[rambow]

Quick history for those that don't know me, I've been doing upholstery and seat restorations for the last 15 years, primary focus on GM A-body stuff since thats what I'm into.

I've used pretty much all the different seat buns available on the market today and have held my strong opinion that ACI buns are the best. They are soft like OE buns were, they have a nice reinforced mesh on the backside to increase the life of the buns, and the included the "install cloths" canvas pre-glued on to make installation quick.
I've been using them as my preferred option for years.
I find the PUI, TMI Stock, TMI Big Bolster, Legendary Big Bolster, and Classic Industries buns all to be way to stiff. Like a brick compared to original which results in the person sitting up way to high in the finished seat. Even worse if you combine those with repop springs.

A year or two ago Thornton Restorations started advertising USA made seat buns for GM A-Bodies supposedly made by the same vendor and molds the originals were made from.

I have a set of seats that I'm gonna build this spring/summer to flip, and decided to give these guys a shot because their price for a pair of bucket buns is literally half that of my preffered ACI ones.

And they arrived today....
Quick assessment, because it will be a long time until I'm ready to actually use them.

Unboxed and did a quick fit over a crusty 66-72 seat frame and springs that I have sitting here.

1) I initially freaked out a bit because the box was so much smaller than the ACI boxes, I double checked my invoice and opened it and yes all 4 cushions were in there, they were just a tight fit, but not jammed or compressed, just a nice tight fit.

2) They are soft. Not quite as soft as ACI (i have a set here and did side by side open palm squeeze test), but definitely softer than PUI's, TMI's, and Legendaries Rallye buns which are all crazy firm, like a brick.

3) Shape looks ok, the casting is rough unlike the ACI, but that will be hidden by the cover.

4) the bottom has a thin canvas reinforcing molded to it, not as nice as the mesh in the ACI's but its something. The upper buns have nothing, just foam on the back side.

5) The lower cushion is too long in the front. When installed on the spring and pushed all the way to the rear- there is still a full 1" gap all along the front edgewire that shouldn't be there.
This probably is not a big deal as the cover will compress this to shape around the edgewire- but it was noticeable in that it had the gap at all.
Its possible the channels may extend right to the edgewire of the spring assembly once wrapped around and compressed. Unsure if that will be a problem or not. Probably not, but something i wanted to mention. The sides were properly tight to the spring.

6) upper cushion fit properly to all 4 sides of its spring as I expected.

7) they do not include the "install cloths" as i like to call them that you use to hogring to the frame/springs- but the "flaps" of foam are way longer than OE (in this case a good thing), and are long enough that you could use them in the same way the canvas cloth was used on the OE buns.
The PUI and ACI buns won't work in that way as they are molded in the same way the oe's were and need "something" to attach them.

Overall impression (without having installed them with covers yet) is very positive, especially because of the price and the softness factors. It remains to be seen if the front edge of the lower cushion will be an issue. (i doubt it will)

I can't wait to get some covers so I can properly finish these. Once I do I'll post an update.

*more pics in my reply, it limits me to 5 each