1. Most seats bolt into the floor, either from the top side of the floor, or through holes in the underside of the car. (There may be rubber plugs in the holes; these can be removed by prying with a blade screwdriver.) These bolts should be either 1/2 inch or 9/16 inch. You may need a deep socket for the type under the car. Once the seats are out of the car, you can place them on a table or workbench upside down. You may need to remove headrests, and they may be lifted out from the top of the seat until they are in their highest position. You may have to go inside the seat through the bottom (remove hog rings or other fastening devices) and lift the spring retaining clip with a blade screwdriver to release the headrest for final removal. To reinstall, just slide the headrest in the hole and press down. Trim covers are fastened to the seat frame in a variety of ways: the most common is with hog rings. These heavy wire rings are crimped through the edge of the trim cover into a loop on the seat frame. They may be removed with a diagonal cutter (dykes) by firmly grabbing the hog ring and twisting the hog ring off. Another method is to put an awl through the hog ring and pry or twist it off. When all of the hog rings are removed, the trim cover will come off. There may be hidden hog rings, so if you encounter resistance, look for another hog ring. The other methods of fastening trim covers are staples, spring clips, and a cardboard or nylon strip sewed to the trim cover and inserted into a slot in the seat frame. You may find additional hog rings under the seat trim cover that attach pullers to the seat frame to contour the seat shape. These are removed in the same manner. If the cover does not come off, there are fasteners holding it in place. Look carefully for hidden fasteners.

2. After the trim covers are off, label them so you will remember where they go. Your new covers will have the same label.

3. Remove the seat padding and make a tracing of the outside edge of the spring unit. If your seat has only foam, this step is not necessary.

4. Carefully package up your trim covers and tracings and send them to us for reproduction. Remember, we only need one of each cover, so if you have bucket seats or a 2-door bench seat, just send the passenger side covers (and the full rear set).

5. Seat cover installation

When you install a seat back cover, you should turn it almost inside out. By this I mean turn all but the last six to eight inches inside out. Then put the cover over the top of the seat back and start rolling the sides down towards the bottom until the cover is on. After the cover is on this much, check to see if you can fasten the bottom with hog rings. If you can do this now, otherwise lay the seat back down and pull downward on the cover while slapping the vinyl with the flat of your hand; working the cover completely on. If you could not fasten the bottom before, do it now.

If your covers are too stiff to work with, heat will soften them up a lot. Sometimes a hair dryer will suffice, but another trick I have used is to put the cover in the clothes dryer for a few minutes. Only do this one cover at a time because soft vinyl has a tendency to stick together, so two covers in the dryer are not compatible.

If you have foam to go over and the covers are sticking to it, spray silicone is a good solution. If none is available, you can drape a section of trash bag over the foam to help slide the cover on. You can just leave it inside the seat when you are done.

Seat cushion installation should begin with the cover completely inside out. Place the cover on top of the padding, lining up any pullers that may be on the backside with the appropriate slots in the foam. Some cars do not have any pullers, so do not worry if you can't find any. If you have pullers, fasten them to the wire that is hidden within the foam with hog rings. After all the pullers are fastened, check to see if there is a wire at the rear of the insert. These are mainly on front cushion covers. If there is one there, now is the time to fasten that to the springs with hog rings. When that is accomplished, place one hand firmly on the top of the cover at the corner and, with the other hand, pull the side of the cover around to the bottom of the seat frame. Repeat the process for the other corners. Sometimes, either the back or the front of the seat cover is tapered into the seat a considerable amount. If that is the case, pull these corners around first, otherwise you could rip the covers. Sometimes there will be wrinkles appearing on the seating surfaces or around the sides. These are usually caused be the cover sticking to the foam. You can usually move the cover slightly by pulling on it with one hand and slapping it with the other hand. If the cover still has minor wrinkles, they should come out when the vinyl is heated with a hair dryer after the sides have been fastened. When all of the corners are pulled around, turn the cushion over and fasten the edges of the cover to the frame of the seat; either with hog rings, or by using the nylon "J" strips sewn to the edge of the cover. When all of the covers are on, you can bolt the front seat parts together, and install the seats back into your car. If you have any difficulty installing your new upholstery, feel free to call me at (360) 574-8070. Ron