat back the amounts for each were low. Having spaces them out at about 6" they were each taking too much holding force and pulling out. I placed a black outer cover every 2.5 inches or so to help with the holding force. I had to go to a local shop and get another pack of them. Guy gave me a few hundred for free so i have lots left over now.

Make sure you put the covers in the sun so the get nice and warm and easy to work with.

The backing and the foam kit they sell you is the ****s. I installed the cover the first time with their kit and the the installation was so soggy and you could feel the springs. I changed things up a bit and got a little creative and wow what a difference.

for the bottom seat i removed the thin burlap backing garbage and installed.......get this...................heavy density cut pile house carpet. The heavy backing on the bottom of the carpet will not stretch or bend as much as the thin stuff and help distribute the ass loading. Also when using the thin stuff and transitioning from the horizontal ass area to the vertical sides of the seat the wire seat coil frame would show its profile thru the top vinyl looking like garbage. That was even happening thru the sponge that i rolled down the sides to try to help that. The installation of the carpet foled down all around the sides makes for such a nice smooth looking rolled edge around the seat.

The seat back was dont the same way but i used no sponge at all. The vinyl cover has a thin padding already sewn to the back side of it for the back so i just installed the carpet the same way and directly applied the vinyl. This was also nicer as i always felt pushed too far forward towards the wheel even with the seat rolled all the way back with thicker padding in the seat back. The seat is still nice and comfortable because of the stock coils have a nice give.

[4DSEVEN]

57chevyman I am located in Canada where everything is overpriced and some of these trades are comedians.

Thanks wolffcub, very good info and I will take your advice and look at the carpet pile idea.

[Rambow]

I restore seats for classic cars as kind of a side business (how i fund the hobby for myself)...

The covers from LMC are decent- though the ones from classic industries (the combination vinyl/fabric ones) I've had problems where they have over stitched the seams which cause them to split at the back corners when pulling them on.

The key to a good cover install is in the prep work under the covers. Replace the burlap & horsehair with burlap & heavy jute padding. Wolf cub used carpet... that will work too. The idea is you need to 1. protect the cotton or foam from the spring movement... 2. tie the springs together.

The correct way to do this (from an upholstery standpoint) is burlap & jute padding hogringed around the outside edgewire.

You can't use cheap foam like you get from a fabric store. It is not UV rated and will begin to breakdown quickly from use. YOu need High Resistance (HR) automotive grade foam. You can get it from real upholstery shops, or suppliers if you have one near you like Perfect-Fit Macdonald. Its not cheap- but its because it is designed to hold up to use.

you will need 2" thick pad.

Originally cotton batting was used... typically 4-5 layers of 1" (uncompressed) batting.
I prefer to use this when i redo seats, as it has a very consistent feel, its easier to work with than foam, and its what was originally in there.

either way- before putting the cover on, get yourself a cheap super thin ML plastic painters drop cloth- and put that over the foam/cotton under the cover. This will allow the cover to slide easy when stretching it into place. YOu just trim off the excess once the covers on and leave it in there.

If using an all vinyl cover- i toss it in the clothes dryer on HOT for about 7-8 mins. No longer. This gets it all hot & stretchy- makes for easier insatll, and removes any creases in the vinyl from shipping.

You can also use a cheap heat gun from harbor feright, just be careful using it- don't leave it on one spot too long. keep it moving.

Remember when you are stretching the cover- don't pull in one spot alone, or it will rip. You are working a giant peice of vinyl- work the WHOLE thing. use your hands to push the vinyl to create a wave- then work the wave to the edge. Keep repeating until you've stretched it where it needs to go.

Long zip ties are your friends to gradually pull the cover into place.

Make sure you measure the installed height of your cushions before removing the original covers. Many of these(unlike a lot of the later car seat covers) don't have sleeves sewn on the back side, so you need a point of reference as to how far down you need to compress the springs. They should be compressed some. You'll use those same measurements to make sure the cover is on evenly from side to side.

Here is a 1955 Chevy Truck Seat (Classic Industries cover) I did for a customer a couple years back:
https://www.facebook.com/ClassicSeat.../?l=1ff8de9a9c

This work is not hard, anyone can do it- but you do need to pay attention to the details and go slow.

[4DSEVEN]

Thanks very much Ben some great info!

So should I stay away from the Classic Industries altogether? The seat you did looks great.

Thanks again.

Mark

[mark '87 930]

Mark, I once used a guy up in Keswick for a Porsche seat. The guy does interiors and did great work. If i dig i can probably find his info. Are you close to the Toronto/Barrie area?

[4DSEVEN]

Originally Posted by mark '87 930

Mark, I once used a guy up in Keswick for a Porsche seat. The guy does interiors and did great work. If i dig i can probably find his info. Are you close to the Toronto/Barrie area?

I'm in Ottawa.

[Rambow]

Originally Posted by 4DSEVEN

Thanks very much Ben some great info!

So should I stay away from the Classic Industries altogether? The seat you did looks great.

Thanks again.

Mark

Hi Mark-
I did two different seats with these same style covers from Classic Industries, The red one you see, and a black one.

On both of them, the rear corner of the lower covers ripped during installation, and had to be repaired. The 2nd one i did (the black one) i looked at the corner stitching before i attempted to put it on, and what happened is there are so many stitches run over each other on those corners that there isn't enough material to hold together, so the vinyl pulls apart from the stitching holes when you are pulling that last corner into place- even with paying extra attention to it while pulling it on.

Other than that they were nice covers. If i were to do another one, i would sew in a piece of reinforcing vinyl on the underside of the corners BEFORE attempting to install to prevent it from happening the next time around.

I'll see if I can find a pic I took of the inside of the black one before installing... i know i have one somewhere.

[Rambow]

Found the pics... Hard to see in the first one, but this is inside the lower rear corners. There are 3-4 stitches run right over the top of each other here- so there are only small spots of vinyl left in between, and with the stress of pulling the cover on, it just ripped right out. Easy to reinforce, but kind of a pain. Just something to be aware of.