Replacement seat covers

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JLT
Old School!
Location: Sacramento CA
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Replacement seat covers

Post by JLT » Fri Feb 05, 2016 12:14 pm

I guess this question goes under Body/Hardware since it doesn't seem to fit anyplace else.

The time has come to rebuild my bus's front seats. My friend pjalau wrote me
I got the "horse hair" padding from Wolfsburg west, and the seat covers from west coast metric. I think they both use the same supplier.
Can anybody confirm that the two sources use the same supplier? I have to order some other stuff from WW, and it might help me consolidate the order.
-- JLT
Sacramento CA

Present bus: '71 Dormobile Westie "George"
(sometimes towing a '65 Allstate single-wheel trailer)
Former buses: '61 17-window Deluxe "Pink Bus"
'70 Frankenwestie "Blunder Bus"
'71 Frankenwestie "Thunder Bus"

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Sylvester
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Location: Sylvester, Georgia
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Re: Replacement seat covers

Post by Sylvester » Fri Feb 05, 2016 2:17 pm

I need to do this too this spring.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue, I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace. Where never lark, or even eagle flew. And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod, The high untrespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

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hambone
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Location: Portland, Ore.
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Re: Replacement seat covers

Post by hambone » Fri Feb 05, 2016 4:21 pm

Only one making seat vinyl these days seems to be TMI. Not sure about the horsehair.
http://greencascadia.blogspot.com
http://pdxvolksfolks.blogspot.com
it balances on your head just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine
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Amskeptic
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Re: Replacement seat covers

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Feb 05, 2016 6:38 pm

Horsehair from Wolfsburg West, seat covers from TMI, be fierce.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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JLT
Old School!
Location: Sacramento CA
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Re: Replacement seat covers

Post by JLT » Mon Feb 08, 2016 7:55 pm

Amskeptic wrote:Horsehair from Wolfsburg West, seat covers from TMI, be fierce.
Colin
TMI? Who dat? Three Mile Island? Too Much Information?

And I'm told that the "horsehair" does not come from horsies, but from cocoanuts or something like that.

Wolfsburg West is out of the bottom seat pads, but should have them back in stock in March.
-- JLT
Sacramento CA

Present bus: '71 Dormobile Westie "George"
(sometimes towing a '65 Allstate single-wheel trailer)
Former buses: '61 17-window Deluxe "Pink Bus"
'70 Frankenwestie "Blunder Bus"
'71 Frankenwestie "Thunder Bus"

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JLT
Old School!
Location: Sacramento CA
Status: Offline

Re: Replacement seat covers

Post by JLT » Fri Apr 15, 2016 4:22 pm

Well I've got all the parts, and have commenced to re-cover. I notice that there is a bit of what looks like cotton batting on the edge of the passenger side backrests. I assume that it's important, although it doesn't seem to have been offered as a replacement part by Wolfsburg West.

Is there an on-line source for instructions on how to recover seats? The YouTube videos are horrible, one of the links on the Ratwell site is now dead, and I wasn't able to find the one on the Samba that I looked at before. I'm hoping that one of you folks may have bookmarked it for easy access, like I didn't.
-- JLT
Sacramento CA

Present bus: '71 Dormobile Westie "George"
(sometimes towing a '65 Allstate single-wheel trailer)
Former buses: '61 17-window Deluxe "Pink Bus"
'70 Frankenwestie "Blunder Bus"
'71 Frankenwestie "Thunder Bus"

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Amskeptic
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Re: Replacement seat covers

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Apr 15, 2016 7:48 pm

JLT wrote: Is there an on-line source for instructions on how to recover seats? The YouTube videos are horrible, one of the links on the Ratwell site is now dead, and I wasn't able to find the one on the Samba that I looked at before. I'm hoping that one of you folks may have bookmarked it for easy access, like I didn't.
I cannot find a write-up on the BobD seats that I installed Wolfsburg West horsehair pads in 2011.

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BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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JLT
Old School!
Location: Sacramento CA
Status: Offline

Re: Replacement seat covers

Post by JLT » Mon Apr 18, 2016 12:30 pm

Thanks for the photos, Colin.

I've finished the passenger side and am starting on the driver's side now. I've noticed that, for the bottoms on both sides, the replacement covers come with string threaded into the hems, whereas the covers I've removed used galvanized wire. I have reason to suspect that these covers were the original ones, and I figured that VW must have had a reason for using wire. So I'm doing that, too. As for the batting, I found some cotton/polyester batting at a going-out-of-business sale at Hancock's, so I'm using that. PJAlou also wrote me privately that after he re-covered his seats, using the cocoanut mat stuff, he wished he'd added a little extra padding to it. So I may try to do that, if I can get the durned seat covers to actually fit over it.
-- JLT
Sacramento CA

Present bus: '71 Dormobile Westie "George"
(sometimes towing a '65 Allstate single-wheel trailer)
Former buses: '61 17-window Deluxe "Pink Bus"
'70 Frankenwestie "Blunder Bus"
'71 Frankenwestie "Thunder Bus"

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Amskeptic
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Re: Replacement seat covers

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Apr 18, 2016 8:00 pm

JLT wrote:Thanks for the photos, Colin.

I've finished the passenger side and am starting on the driver's side now. I've noticed that, for the bottoms on both sides, the replacement covers come with string threaded into the hems, whereas the covers I've removed used galvanized wire. I have reason to suspect that these covers were the original ones, and I figured that VW must have had a reason for using wire. So I'm doing that, too. As for the batting, I found some cotton/polyester batting at a going-out-of-business sale at Hancock's, so I'm using that. PJAlou also wrote me privately that after he re-covered his seats, using the cocoanut mat stuff, he wished he'd added a little extra padding to it. So I may try to do that, if I can get the durned seat covers to actually fit over it.
I see a lot of re-upholstering that looks totally amateur from the clumsy overuse of batting. Carefully done, it can make seating more comfortable, and it can take away the metal edges that sometimes can be felt through the vinyl. Make sure the piping is below the seating edges, as VW intended.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

User avatar
JLT
Old School!
Location: Sacramento CA
Status: Offline

Re: Replacement seat covers

Post by JLT » Mon Apr 18, 2016 8:18 pm

Amskeptic wrote: I see a lot of re-upholstering that looks totally amateur from the clumsy overuse of batting. Carefully done, it can make seating more comfortable, and it can take away the metal edges that sometimes can be felt through the vinyl. Make sure the piping is below the seating edges, as VW intended.
Colin
The finished passenger side looks pretty decent, so I think I'm on the right track batting-wise. I'm certainly not over-doing it.
-- JLT
Sacramento CA

Present bus: '71 Dormobile Westie "George"
(sometimes towing a '65 Allstate single-wheel trailer)
Former buses: '61 17-window Deluxe "Pink Bus"
'70 Frankenwestie "Blunder Bus"
'71 Frankenwestie "Thunder Bus"

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