Chevy Silverado seat

[cruiser]

The customer has a custom 1994 Chevy Silverado pickup and wants to replace the seat and back panel fabric with a more up to date fabric to bring this truck up from the 90's to a more contemporary look. The seat is a "60-40" two piece seat.  I've worked on GM seats before but these look like the fabric is glued to the seat cushion core in the center.  All the seats I've worked on previously are held with velcro in molded seat cores and of course hog rings on the bottom.  I don't have the them out yet so part of this is still unknown to me but I like to plan ahead for a new experience before I get myself into something.  Anything special I should know about these?  Any suggestions will be appreciated.

[Agent 002]

What I have done in the past is cut the cover off to the point where it is glued. Damn near impossible to peal the whole cover off with out ruining the foam. And just pattern out the top half of the cover from scratch. I used thin pleating foam to keep the cover from getting to bulky. I hope this helped Good Luck

[cruiser]

  It sounds a little more complicated than what I had anticipated but I'll just learn.   

Do you try to duplcate the factory pleats or do you sew new pleats in the sew foam and stretch it over the origional?

[SHHR]

Just did a set of these. They look glued down and molded, but they're not. Mine had a listing on them to pull them down tight across the pleats. Just a standard cover.
Kyle

[cruiser]

Thanks for all the help.  I'll find out soon enough.   All new to me but I'm thinking it won't be the last ones I'll see.

[unclelarr]

A few years ago I repaired a  section in a chevy truck seat, right about that year.  Yep, that one was definately glued on.  I don't recall it had any velcro on that one at all.  Instead of pleats, the foam was recessed in areas to give the pattern, more like it was sculpted, and it was glued into the recesses.  I think most of the facing was glued.  Its been a while ago, but it did turn out, so its do-able.  If the foam gets beat up, the thin foam layer, as mentioned previously, would be a good idea, cause when you glue it down, alot of those imperfections are gonna show.  Maybe even need to hit it lightly with the sander if the new layer isn't quite smooth.  Just my thoughts, hope it helps.

[cruiser]

Thanks again for the help and comments.  I still don't have the seats in the shop but I think I will go with some sort of custom look.  The truck and the customer are open to a look very different from origional without going to extremes.  I'm trying to keep it simple yet I have a free hand at fabricating whatever I feel looks good.

[cruiser]

I finally got the seats in and yes, the fabric is glued to the seat and back.  I've removed the fabric and it has pulled away from to foam fairly well.   At this point I may need some advice.  The factory allowed extra material to fill the ridges in the foam.

Should I try to re-create the factory 'glue down' idea or just sew pleats to sew foam similar to other seats.  What concerns me is the way the fabric is pulled into the seat and back by the glue. Other seats use velcro glued to the foam and sewen to the fabric seams to hold into place.   I've even thought of sewing listing into the seams with cording and tie it through the back to give it depth and to hold it into place.  I just can't decide a practical or efficient way to make these backs look good once completed.

I've never glued fabric to seats before but I guess I could make this a first.

Thank you for any thoughts.

[unclelarr]

Cruiser, you have a few different ways that would work.  You could glue the new fabric down like the original as long as the foam is still smooth.  If the old cover took some foam with it when removed, this may show once the new fabric is glued in place.  A thicker fabric with a busier pattern, kind of like what was on the seat originally, may tend to hide these more.  The larger the inperfections in the foam, the more they may show.  You will need to be patient when you glue the fabric on, making sure the the glue is dry enough in case you need to reposition, but not so dry it won't hold well.  Also need to kind of feed the fabric into the recessed areas, where the design pattern is in the foam, as you go.  You need to have enough material down into the recess, otherwise it may want to lift.  You just need to be in the right frame of mind and at a time when you know no one will be interrupting you for a while.

You might be able to fill the recesses in the foam in with additional foam glued in.  you could then sand it off and make it like they were never there.  I don't remember how much contour these seats have.  If they are somewhat flat, you may be able to come up with a pattern for a cover that doesn't need to be anchored, like a seat in an older pickup.

If you fill the foam in, you could also add your own automotive velcro and sew the fabric onto the selvage edges of your cover, the same as the new style covers you mentioned.  Sometimes when I make custom covers for older cars, I skip the listings and hogs rings and use this instead.  This allows you to anchor the cover to the foam pretty much anywhere you want.  I sew fabric to the backside of the black channel strip, then draw my pattern on the foam where I want the cover anchored.  Then I cut the foam out  just wide enough for the  strip to recess into the foam, usually somewhere around 1/2" deep (depends on what you want it to look like).  I then use hot glue on the foam and on the fabric I sewed to the backside of the strips.  Press it in place, and your ready to anchor your cover to it. 

Depends on how much time and effort you want to put into it.  Hope this helps.

[cruiser]

Right now I'm trying the velcro and see where it goes. I may have to resort to gluing it in. We'll see. 

Thanks for the help.