Bolster Cover(s) Material

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi all,

I am currently stripping, refurbishing, and ultimately rebuilding my seats. I have dis-assembled the covers (in order to make patterns of each section). The bolster(s) are to be replaced where I can get hold of good ones.

The covering for the bolsters is probably not made anymore but does any one know of a good replacement and where I can get it?. Most trim sites and upholstery supply sites don't go into selling the actual materials and obtaining any details on what is available (as a replacement) is virtually impossible.

I am developing a repair procedure for busted bolsters and as the job progresses I will post details.

regards

Dave H

[stubby205 0]

im trying to do the same thing with my half leather seats, ive got a few holes in them so i could do with replacing them. hope somebody knows ive seen on here a place people buy leather paint restorer if thats any good to you? http://www.liquidleather.com/car-shop.html#Scuffmaster

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

im trying to do the same thing with my half leather seats, ive got a few holes in them so i could do with replacing them. hope somebody knows ive seen on here a place people buy leather paint restorer if thats any good to you? http://www.liquidleather.com/car-shop.html#Scuffmaster

Hi Mate,

I have cloth seats, not half leather and I wish to keep them as is. Whilst the stitching goes on leather bolster covers it is rare that the hide itself is too far gone.

Thanx anyway.

Dave

[Spud205 0]

Hi Mate,

I have cloth seats, not half leather and I wish to keep them as is. Whilst the stitching goes on leather bolster covers it is rare that the hide itself is too far gone.

Thanx anyway.

Dave

Hope you have more luck than me,got nowhere fast...

[woo83 0]

I'm right in the middle of doing mine now, I looked for ages to try and get suitable OE looking material didn't find much to be honest but it was the red check I was worried about. This is vaguely similar If it's any help.

Mine are half leathers but I did briefly think about doing them with cloth as I personally prefer them, I was looking at suit materials that were very similar to 1.6 cloth seats (probably harder wearing though) at my local haberdashery place, they were cheap as chips to. maybe worth a look.

 

One thing I would say though, I gave up trying to make templates as there were massive differences between the two front seats, I ended up having to tailor each cover to each seat. Hope you have an easier time with yours though.

 

John.

Edited April 16, 2010 by woo83

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

HI,

I know what you mean guys. I have spent 4 days this week trying "suppliers" and the material on offer is rubbish.

Coach trimmers over you like a rash at first , swithch off as soon as you say you want supply only.

There is the dreaded Alcantara - yeh right ! I am looking at 20 oz black denim as my best alternative at the moment. Hardwearing and reasonably easy to sew. Failing that a velour type material.

I found a supplier of this based in Stanmore but they have a policy of £40 minimum order to the "public".

I have 3 seat covers in pieces at the moment - each having rips/wear in different bolster sections. I can't see massive differences between passenger and driver seats so I am interested to know what they are. When I have washed the the seat inserts (the coloured bits) I will choose 1 for my drivers seat - I also have a couple of green inserts going begging.

Keep in touch if you still need some inserts as I have a few and once I get a seat chassis to work on I'll probably have some more. My foam repair method seems to be working OK though - heres a couple of piccys of befor and after phase 2 where I chopped the excess foam off to get a basic contour.

 

 

 

and

 

 

regards

Dave

Ps - Off to local scrappy this am to look for an XS

[Pugleyrich 37 1 Cars]

Nice to see this is coming along Dave. I am impressed with the work on that bolster! I look forward to seeing the outcome of the work. You will see that one of the covers that I sent you (drivers I think) had a replacement bolster material on the backrest park. It seemed to be of a much higher quality than the original material. I hope you find a suitable replacement material soon

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi Rich,

Slow and steady progress. I have been unpicking seams most of this week and washing the inserts. Next thing is to generate the patterns. I never knew there could be so many hog rings in a seat!. I bought some pliers from a guy in Scotland (Ayr) for £24 including a load of rings (just hope I've got enough).

I am looking a for basic seat frame to use as my Tailors dummy for fitting.

I tried Woolies Trim site but their material was to thin (Louise Wolstenholme - very helpful).

The best on offer at the moment looks like this place :http://www.automobiletrim.com/

They are based in Stanmore(Middlesex) but are not over keen on on non-trade sales. I am waiting on their reply to my mail of Friday last.

I have commenced the article and that is progressing well.

regards

Dave

[stufarri 98 3 Cars]

Just doing my bolsters at the moment and putting heated seats in my 87 CTI.

 

Bought some knackered seats for 99p off ebay and used the passenger seat foam as the drivers and vice versa- that way you end up with good bolsters on both sides.

 

Look out for cheap knackered seats - you may have to buy a few but you get sets for £25 - and use these to make a good set.

 

In addition I used mini tie wraps (from Poundland) for reassembly - easier that hog rings which are a pain in the arse.

 

Good luck!

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi there,

I have bought 3 or more part sets of foam and covers thus far. I got cramp in my hands cutting all the hogrings out but have heard that tie wraps can be used especially on the frame edges. I am looking for a seat frame at the moment to use as a tailors dummy. The only thing that is taking time is getting samples from car trimmers and fabric suppliers. A likely possibility is a black needle cord material with 3% Lycra, which would fit around the bolsters better.

Pattern making this week, and then move onto a material choice and making/sewing them up.

The big finale being a video clip of putting it all together.(keeps me off the streets!)

Thanx for UR encouragement.

regards

Dave

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi All,

the search for material is ongoing. I have been scouring the web looking for suitable candidates for the bolster material.

Top of the range is Alcantara - but this would cost more than my cars worth!

I have a number of samples coming via snail mail, but the most promising is a boat/motorhome material with the brand name "Microcare" - just what we need by the looks of it and it weighs in at £35 per metre (1.4mtrs wide). I know this sounds a lot but Alcantara is between 60 to 80 per metre. Once I get all my patterns cut out and laid on paper I will be able to guage how much would be required.

With regard to the seat bolster foam - I successfully repaired one with a replacement new section. I am also looking at a heavier grade foam with a view to carving out a complete bolster.

The work goes on.

regards

Dave

[paul205mi16 4]

Very interested in this myself and will keep a keen eye on this tread. Good luck.

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Morning all,

Todays progress report. I caused a bit of a stir when I went to the local upholstery & millinery shop to enquire about how to generate my own patterns. They were very helpful though and I now have the requisite accessories to do the job (perhaps not the skill though!). The outcome will be a set of patterns by early next week, I hope.

Material choice has not yet been finalised - but the new improved version of Alcantara - not produced by them I hasten to add, looks a possible and is not so expensive. Initial layout of the dissaassembled bits of the bolsters is telling me that I linear metre of material will do 2 seats worth of bolster covers (to be confirmed)

On the matter of bolsters - I am continuing my work on a producing a "good" repair strategy. My initial attempt was a bit Blue Peter - but it seemed to work. For those interested in the foam rubber part of this job (stand up - we know who you are !!) I am currently investigating the feasability of a glove mould for the bolster foam sections.

More soon

regards

Dave

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Good morning all,

The matter of pattern generation has been a bit more involved than I anticipated. I stripped 2 to 3 backrest covers and 2 seats an collected up the least worn/tatty sections of ech bolster. I then unpicked the seams, washed and ironed them flat.

With a few pices it was possible to just trace round and produce a paper replica for a pattern piece. On the larger sections, however, secondary upholstery work shows that the machining line wanders a bit as does the cut line, so neither the profile of the section can be traced (outlined) or the sew line. This in itself has been a bit of fun (re: my trip to the local upholsterers) as I bought pattern paper, a little tracing wheel, and large sheets od "dressmakers carbon paper".

I then laid out my pattern paper, inserted the carbon paper on top and then the piece of material next. This was done with a view to running this wheel round the sewing line to transfer the pattern. Simples I hear you say.

The wandering line of the machinist means that I can only part mark out this way and then have to make good sections (especially the curves). Never the less, a bit more involved but it will be successful.

Material samples are continuing to come in, although I haven't received the "alcantara" substitute yet.

One that looks good out of the normal materials is called "F697" from Segal Motor trimmers based in Salford.

I am taking a 2 pronged approach with the bolsters. #1 is the make do a mend one , where a section is cut out and replaced.(see earlier pictures). The second is to be slighly more complicated and I am looking at the feasability of producing a silicone "glove mould for the complete top section of the bolster.

More news on this as I progress.

regards

Dave

[omega 82]

good luck with this have seen the bolster wrapped in gaffer tape before fitting so it doesnt spread.

[htice 0]

Intrested in the black fabric material as used in the early ph1 GTI 1.6.

I believe it is very similar fabric as was used in the 1970´s Opel and Taunus like RS.

 

HTICE

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Good morning everyone,

Things have progressed well with the material samples. All bar one are now in , the last is a sample from a very nice young lady from Aldridge Trimmers who rang me yesterday morning. She was the in-house expert on 205 upholstery and trim and was quite happy to discuss this with me (even though I wanted to do my own upholstery). The material used originally by Peugeot (trademarked Delcar 2149) is no longer manufactured, Aldridge trimmers, however have previously put in a good search effort to find a good replacement - so I await their offering eagerly.

The new and improved version of Alcantara - called Microcare is currently the clear front runner for those requiring the velour/suede look - it's fabulous and although a little expensive (£32 a linear metre) it is well worth it in terms of look, wearability, resistance to sunlight etc,etc. Marvellous stuff!

On the Bri Nylon front (black and lightly ribbed, 2mm foam backed) the clear favourite here is a material provided by William Marston of Birmingham - it is their B09/B seat material, with Segal's F697 running a close second.

I will make my final choice when the Aldridge material sample arrives.

I had hoped that pattern production would be completed by today, but my "quest for perfection" if you like, has delayed me a bit as I've had to get a few more bits of kit to tidy up the unpicked bolster sections (profile wise).

They have arrived this morning - a set of Bezier curve templates, and my personal favourite - the flexi curve.

BJN in the states have been in touch about creating a glove mould along with their recommendations and hints to help me achieve this.

Finally - I have sketched up the jigs that will assist me in the mould/casting exercise - simple ply and batten stuff and am just doing an estimation job for those materials.

I am also going into Jordans of L/Spa next week to get a sample of thier 50lb foam - the one they didn't have when I last went in. I want to see how this particular foam can be worked into shape - this is a follow up to my original make do and mend repair shown in earlier posts.

All in all it's been a busy week - but quite fruitful.

Will report again soon

regards

Dave

[johno_78 2]

A very interesting thread.

 

With regards to the mimimum orders, how much material is that? I'm sure a group buy on here would easily cover that amount.

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

A very interesting thread.

 

With regards to the mimimum orders, how much material is that? I'm sure a group buy on here would easily cover that amount.

 

Hi,

I have not been given minimum order limitations so far. Well actually I did get one from "the Automotive Trim Co." in Stanmore - that was £40 min'm plus vat plus delivery (another £11) - so I made my excuses and left - so to speak!

Material from the roll is all a standard 54" (nearly 1.4 metres) wide. So when you buy a linear metre you get 1.4 sq mtrs of material. I have been told repeatedly that the more you buy the better discount you get.

The Bri Nylon materials drop out at around £12-15 per linear metre. Alcantara £80-90, Microcare - £32.

I will be making up sets of full covers with my chosen material on the bolsters (hence my pattern production) these may be available for members if demand proves sufficient.

regards

Dave

[Gentrix 2 1 Cars]

This sounds really interesting, do you have pictures of the sample matierials you are speaking of?

 

andi

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

This sounds really interesting, do you have pictures of the sample matierials you are speaking of?

 

andi

I am just setting up a board with all the main candidate samples on. Once the last sample from Aldridge Upholstery arrives - probably on Monday - I will see if my camera can get enough of the detail to be useful, If so it be uploaded then for people to have a look at.

I must admit my favourite is the Microcare and it will have to be good to beat that in my view.

regards

Dave

PS I will also be publishing a complete project diary of this exercise. Although a 500k upload limit is tricky.

I may put it up for access via P2P servers and use Filevoom or similar to distribute it that way.

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi all,

I would like to try a little test. I run FileVOom as my P2P software of choice. I have placed my diary of this project in my shared folder and have set FileVOoom running. The file is around 1.05Mb at the moment and is a docx file (Word 2007).

The file name is 55li23x.docx. Wierd name is to ensure you find the right one.

If you would like to test out this method of moving files around (between members) it should be feasible to set up an external drive with say password access to memebers to upload/download files too big for the forum server.

Just an idea - but feel free to give a try and look at my notes

Dave

[Gentrix 2 1 Cars]

Have you thougt about a "drop"?

 

Try www.drop.io - you can then open an account with any name you like - you can upload every file format you can think of - you can preview and download.

You can set all types of personal settings, like expiration of the drop from 1 day to never - you can restrict visitors to be only able to download etc.pp.

 

Maximum storage with the free account is a good 100MB.

 

I use these drops often even from work, to get bigger files (graphics and layouts) to oversea productioners.

 

 

If you find any questions regarding those drops, just ask

 

 

andi

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Andi,

Vielen Dank

Dave

Will have a try.

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi again,

I have taken andi's advice and put the diary of this project on www.drop.io.

link is www.drop.io/hdzmap5 with a guest password of dch1950 to access. To download it (and view cuurent version) double click file spec.

hope this works

regards

Dave