Seat Recovering - Vinyl

[beavisaur]

Just in case anyone is in the same boat as me.
The 2000 GTX I just picked up last week has seats that are torn to S#!^ and in desperate need of recovering. I have talked to a few upholstery places near my town in Simcoe County, ON and although the price is fairly reasonable at $200 to recover both seats, the wait time is what will kill me. Over 1 week to wait to get them back!

So I decided I will just do it myself, I just went to Fabricland and they have "Marine Vinyl" for $26/meter and its 54" wide. I was about to buy about 2 meters worth but the lady informed me that the fabric will be 1/2 price starting tomorrow and throughout the weekend!

I'm hoping that $26 and a little bit of time spent will get my seats recovered the same day! The colours they have are awesome and match up pretty well with the Red and Grey of the original. They also have bright Yellow and some Blue.

 

[JuanchoPWC]

Nice... Post some "in progress" picture about this project...!!! I might join you, but not now... Maybe i'll do it during winter time...

 

[Seadoobuddy]

Make sure you use long stainless steel staples.
Post some pics while in progress. Lots of guys on here have done their own and can give you tips if needed.

do a search here first.

 

[beavisaur]

I picked up some 1/4" marine grade staples. That is the same length as the ones I pulled out today. Do you think I should use longer staples? The only long ones I saw were a couple in each of the plastic corner covers.
I also picked up an electric upholstery stapler.

 

[beavisaur]

I managed to get one of the seats done today. Here are a bunch of pics of the process.
I would really like to redo the back of it, but I will leave it until I finish the other seat.
Before



I laid the seat on top of the fabric and cut out around it.



Here are the staples I picked up at Rona and the stapler as well. Total invested $25 for fabric, $9 for staples, $30 for stapler.

 

[beavisaur]

I started by tacking the front middle and back middle, but I didn't do a very good job on the back.


The sides were very easy and came out really smooth.


The horns that face towards the front of the ski were very tricky but at least there are oem plastic covers to cover the mess.


Taking your time and working the fabric and stretching it as much as you can is very important. I have read that a lot of people either leave the vinyl out in the sun for a while or use a heat gun as they go. I am certainly going to try that when I redo the big seat.

I think it turned out really well and I'm very satisfied with it!

 

[Seadoobuddy]

Actually looking good.......you could redo the back since the other sides are attached.....just stretch it as smooth as you can then staple it.

 

[beavisaur]

Finished her up on Friday morning. Turned out really nice. A few ripples in the big seat, but for a $150 savings, I can live with it.
Here's the before and after.

 

[Ronsse610]

i re did my RX seat with a carbon fiber look vinyl... il post pics on how i did it and how it turned out after! at its very easy to do!