Replacement Upholstery Kit Installation (DIY)

Mark Jarman

Mark Jarman

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All –

Has anyone installed new upholstery using a kit from a vendor such as GAHH?

I have spoken with two reputable trim shops in my community and both recommended sourcing the new upholstery from GAHH. The trim shop I have used in the past has a one-year backlog and I suspect the alternate shop I spoke with has a long lead-time as well. My door panel upholstery was in good shape and I have already replaced the door panel cores which was an easy task.

I see that GAHH makes a strong recommendation to use a professional shop, but I am thinking that while the job will take me longer than a pro I will be able to get a good result doing it myself. Of course if the job gets into having to re-sew anything I’ll need a pro.

Any insights much appreciated.

If I decide to tackle the task myself, I will post a pictorial of the process I go through in the forum.

Mark
 
Mark Jarman said:
All –

Has anyone installed new upholstery using a kit from a vendor such as GAHH?

I have spoken with two reputable trim shops in my community and both recommended sourcing the new upholstery from GAHH. The trim shop I have used in the past has a one-year backlog and I suspect the alternate shop I spoke with has a long lead-time as well. My door panel upholstery was in good shape and I have already replaced the door panel cores which was an easy task.

I see that GAHH makes a strong recgahhommendation to use a professional shop, but I am thinking that while the job will take me longer than a pro I will be able to get a good result doing it myself. Of course if the job gets into having to re-sew anything I’ll need a pro.

Any insights much appreciated.

If I decide to tackle the task myself, I will post a pictorial of the process I go through in the forum.

Mark
Click to expand...
I just installed the world upholstery kit with no experience whatsoever. I would recommend going for it if you're patient and like to learn. No special tools really. Quality of world uph is not as nice as nice as gahh. Price reflects that but I'd be tempted to spend more if doing another one
 
Thomas76 said:
I just installed the world upholstery kit with no experience whatsoever. I would recommend going for it if you're patient and like to learn. No special tools really. Quality of world uph is not as nice as nice as gahh. Price reflects that but I'd be tempted to spend more if doing another one
Click to expand...

Thomas -

Much thanks for the input.

Did you refresh any of the seat padding when you did your project and if yes what did you use? I believe the original padding material was a horse hair, but I don't know if it is easily sourced now.

Mark
 
If your cushions need rebuilding I would recommend a pro, they will shape foam on top of the horsehair. GAHH is a great source for the leather.
 
Mark Jarman said:
Thomas -

Much thanks for the input.

Did you refresh any of the seat padding when you did your project and if yes what did you use? I believe the original padding material was a horse hair, but I don't know if it is easily sourced now.

Mark
Click to expand...
I did replace most of the foam using medium or high density foam, was able to source high quality foam through local uphulstery shop and some on Amazon.
Hiring someone to do this would be much faster, pros already know the tricks but learned as I went. It's not like wrapping a Christmas present where if you get it wrong the first time you reach for new paper, it's tough leather so ya kinda try it and keep filling and refitting to your liking.
 
Hello Mark, I'm interested in fixing up the seats in my CS. Both the vinyl covers and the underlying gummihaar (rubber-sprayed horsehair, I'm told) have had their day. I have a quote from a shop at $350 each for repro vinyl seat covers. I'm uncertain because of the relative un-communicativeness of the ancient I spoke with, and whether his product will have all the correct pleats, trim, etc., but I can certainly have a go at the paddding, and give it a little more side bolster too.

I've made window seats for a couple rooms in my house and my wife provided new covered foam cushions. Locally sourced foam rubber is hideously expensive, they want over a thousand bucks for what is about $40 online. Someone was too polite to directly say they don't want our business - okay with me, I'm outa there.

Thing is, the covered cushions have different stiffness. This isn't objectionable, though one is noticeably stiffer than the other. There seems not to be a standard for foam stiffness, so here's the question - how did you select the foam you used? Foam rubber or polyethylene? The stuff used in yoga mats might be good for the stiffer base material. Open or closed cell foam is another point of wonder.

I once took apart the shredded vinyl seat covers on a 2002 and used them for patterns in some brown corduroy. The corduroy covers looked nice, two shades of brown, but split within days of installation. Apparently I had kept the material too long...

The wife has forbidden me to use her sewing machine on vinyl. Years ago I nearly bought a $50 heavy duty sewing machine that the local sellers said they'd used to stitch up seatcovers. Shoulda, coulda, didn't.

Await your thoughts or PM about foam stiffness. The video linked above makes it look easy. I made a battery-charger driven hot wire cutter for the window seat foam and used a pair of boards for guides. Worked well but smelled a bit while running the hotwire. A long sharp serrated bread knife works well when you don't have to cut a straight line. 3M Super 77 spray contact adhesive is great stuff but don't let the overspray drift around, it will make every nearby surface tacky.
 
Charlie -

I haven't actually restored my seats yet, but I'm gearing up to do it. I read the article @Thomas76 posted in this thread and found it informative and as Thomas76 said it gives me the courage to do the work myself. My plan is to first disassemble my seats so I can see what is in there and than source the correct foam on the Internet. From reading the article it sounds like you want a very firm foam where your fanny sits and a little softer foam on the sides. I will update this threads with pictures and what I learn as I work through the project. I have many other re-assembly tasks going on so it might be a little while before I have updates.

I've had professional shops re-upholster seats in other cars over the years and one thing I've learned from them is it is very important the foam (and possibly springs depending on the seat) are in good order before you put new covers on the seat. If the foam is not providing the proper support the new material will crack or tear very fast. It's possible that was a culprit in your 2002 project.

I received two bids from Seattle trim shops. Both bids were about the same. The shops were transparent that they'd just order the new seat covers from GAHH. They said there was no way they could sew new seats cheaper than GAHH and that the GAHH products were great quality. You can click into the GAHH website and see the cost of their covers. The labor to install the new GAHH covers was around $4,000. The $350 quote you received sounds like 1970s prices ;> and too good to be true. I'd like to give the trim shops in my city the business, but they're already backlogged and I've been enjoying doing all the work on my Coupe so that is a big reason I'm going to try tackling the project myself. One shop said if I ordered the GAHH covers myself, they'd install them. So I figure if I'm not happy with my result I can always take everything to the trim shop with my tail between my legs and pony up the funds to have a pro do it.

Mark
 
@Mark Jarman that reminds me, I had the work quoted to have covers made from scratch as well. A reputable guy here locally was shocked to hear how expensive the covers were out of California and said he could probably beat that if I bought the hides, so I started looking around for European leather. Turns out that is where all the expense is, and decided to just buy the complete set.
 
IMG_20200407_200718993.jpg
 
I found the headrests to be the simplest to learn a few tricks on, then try the armrest.
Feel free to call if ya think talking through stuff is easier. (Pm for number)
 
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