Cost to upholster front and rear seats

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plumcrazy 101

plumcrazy 101

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Purchased a set of seat covers from Legendary for the front buckets and rear seats in the Duster. Went down to the local upholstery shop to see what the cost to install the covers would be and was totally shocked when the owner quoted $1200 to install the covers, parts extra if needed.

So here's my questions

What should be the cost to install these covers and secondly is there any shops in British Columbia that you folks would recommend.

Thanks
Al
 
Why not just buy the seat hog rings and the hog ring tool to do it yourself? These are available on E bay and I bought both and recovered my rear seat myself. It was not that hard to do.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Hog-...cmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_Car_Truck_Parts_Acces

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Hog-...r_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item56375ade57


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Corn...tZMotors_Automotive_Tools?hash=item53de5e3b4c

Here is the listing for the foam for the front seats:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/70-M...r_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item53de504b66
 
$1200??You could buy the seays with new covers for that price.I,d tell buddy to go piss up a rope!Good Luck!:bootysha:
 
Should be more like $250.00 for labor,thats what I paid.I supplied covers,he provided the rest,burlap,foam,etc.
 
Thanks for the replys...
Havn't had any upholstery work done in years but $1200 seemed out of the ball park.
Checked the Legendary catalog for installing the covers and they quote $368 for complete front and rears with additional services extra and they should be on the high end of pricing.

Al
 
I was quoted $1200 to hand make and install both front and rear seats for the 66 dart 4 door. That is counting vinyl, cloth inserts, piping and new foam. Your getting hosed if you pay it, do it yourself!
 
That price is crazy... it should only be 2-400 bucks tops. I think ours were closer to 200 for the roadrunner.
 
Did you say "local" or "loco" upholstery shop? As Scott said, tell him to go piss up a rope. Oh, and then casually mention he might want to suck on the salty end of said rope. :)
 
i just paid 550 to have the 2 buckets and rear seats done on my 68 300.
i supplied the legendary covers and cost included removal and reinstalling them in the car.
 
Gonna echo the sentiment of DIY. Seat covers are really not that big of a deal. Save the money you'd pay someone else to do it for another project on the car and do it yourself. Remember, if you get stuck in the process, we're all here to help out!
 
This re-enforces what my wife said that us guys restoring cars might as well have a $ sign tatooed on our forehead as we walk into different suppliers and you mention restoring a car it's just " cha-ching cha-ching". They feel that your going to pay!!!!
 
I paid $700.00 to redo my bench and back seats. That was material
and labor and had them back in 4 days. Had the piping sewn and tuck
and roll on the sitting areas.
 
I paid a couple hundred to have them installed. I wasn't too sure that I could do a good job. No regrets! toolmanmike
 
It is real easy to do your self. Legendary has good instructions to follow while your doing it if you need help. It really is easy but take your time and pay attention to how they are attached as you take them apart.

Make sure you save all the retaining wires from your old seat covers since you will need them for the new covers. It is also a lot easier to do if you wait till a warm sunny day and do them outside, the warm sun helps stretch the vinyl into place as you work out the wrinkles. I did mine on some clean cardboard laid out on my car trailer.

Also a good idea to get new buns for the seats instead of re-using the old dried up buns, the rear seat may be mo-hair so it can be reused but replace the burlap.

The hog rings can be found at any farm supply store cheap (you'll need the red) but I would buy the good pliers from ebay, both the straight and bent pliers.

You can also look up old episodes of Gears w/Stacey David on Speed, he did a few seat cover replacements on the show. I think there were a few other shows on Speed and Spike TV that done the seat covers as well.

I'd help if you were close.
 
Gonna have to agree with DIY guys, I did the seats in my 67 Fury with no trouble at all. It was my first go at upholstery work. Hey, if you've met me, that should be incentive enough!!:bootysha:
 
Hello Al...phone Vic Porcher in Vernon 250 549 1529 he will point you in the right direction. demontime
 
It's easy to do. I've done a complete Olds Cutlass, complete with new foam and the front bench on one of my Scamps. The key is that the vinyl needs to be warm, I did my seats in the den in the winter. I completely rebuilt the seat bottom - it's not rocket science. You also need to make sure that the foam is not broken down. You can always add more and use an electric bread knife to trim it. If you skip this step the vinyl will not be stretched tight enough over the frame.

PICT0009.jpg
 
When I got the 73, the upholstery was disintegrating. Since the budget is tight on this car, I swallowed hard and decided to attempt to re-cover the seats myself. I took my time dismantling and photo'd the seat details so I could replicate them when re-installing. When I got the foam off, I checked the wire frame carefully for broken springs and ties repairing as needed.

A guy in the business showed me trick for bucket seat backrests. Before you install the upholstery, slip a polyethylene "leaf" size bag over the backrest. Then slide the upholstery over the bag. Once in place, rip the bag out. If I hadn't done this, I'd have been fighting to keep the foam on the seat while I brought the backrest material down.

Here's a photo of my finished front seat. It was not a Legendary piece, so it cost less, but I also had to add a couple of vinyl strips so I could draw it tight properly.:shaking2:

IMG_5614s.JPG
 
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