[anewtoi]

i thought i'd be happy with getting my seats rebuilt. i had foams i bought off ebay 6 or 7 years ago, bought new legendary interiors covers. my interior guy was adament that he didnt do the "hey, can i come by and check the progress to make sure everything is ok and the way i want it" way that i like to get things done. he expressed many times how this is his livelyhood and when i get them back they will be brand new and better than before. basically one of those "i do great work because i say i do great work" kinda people. is it just me being to particular, or does anyone else have a problem with the appearence of these front seats. mainly my issues are the puffiness of the outter sections on the front,the way the seams appear to not be uniform. the springs bulging out of the back when folded down, and the way the seats appear to be leaning. he says he intentionally built the drivers seat higher under the left leg cuz thats where your weight is most of the time from climbing in and out of the car and it'll wear do over time. but the way he presented that statement sounded as if he was stumped when he noticed it and it sounded like a good excuse so i'll tell the customer i did it on purpose. please provide input. any experiences, or am i just being too anal


drivers seat, notice the lean of the bottom


passenger-leaning


passenger- springs bulging


will the foam settle and have more of an even bulge?

[azkeebler]

From my own experience, I've found the foams come extra puffy. Yours look more relaxed than mine, but what does worry me is what looks like a ton of hog rings bulging when the seat is folded. Looks like decent workmanship, and he may have just used that many hog rings to prevent separating.

Hopefully a member in the upholstery profession will chime in.

[chrisp]

Sitting crooked like that will be great for your spine . I would have them re-done as they should be level , are the springs shot ?

[mgoblue]

I would not be pleased with the fit of the driver's seat bottom and all of the springs (or hog rings) bulging out. The leaning of the seat backs is another issue. Are they leaning, or twisted? Need a perfect side view picture to determine. Slight twisting of the seatbacks is not that uncommon as people put more force on the outboard side of the seatbacks when getting into and out of the car. Twisted seatbacks can appear to be leaning when viewed from the front or rear. If it were me, I'd have to take the seats to another shop and get a professional opinion.

[GT182]

Looks like the guy that did it was a Chevy guy. That is one rotten looking upholstery job he did. So yes. I'd be anal too.

He should be ashamed, especially since he wouldn't let you see what he was doing when he was doing it. But then again I guess he didn't want you to see his tricks on how to screw it up. Take it to someone that knows what they're doing, he sure doesn't.

[anewtoi]

i'll get more pics this afternoon. maybe side view and from rear and front of vehicle. the 2 side springs were shot from the drivers side but i ordered 2 new side springs. the backs dont seem to be leaning but i could be wrong. thanks for the feedback

[69camarox]

There should be a piece of cardboard that wraps from the back of the seat back, around the bottom of the seat back that stops the springs from showing on the bottom of the seat back . The crooked bottom I would blame on the seat springs . If he replaced broken springs on the left side of the seat they are probably stronger than the originals on the other side so they sit higher.

[68lemansman]

Im no professional but seems to be awfully crooked and the rings showing when bending the seat forward. Jmho

[th442]

You are not being picky. I bet you have some broken springs. Looks like those hog rings could eventually tear a hole.

[P Glade]

If the earlier buckets like yours are similar to the 69 and later then there IS NOT a cardboard panel on the part of the seat where your springs are showing through.

The cardboard panel, on '69+ buckets is on the seat BOTTOM and is only about 6" wide (it's centered on the vertical rear surface of the seat bottom....not on the seatback).

Do you remember what brand seatfoams you got??? There's been a cheap brand sold for years that is very problematic to install, requires SUBSTANTIAL trimming just to ge the covers on and still typically ends up VERY "OVERSTUFFED" looking. That might be one reason your springs are showing up so prevalently on the back filler panel in your pic.

The massive number of hog rings showing through the vinyl flap at the back is odd....typically the factory covers only needed 4 or so hog rings back there so it makes me think the guy really had to load on the hog rings to hold the seatcover on over too-thick seatfoams. The hog rings probably won't do anything to the overlying vinyl back there as that piece of vinyl is more of a "loose" flap on these seats....the real tension is where the hog rings are attached underneath that flap...they are holding a "stretch panel" onto the psprings underneath there....that's the more critical/stressed part of the cover.

Can't comment on the "lean" problem but things definitely look out of whack there.

[gomowgto]

I just had mine done last year, and they turned out great. When I first sat on them in the car, my head touched the head liner, sh$#. But after sitting on them they went down just enough that now they are perfect, but they never looked like yours. My upholstery guy did a great job, the thing he was most insistant about is replacing springs evenly. The side springs aren't as big a deal as the ones you sit on, he said that those should all be replaced with new ones or if some are bad and need to be replaced to replace them with ones from a donor seat that have the same spring tension and diameter. And what ever is done to one bucket should be done to the other one otherwise you will feel the difference in the way each one feels. I used aci (american cusion industries) pads and mine turned out great. I just looked at mine folded forward and they don't look anything like yours the way you can see those springs, I agree with everyone else that something isn't right. Here are some pics of mine.

[anewtoi]

i havent had time to get pics yet, but i went to look at them and they are not leaning in the stance. just that the lowers are raised on one side.

wow gomow, i wish my seats looked half as good as those.

p glade, i think its all of what you said. when i got the foams years ago, i wasnt aware of the el cheapo's and still didnt have any clue until after he was half way finished, when i took him a second set of buckets to "rebuild". while sourcing parts, i started reading that there were different qualities of foam out there. he did mention a couple of times how much trimming he was having to do to the foams but again, he assured me he would make them work. again, IMO, this could have been avoided if he showed me what i was asking to see.

[P Glade]

You may have purchased the Sagauro brand (a type of cactus...they're made in Arizona I believe) foams. Those are notoriously oversized and I believe Legendary even stopped offering them recently as a cheaper alternative since they had so many problems/complaints about them.

[nytrainer]

Gomowgto,
Is that a radio housing under the seat on the right? If so how is it mounted? I would guess there are no clearance issues in all seat positions?
Thanks,
Dave

[gomowgto]

Yes it's a radio box, I guess you would call it. I bought the pioneer am/fm cd player at best buy, and out in the installation shop at most best buy stores they had that black box that the radio slides into and locks in place. It fits so tightly between the seat rails that it is just wedged in place and it has a lip on top that holds it up and inside the seat rails so it can't come down and touch the floor. NO clearanc issues when sitting on the seat and no issues with moving the seat back and forth. Now you would think that if I was able to figure that out that I could come up with some speakers for it?? NOOOOO. My 67 came with only one speaker center rear and one center front, and I just can't bring myself to cut holes in the rear package tray for two 4x8s and nowhere to put front speakers. I have considered the kickpanel speakers they sell for the front, but I still can't come up with a way to put two good size speakers in the rear without cutting holes. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I have had this radio in for 5 yrs now and don't listen to it cos 2 speakers on a 4 speaker system sound like crap!

[ERIC AULL]

The upholstery job would not satisfy my analness either....just being honest.

[bryansMtngto]

Hate to say it I agree with Eric. I'd take them back too. Something aint right. YOu may want to print the pics of gomo"s to take with you.

[Jerry H.]

I can't comment on those particular seats; I;m only really familiar of how the 64-5 GTO seats should look. But I will say this. By him not wanting me to 'come around and check on his progress' would have thrown up a huge red flag. I've had dozens of 64-5 seats done by a one man shop, and I've NEVER had to wait over 2 days. Usually I would be there early one morning to drop them off and he would have them ready by that evening or by lunch the next day at the latest. And that was for the 2 front buckets and the rear seat.

[chiefpontiac66]

I looked at some photos of my 66 2+2 seats after they were done and they didn't have that bulge to them. Also you could not tell where the hog rings were placed. I wouldn't be happy either. You are not being too anal.

[Ron Landis]

1. They didn't come that way new. 2. I had similar results from shops I no longer patronize. 3. They are "excuses"...not "reasons". 'Nuff said. Ron