How to Reupholster Auto Seats

If the upholstery on your car seats are getting old, replacing it can improve the car's look greatly. You can use 'purchase pre-made upholstery' covers for your model or create new ones yourself. An auto seat is divided into three parts - the actual seat, the back and the headrest. You must disassemble all three parts to reupholster each of them. You must also remove the mechanical parts, like the tracks, from the seat bottom to apply the new fabric.

Things You'll Need

• Fabric Sewing supplies Ratchet wrench Screwdriver Glue

Instructions

1. Remove the seats from the vehicle. They are bolted to the floorboard with the bolts usually directly underneath the seat bottoms. Use a ratchet wrench that can fit within the bolts' frame. Separate the seat backs from the bottoms and the headrests from the backs.

2. Tear the old upholstery fabric off the seats after removal. If you're creating the replacement upholstery yourself, keep as much of the old fabric pieces intact to use as a stencil. Use them to cut your own fabric into upholstery pieces and stitch them together.

3. Disconnect the tracks from underneath the bottoms. Twist open the hog rings (with a screwdriver) to remove the fabric pieces attached through the seat bun, then remove the hog rings and the seat buns from the bottom frames. Make chalk marks in spots where everything is assembled to help put it back together.

4. Remove the cloth fabric attached to the underside of the bottom seat panels, making sure not to damage the panels. Clean and repaint the panels and place new fabric on them. Glue the panel back onto the seat bun. Reattach the hog rings.

5. Wrap the new fabric onto the bottom seat bun. Start at the rear end, hooking the ends of the fabric onto the hog rings and wrapping the fabric across to the front end. Reconnect the seat tracks to the bottom once the seat bun is covered.

6. Add the new fabric to the seat backs. If the fabric is sewn into a slipcover, slip it right on. The frame attaching the headrest to the back might get in the way. Remove the frame, cut a hole in the fabric over the headrest holes and reattach the frame on top of the fabric.

7. Reupholster the headrests. If you made the covers yourself, it probably doesn't have a elastic band to properly fit as a slipcover. In that case, wrap it around the foam padding and staple it down on the bottom.

8. Put the seats back together and install them back in the vehicle.