seat covers

[Greybeard]

I need to do something soon. I had pristine seats and one -20* morning I jumped in and it cracked all to heck. I found the local parts store can get the saddle blanket ones for around $35 so I don't know if they are going to last or not. I've always wanted to try to redo them myself with old seabags

I really don't think it's polite calling old folks that just because they live by the sea. 

I did search for seat covers and found the company that bought the company that originally made the saddle blanket seat covers back in the day. They have gotten real spendy over the years. About $118. They make both more expensive ones and less expensive ones. This one sounded like the ones that used to be available; full fabric back and hemmed cut-outs for three sets of belts plus the all important dirt catcher in front.

http://www.seatcoversunlimited.com/Saddle-Blanket-p-16159.html

[DustyRusty]

I had the Saddleman covers in a number of colors but that was back in the 90s.  Both one piece and two piece.  They all were durable and washable.  i'm sorry to hear the quality has suffered.  Somewhere I still have a medium blue one piece that I laundered but never put back on.  Don't know where it is in the garage or if it has deteriorated over time.

[Greybeard]

Yup, I have one too. But I'm keeping it....LOL.

[IdahoMan]

Anyone have any pictures of the ones from the 1980s?  How thick are they? I have the original seats in my truck (vinyl&clothe) and I'd like to keep the wear of of them.

[Greybeard]

I happened to look at seat covers today at Thiesens. They were the two piece type and the material (through the little holes in the package) felt much the same as the ones I have in my truck now which is at least ten years old maybe more and a one piece. The real difference I think is the tightness of weave. These new ones today seemed to look looser in that respect.

What we do in our Dodger pickup with the split bench is to use actual Baja type blankets that can be got at wally world. It the same material as these new ones. Then we removed the fringe on one end and turn the end up and use a tent stitching hand awl (really cheap tool) to run a stitch up to make pockets and sew some strapping material onto the sides at the crease and wherever needed to hold them tight (easy to figure out). Buy three with two the same and one contrasting and build your own. It's time, it's not rocket science. You might have $60 bucks and some time tied up in them. But they will be something you can say you made instead of bought. Personally, I like saying that even if it doesn't look as machine built as one that's machine built. Hmm....

One thing I might consider doing for a flat top bench is to create a fold near the top over the back, in the front under the pocket and in the crease to slide a dowel into and attach the tie straps to that instead of the material itself. This would spread the load some and not separate the weave as much. The same thing could be done at the crease and in front only with shorter dowels. I think I would actually use stainless steel heavy wire myself for more strength and rust resistance. Probably a 1/8" or 1/16" wire, or whatever, material would do the trick of whatever is easiest to source. It wouldn't need to be much.

[IdahoMan]

This might seem a silly question...

The seats on my 81 Silverado are the cloth type with vinyl head-area, back and sides. I have read elsewhere that with some seats (Ex: Leather), putting on a seat-cover improperly can cause wear rather than prevent it. 

Is this something I should keep in mind when getting a seat cover?  I want to protect against wear, bending, cracking, stretching, weather, spills, etc.. That's the idea.

[Irish_Alley]

on my 2004 impala (bought it used in 2011) there is some bad rubbing on the rear passengers side. after putting in my little ones car seat in the middle i noticed the lines line up with the car seat. the problem was the idiots that strapped their kid into the car seat before i had it never tightened up the car seat good enough. guess what I’m trying to say is my car seat has been in the car 2+ years with no signs of wear, while the people before me made some nice wear marks on the seat cause they were too lazy to strap it down.