The Upholstery Forum

I am working on a 94 Chevy 1500 and the material is glued to the foam making it very difficult to separate the 2 without creating a mess or using dangerous solvents. Makes it almost impossible to use original material as a template. Does anyone have any ideas on how to separate them.

Thanks,

Bill

I use a garment steamer..... that really helps.

Yeah steam can help a lot with that. If steam does not work then I would just leave that part of the cover on and glue the new cover over top.

Thanks to you and Revv-up. I will try that and let you know

I've heard a lot of guys talk about what a nightmare those seats are to re do. Sounds like most of them cut the original covers are the seam, remove the original seam, and then tuck the new seam in where the old one was to reduce the bulk. They leave the majority of the original cover on and just go over it. Most of the recovered 88-98 chevy truck seats I have seen look poofy to me and after learning how most do it that makes sense. I bought a junk seat out of one of those trucks just to see for myself how it all works but haven't had a chance to tear into it yet.

Just took apart a seat from a van and was actually stunned at how well the whole fabric cover was entirely glued to the foam.

Here is a photo of one I did about 10 years ago. I left the old fabric on and glued the new cover straight to the old fabric. I didn't use scrim to avoid it getting puffy. Also you have to account for extra material to fit down inside those channels.

I thank everyone for your opinions and experience. I found out that most of Chevrolets upholstery from 1987 to present are laminated to the foam!!!! I considered just laying new leather over the existing cloth upholstery but since I am retired and will be keeping this truck FOREVER, and more than likely will redo upholstery in the future, I decided not go over the existing covers. I decided to go for the gusto and took my right angle grinder with a cut off wheel and chopped all of the raised foam (for the pleats) off and got it fairly even. Didn't take long but made one hell of a mess LOL. Next is to try sanding the foam to the contour of the existing seats and adding whatever is needed to do this.
I am thinking of welding a stiff rod to the existing framework to attach hog rings to. Do you think this will work and/or do you have any other ideas?
I haven't found an answer to this online yet but what what kind of foam should you use to repair or build car seats. Pretty sure closed cell, but do you go by firmness i.e. firm, semi firm, high density or what? So many opinions online it's scary......
Thanks for listening!

Im having trouble picturing how this welded on rod will work and what your trying to do with it.

As for foam you do not want to use closed cell. Check out the foam selection on albrights, any of their stuff will work. It just depend on how stiff you want it.
Typically when I chose foam I like to feel it first. Albrights will send samples if you request them.

I sure hope after three years that I can still get some help on this subject. I am reupholstering a 93 chevy silverado and before researching more, ripped the covers off, shaved down the foam pleats and rebuilt the seat foam where needed. The new covers have double stitched diamond pattern on the insert. Here is where I need help. What would be the best way to secure the insert to the seat to get that nice tight look? Also is there a way to make it easier to get the cover on around all of the corners? Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

@SusanW , you should have no problem getting the cover over the corners. If you are a novice and want to practice using contact cement between cover and your shaved foam this would work. If you set it wrong and the set time is long say 10 minutes you can pull and peel the cover off and reset. I am always trying to be aware that this may come back into my shop so if possible using listing would be an idea. I am assuming your covers are made already?

Thanks for the reply and great info. I have a couple follow up questions. I was thinking of using listing wire also however how do I secure it to the back of the foam? I think I need to put a thread through the foam and then some how secure it to the bottom of the foam. I have attached a picture of the cover that I made for the bottom of the seat and a picture of the rebuilt back of the seat. I guess I am just nervous to try anything because I have put so much time into the double diamond insert but I guess that is how I will learn.

@SusanW , Exactly secure through the bottom of the foam.