A car can have an ideal body, wheelbase, have a powerful and not worn out engine, but if its interior looks “worn”, then the whole impression of the car will be spoiled, and it will be perceived as second-rate. In this case, one of best solutions there will be a hauling of the car seats, which you can easily make yourself.
Let's not dissemble, self-upholstery of the car seats, although it can be done without any problems, it will require maximum concentration from you and take a lot of time. If funds allow you, then it is better to give this work to professionals. If you are determined to update your car seat covers yourself, then in this article you will find all the necessary information.
What material to take for the upholstery of car seats?
There are five most common seat upholstery materials in vehicle: flock, vulure, alcantara, suede and genuine leather. Usually, the color of the material is chosen based on the color of the upholstery of the car, but if you want something special, then no one forbids you to choose a different color. Also, it is worth noting that you can easily cover the seat not with the material of the same color, but make inserts that will improve appearance car interior, although, of course, one-color seat covers are much easier to make.
In previous articles "Do-it-yourself leather steering wheel" and "Do-it-yourself steering wheel heating" we reviewed the first steps of updating the interior of the cabin. In this article « » I will continue a selection of instructions on the topic " Do-it-yourself interior tuning ».
Even if your car has an ideal appearance and good technical condition, and inside the car will have a shabby look, then the overall impression will not be the most positive and your car will be perceived as second-rate and, frankly, staying in an elephant of such a car will not be pleasant.
Do-it-yourself seat upholstery
First, decide what fabric or leather you will use for the upholstery of the seats (the most common fabrics are velor, suede, eco or natural leather and alcantara) and its colors, then everyone chooses according to their financial capabilities, it will not be a secret to anyone that leather will be the most expensive and most practical material. You can also combine materials and colors (For example: black leather with a beige fabric insert in the middle). But keep in mind that the process of hauling with one type of material and color is much easier.
Also consider the fact that do-it-yourself upholstery of car seats will take more than one day of your time.
In order to get started, you will need the following materials and tools:
- Sewing machine
- Large and sharp sewing scissors
- Gel pen, marker
- Foam rubber about 5 mm thick
- Glue aerosol in cans
- Selected type of fabric and thread
In order to get started and drag the car seat, you need to perform the following preparatory robots:
- It is necessary to remove the seat from the car, use "Manual for the repair and operation of the car"
- On each element of the old car seat cover, make marks with a marker and if the hauling will consist of several colors (types) of fabrics, you must indicate what material you will use for each element.
do-it-yourself seat upholstery photo 1
- Then you need to pull off the old covers from the seats, in order to remove them, open the metal brackets that are located in the back of the seats.
- Now you need to measure the removed covers and calculate the required amount of material for the upholstery of the seats. The resulting result must be increased by 30%, this eliminates errors in the sewing of the material.
Step-by-step instruction
First, make patterns for all the elements of the new cover, for this we take the old pieces of the cover and apply it to the new fabric and circle them with a gel pen and cut them out with scissors. Important: If you use Alcantara, make sure that when combined on all elements of the pile, it lies in the same direction.
do-it-yourself seat upholstery photo 2
Then all the elements that you cut out for the new cover need to be strengthened, for this you need to cut out and glue the foam rubber with glue to the back of the fabric.
do-it-yourself seat upholstery photo 3
do-it-yourself seat upholstery photo 4
Now it is necessary to glue all the lapels of the seams, and cut off the excess pieces of fabric and foam rubber, at the final stage we degrease all the lapels and glue them together.
After the glue has completely dried, it is required to beat off all the seams, this is very simple procedure, which is performed with an ordinary hammer.
do-it-yourself seat upholstery photo 5
When all of the above items are completed, you need to flash all the lapels with a double finishing stitch.
do-it-yourself seat upholstery photo 6
Final stage
To properly put on car seat covers, you must follow a certain sequence:
It is necessary to turn out the covers, you need to start pulling from the back of the car seat.
The process of pulling on a new cover is quite simple, you need to fix the cover with special clamps to the knitting needles intended for this, then continue to gently stretch the cover along the contour of the chair.
If the seats are upholstered with natural leather, then before you start putting on the cover, it must be well heated with a hairdryer, after which it is put on the seat. After the cover is dressed, you need to steam it with an iron through a wet cloth.
In the end, it remains only to clean the surface of glue stains and fingerprints and install the constricted seats back into the car.
Dear friends! We very often receive questions about how to independently replace factory seat covers, which are already frayed, with new ones. That is why we decided to publish some tips with which the replacement procedure will be greatly facilitated. In fact, most of the questions disappear after removing the old cover, when you get a visual understanding of how to reupholster the seat upholstery.
1. If you don’t have a garage or a dry and comfortable room for this type of work, it’s possible to replace the upholstery in the apartment, you won’t need a lot of space, of course, if you don’t take on the entire interior at a time. So let's start with the front seats. We remove the seat and disassemble them into three parts: the seat, back and headrest. To better understand the principle of operation, start with the simplest, with the head restraints, remove the old trim and pull on the new one (see photo No. 1)
2. After you have removed the old cover, you will see that the cover (sheathing) is fixed with special metal hooks to the seat frames. From the back of the back, they are located below. To speed things up and simplify it, instead of hooks, you can take plastic clamps or otherwise they are called nylon ties (see photos No. 2, 3 and 4)
3. To shape the skin, they use special metal knitting needles, they must be removed from the standard kit, because. They don't come with new ones. (see photo #5)
4. There is still a moment that cannot be ignored! If the service life of the old seats is already long, most likely the foam rubber under the covers is not in the best condition. If it is not possible to buy new foam rubber for both front seats at once, replace at least the driver’s seat, or at least swap it with the passenger seat (they are interchangeable, see photo No. 6), as a rule, the driver wears out more. If you still didn’t want to replace the foam rubber, the advice is as follows: When we put on a metal knitting needle, leave a little space on each edge, approximately 3 cm. That is, the sheathing is fixed in 3 places, if you indent a few cm, then there will be a mount knitting needle to knitting needle, but only from the middle part through the material.
5. Let's go back to the problem with the old foam rubber. If you are unable to replace it, we advise you not to install vertical spokes on the seats (see photo), dismantle them marked in the photo.
6. We change the rear cover almost according to the same principle. We insert already removed knitting needles from old upholstery into a new cover and fix the fabric. The type of attachment will depend on which model of car. On some cars, rubber laces or metal hooks already known to us, etc., can be used as fasteners.
7. It is extremely rare, but it happens that after replacing old covers with new ones, in some places there may be minor and practically invisible dents. In order to eliminate this and make everything perfectly even, you need to iron the surface with a steamer (see photo No. 8)
8. By the way, do not forget that reupholstering the seats is the most convenient time to jointly install or replace seat heating, clean the lower parts of the frames / skids from rust, and also, if all the seats are removed at once, you can clean the ceiling, it will be more convenient.
On the surface, it seems that this process will take you a lot of time and it is very difficult, but if you have a positive attitude, then you can handle it in five to six hours of work. And then what a pleasant feeling you get from driving in an updated cabin
If the car is used for a long time, then sooner or later it will need a constriction car seats. But there is no need to rush. In many cases, special detergents are enough to restore a decent look to the interior. If restoration is not possible, all that remains is to make repairs.
Drink stains and damage to leather or other material are not always the trigger for seat reupholstery. In some cases, it’s enough to see another driver’s salon of your dreams in order to catch fire with the idea of changing everything.
Some people will say that this is a waste of money and they may be right in some ways. But let's look at the statistics. According to recent studies, a person spends about two years in his life on the road to and from work. In some apartments, people live less than they ride in a car, so do you really need to deny yourself the constriction of car seats?
In addition, it is not necessary to limit yourself to only hauling car seats. If you want to completely change the internal appearance of the car, you need to drag the entire interior. Even a floor in skillful hands can become a work of art. The most interesting thing about all this is that the transformation can be done with your own hands.
If you are worried that you will not be able to find the material for the upholstery of car seats or the entire interior with your own hands, just go to the nearest automotive market. There will be a huge selection of all kinds of materials for a variety of tastes and price possibilities.
Choosing a material
One important clarification needs to be made here. There are so many materials for car seat upholstery that they can be listed indefinitely, and this is without taking into account the possibility of an individual order. However, in automotive world There are certain trends that have already proven themselves well. Among the most demanded materials on the market are:
In principle, all of the above materials are good in their own way. Some attract with their performance, others with their beautiful appearance and low price. It is much more important to look at the product at the time of purchase.
Important! To reupholster car seats without difficulty, check the homogeneity of the material at the time of purchase.
If you have chosen Alcantara as the material for the upholstery of car seats, pay attention to the direction of the villi. It's playing important role when cutting. Otherwise, all seats will differ from each other in shade.
Do-it-yourself hauling
Any repair work start by creating a project. After you understand what you want, calculated the right amount of fabric or leather, picked up the color and watched a few training videos, it's time to take up the upholstery of car seats.
What is needed for stretching
First you need to collect everything you need, so as not to waste time later. This will allow you to carry out all the manipulations with the interior of the car, not only quickly, but also with high quality. You will need:
- instruments,
- scissors,
- foam rubber,
- iron,
- fabric or leather
- spray glue.
This is a universal kit that will allow you to reupholster car seats. The main thing is not to rush and do everything gradually. A reasonable calculation is the key to a successful completion of the case.
Tightening process
It is best to split the upholstery of car seats into stages. This will achieve maximum effect with minimal effort and time. The repair process should include the following steps:
- Disconnection of electrical wiring.
- Dismantling of old covers. To do this, you need to put the seats out of the car. Usually they are mounted on four bolts. It won't be hard to unscrew them. This will free up space for further work.
- Cleaning the surface of the car seats from dirt.
- Parts made of plastic and metal must be degreased.
- Drawing up a pattern of new covers. Rip out the old cover. Spread the fabric or leather on the floor and place the pieces of the old cover on it. Make a markup and use scissors.
- Sew the pieces together. The edges of each piece should fit snugly against the edges of the other.
- Finish the seams. For this operation you will need glue. Also, the joints need to be flashed for greater reliability. All irregularities are cut with scissors.
- Pull on new covers. They should fit snugly into the seats. The free ends are pulled through the holes in the car seat.
- Drying. Use a hair dryer to get the right tension. As the material cools, it will stretch. This will make the surface even. For best results, use an iron with a steam function.
At the end of the work, the seats are assembled and installed in the car.
Padding of other elements of the car
Of course, the hauling of car seats is an extremely important task. But do not forget about other elements of the interior, which are also important. To create a complete concept, you need to take care of the doors, ceiling and armrest.
To change the upholstery on the doors of the car, you will need to do a pattern. Be sure to leave about an inch of allowance on each side. Pay special attention to creating holes for the door handles. This must be done very carefully. If the design of the machine has power windows with handles, consider their location.
Important! Where the upholstery will adhere to the door, a layer of glue is applied.
Replacing the ceiling is perhaps the most difficult task when hauling. It's a car overhead lighting system. With lamps and wiring you need to be extremely careful. Start with their complete dismantling. The same needs to be done with handles and decorative elements of racks, if any.
The process of reupholstering the ceiling is similar to reupholstering the seats, even a hair dryer is used at the end to stretch the leatherette. It is recommended to heat it before installation. This will provide elasticity and comfort when constricting.
The seat upholstery has the most in common with the updated armrests. They are removed first. After that, a pattern is made on the old covers. A supply of fabric or leather is also left along the edges.
Glue is used to secure the new cover. With its help, the edges of the armrest are glued, and the fabric is carefully fixed. For the reliability of the bonding area, it is better to dry it with a hair dryer.
Advice! To give the interior a better look, you can put foam rubber under the parts. In principle, any insulating material will do.
Results
Do-it-yourself upholstery of car seats is quite a feasible task for every person. All you need is to make a plan, buy materials and collect tools. The only drawback is that the procedure takes a long time.
In addition to the upholstery of the car seats, you can make a complete restyling of the interior. True, in this case it will take at least a weekend. But the result is worth it. Padding allows you to completely change the inner world of the car.
An additional advantage of self-upholstery of the car seats and the entire interior is saving money. No need to spend finances on auto repair services. After all, the procedure is not so complicated as to delegate it to someone for money.
If there is a desire to drag the car seats, then it is not necessary to go to a specialized salon, you can solve the problem yourself. In this way, you can update the appearance of the cabin, give it an original style and remove worn seats. To perform this work, it is not necessary to have a sewing education, it is enough to have enough patience and desire. The work of changing the skin cannot be called difficult, but at the same time it is quite painstaking.
Materials and tools:
- Perforated eco-leather (beige used) 2.5 m
- Eco-leather without perforation (beige used) 1.5 m
- Artificial leather (used in black) 3.5 m
Note: you should choose special leather for the car, it is designed for temperature changes, and is also resistant to fading. Furniture leatherette is not suitable due to the fact that it is not adapted to the conditions of the car, but is only suitable for apartment conditions.
- Foam rubber thin thickness 0.5 cm (for gluing leather parts)
- Furniture glue
- Sewing machine
- Skin needles No. 90 or 100
- Threads for sewing leather (ordinary threads are not suitable, they are suitable marked Extra Strong or for shoes) three 200-meter spools
- Adhesive interlining 3-5 m
- Machine oil
Step one. Material preparation.
All available foam rubber was glued with interlining using an iron. This procedure is required so that during operation the foam rubber can withstand the load on it and does not crumble. An additional benefit of interlining is to facilitate the sliding of foam rubber when sewing.
Step two. Seat preparation.
For convenience, the seats are removed from the car. Next, you need to remove all the old trim.
Step three. Markup.
At first glance, looking at the case, everything seems pretty clear. But when the old case is cut into parts, it will be very easy to get confused. Therefore, the author, armed with a marker, numbers each part of the cover. In order to remember which number corresponds to what, the author drew a diagram of each seat with backs on a piece of paper, and numbered the details of the cover. Using the numbering on the details of the skin, and the sheet will now be impossible to get confused.
Step four. Spokes.
On the inside of the cover there are pockets with knitting needles. Since they will be required for the updated cover, they had to be pulled out and put aside for now. The location of the spokes was also marked on the paper diagram.
Step five. Pattern preparation.
After all the preparations, you can open the covers, the seam allowances are cut off. So, the patterns for the new skin look like.
Step six. Open.
Each detail was transferred to leatherette. In order not to get details in a mirror image, they are applied to the wrong side of the material with the wrong side up.
Step seven. Seam allowances.
From all the necessary sides, the author made allowances for seams 1 cm in size. All parts are also numbered.
Step eight. Tenderloin.
All prepared parts of the cover are checked again, after which they are cut out.
Step eight. Parts kit.
Thus, the author received a complete set of parts for covers. In the photo, you can see backseat, the back and front seats are performed in the same way.
Step nine. Glue.
As mentioned at the beginning of the article, leather parts require sizing with foam rubber. The author needed to do this work only with beige, since the black leather was already glued when buying. The glue was applied with a rubber spatula and a brush. Before the main sizing, the author practiced on scraps.
Step ten. Features of gluing and spokes.
When gluing perforated eco-leather with foam rubber, the glue began to seep into the holes. Therefore, the author decided to glue the inside out first with interlining, and then glue foam rubber to it. The overall picture looked like this: leather, non-woven fabric on it, foam rubber on top of it, and then non-woven fabric again.
After the parts had dried, it was possible to start cutting them out and start sewing. Starting with the central details, we marked out the lines.
Knitting needles were attached from the inside, and their future location was noted by referring to the drawn diagram. For the knitting needles, strips were cut from the fabric of the long knitting needles. Having folded the fabric along the knitting needle, sewed the necessary details to the wrong side.
Step eleven. Lines.
Decorative stitches were made with a sewing machine, while the front side of the material was oiled to better move the foot along it.
Step twelve. Assembly of parts.
When all the details were ready, it was time to start assembling. All elements of the cover were sewn into one, referring to the drawn diagram. All the details were sharpened one by one.
Step thirteen. Clothespins.
Stationery clothespins can be very helpful in working with sewing machine. With them, the author connected the details for even sewing, their advantage is that they do not leave marks on the material.
Step fourteen. Appearance.
After sewing machine you need to cut off the excess foam.