looking for seat covering tips!
- Thread starter bclapham
- Start date
steve125
LIFETIME SPONSOR
- Oct 19, 2000
- 1,252
- 0
Brucie! An electric staple gun is best and not too expensive. 1/4inch staples are the ones to use. You need a heat gun or hair dryer to help stretch the cover. Glue the seat foam to the seat base before the cover installation. 3m spray contact cement works well. Install the cover at the ft of the seat with a few staples and then the rear section. now use your heat gun as you work and staple the sides and after a bit of cussing and redoing youre done with no wrinkles Right???.......enough tips??.....now get to it big boy. :)
Psalm31.24
Member
- Dec 5, 2002
- 147
- 0
Hi Bruce,
Just put on a new cover a month ago. The Factory Effex box had some good tips. Here's some of them from my fading memory . . . let the cover soften up/warm up first. Leave it in the sun, trunk of your car, etc. Since it might still be cool down south where you're at, you may need to put the cover in the dryer for a couple minutes. Tack in a couple staples on front and back ends -- make sure it's centered. Then working from the front toward the back, staple in either side. Keep checking for wrinkles as you go down. Staples should eventually be about an inch apart. Have a small screw driver and needle nose pliers to remove staples if you do see a wrinkle and need to redo sections. As for the length of staples, I used 1/4", the main thing is the staple will not poke through the plastic and eventually get to your skin!
Most people believe you must remove you're existing seat cover first, however FactoryEffex says you can put the cover over your existing seat cover. I did this to add a little more durabity (my knee braces were eating holes in the cover) so if my seat cover tears a big hole, I can just rip it off and I have another seat cover underneath -- kinda like tearoffs!
Well, hope this helps.
Just put on a new cover a month ago. The Factory Effex box had some good tips. Here's some of them from my fading memory . . . let the cover soften up/warm up first. Leave it in the sun, trunk of your car, etc. Since it might still be cool down south where you're at, you may need to put the cover in the dryer for a couple minutes. Tack in a couple staples on front and back ends -- make sure it's centered. Then working from the front toward the back, staple in either side. Keep checking for wrinkles as you go down. Staples should eventually be about an inch apart. Have a small screw driver and needle nose pliers to remove staples if you do see a wrinkle and need to redo sections. As for the length of staples, I used 1/4", the main thing is the staple will not poke through the plastic and eventually get to your skin!
Most people believe you must remove you're existing seat cover first, however FactoryEffex says you can put the cover over your existing seat cover. I did this to add a little more durabity (my knee braces were eating holes in the cover) so if my seat cover tears a big hole, I can just rip it off and I have another seat cover underneath -- kinda like tearoffs!
Well, hope this helps.
Psalm31.24
Member
- Dec 5, 2002
- 147
- 0
Hey Bruce, I finally remembered where I saw some good tips on seat cover install. . . (if the link doesn't work it's on the nstyle site)
http://www.n-style.com/s/shop/page.asp?merchant=nstyleinc&file=/s/ads/nstyle/seat.htm
http://www.n-style.com/s/shop/page.asp?merchant=nstyleinc&file=/s/ads/nstyle/seat.htm
steve125
LIFETIME SPONSOR
- Oct 19, 2000
- 1,252
- 0
Brucie nope, never had that happen! But I'm sure it is a thing a big boy like yourself must be concerned about! As with too long a staple and youre ability to achieve a full foam compression, could, put quite a prick in your arse! :moon: :)
B
biglou
FWIW-I used the 1/4" staples on the XR50 seat, and 3/8" staples on a couple of full-size bike's seats. No pricks in my arse... :eek:
The tips about heating it a little are spot on. Makes it more plyable and it will shrink a bit to form a tight, clean looking cover. You can use an iron to steam any trouble spots once you start your install. I do front and back first, then bisect the sides, then fill in the gaps. Good luck!
The tips about heating it a little are spot on. Makes it more plyable and it will shrink a bit to form a tight, clean looking cover. You can use an iron to steam any trouble spots once you start your install. I do front and back first, then bisect the sides, then fill in the gaps. Good luck!
Ol'89r
LIFETIME SPONSOR
- Jan 27, 2000
- 6,961
- 45
:eek: YIKES! :scream: I wouldn't touch that line with a fork lift. :confused:
Bruce. All good tips here. I usually use hot water to soften up the cover. Especially if your wife won't let you use her hair dryer. I dunno, maybe you have your own. :eek:
Just soak the cover in hot water and install it while it is still hot. When it dries it will shrink down to fit. Also, do a test staple before you put the cover on. This is the only way to tell what length staple you will need since seat bases vary in thickness.
Good luck. :thumb:
Ol'89r
