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How To Replace The Upholstery In Your Car

So bad things happened to your car's seating. No biggie. Here's how to replace the upholstery in your car.

By Iggy PaulsenPublished 6 years ago 5 min read
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Your car is your baby. It's your pride and joy. It takes you from Point A to Point B in style, and if you're like me, you basically live out of it. Unfortunately, living out of your car can bring mishaps—especially if you're a fan of drive-throughs or partying nights out.

When a mishap happens and something spills on your seat, cleaning your upholstery will often only go so far. Even the best interior detailing products and hitting all the places people usually miss won't be enough to get your car fully cleaned at times.

If you've scrubbed, vacuumed, and shampooed your seats without any good results, it may be time to replace the upholstery in your car. Thankfully, that's not actually that hard to do.

Sometimes, you just need a little car seat repair to battle all the wear and tear of life on the road. This guide will give you a couple of pointers if you want to DIY it.

Before we get into the instructions, let's talk about the importance of understanding your limitations.

As much as gearheads love to show off their ability to fix anything, you really should rethink trying to replace the upholstery in your car if you're still new to repairs.

This is a tricky repair and while it may be pricey, it's often better to hire a professional. Sure, you might end up paying for parts and labor, but the fact is that it's better than wrecking your car seats.

Now that we have gotten that warning out of the way, let's talk about what it takes to begin replacing your car's upholstery.

In order to replace the upholstery in your car, you're going to need to remove the old stuff first. This will typically mean that you will need scissors and other tools to pry off the old upholstery and fasten the new stuff into place.

This kit will offer you the tools you'll need to make the most of your car's re-upholstering session. Another thing you're going to need is an upholstery kit that works with your car—or some very nice car seat covers. You may also need to buy padding for your car seat, if that isn't included in the kit.

This is assuming that you want to replace the upholstery, and not the seat.

To begin, remove your car seats.

Your car seats can't be reupholstered while they're still in your car. Most car seats can be removed by unscrewing the bolts that hold the seat to the floor, then pulling the seat out. If you have a power harness, make sure to unplug it before you begin.

It's best to remove both seats before you do anything else.

You will notice that each chair will have a lot of screws and bolts holding it together. Disassemble each chair, and slowly peel off the upholstery from it. If the upholstery is being stubborn, just use scissors to cut it off of your seat.

If you have foam rubber padding or other similar chair backing, now is the time to remove those as well. The padding can be pretty bad to remove, but you're going to have to get rid of it all. We suggest using a sharp knife to scrape it away.

Try to remove as much foam backing from your car's seat as possible. You want to have a clean new frame.

Now that you're working with a totally clear car frame, you will need to install the foam padding that came with your car reupholstery set. Grab a can of adhesive spray, and spray your foam padding and backing heavily. Then, place the padding in the designated places.

Make sure that the padding is placed exactly where it needs to be placed. Otherwise, your car's upholstery will not fit well, and you may end up having to redo this step just to get your car drivable.

Let the car seats dry.

This is going to be tricky, no lie. Out of all the steps you'll need to take in order to replace the upholstery in your car, this will be the most physically demanding.

If it's a tight squeeze, that's actually a good sign. Upholstery is supposed to be a tight fit. So, if it takes a bit of effort to get it on, congrats. Chances are that you're doing it right.

Next, reattach the seat and backrest.

Once everything has been covered and reupholstered, you will have to reattach everything together and bolt your seat together. This part shouldn't be too hard, but if you need extra help, you can always refer to the instructions that came with your kit or car seat upholstery kit.

You will need to place the car seats back on the tracks, and bolt them in. This way, your car seating will remain secured in place and will also avoid getting wobbly. Then, plug any electrics back in.

We strongly suggest testing your car seats out and making sure they are able to slide up and down the tracks. If they are not doing their job smoothly, now is a good time to fix them.

If you believe that you may have made a mistake, please seek professional help.

Though these instructions may seem like they are pretty easy to follow, reupholstering your car is not something to take lightly. It can be very easy to make a mistake that could cost you hours of work, or even hundreds of dollars in equipment.

If you're not sure whether you did things right, you should call a pro.

If you are looking for a better way to improve your seating situation, then you might want to consider installing new car seats instead of trying to reupholster your car's existing seats.

Doing this would allow you to skip over the annoying part of having to wrap the new upholstery around existing seats. After all, no one wants to have to scrape foam off their seats for a couple of hours when you could be sitting in bucket seats after five minutes of work.

Though a lot of car seats are pretty pricey, it's possible to find aftermarket seats that are reasonably affordable. Why replace the upholstery in your car, when you can just get better seats for less time?

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About the Creator

Iggy Paulsen

Iggy Paulsen is a fan of anything and everything wholesome. He loves his two dogs, hiking in the woods, traveling to Aruba, building DIY projects that better humanity, and listening to motivational speakers. He hopes to eventually become a motivational speaker himself.

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