I talked to a guy yesterday about recovering my seats. I provide the seat covers and he will install them. I don't think I need new foam, and he said if it needs it, he can build it up some. $500 to do the front buckets and rear seat. He does a lot of leather work and other stuff and looks real professional.

Is $500 reasonable, or am I getting raked?

I wouldn't bring my own seat covers because if they don't fit right its going to be your seat covers that are the problem

I wouldn't bring my own seat covers because if they don't fit right its going to be your seat covers that are the problem

I talked to him about that. He was going to get PUI covers and I told him that I can get them from GroundUP for $155, he said he can't get them for that price from his supplier and told me to go ahead and get them.

I think $500 is a little high. I had both fronts and the rear seat done 2 years ago. I provided the seat covers, foams and springs, the upolstery shop did all the installation. They even repainted the frames and metal backs of the fronts seats. $300 total labor for all mentioned and it came out great.

A bit high. If you’re providing the covers and no real work besides building up some foam it's definitely high.

$500 seems a bit high. A buddy of mine had his done. two buckets and the rear seat. He supplied the covers and i think foam for the buckets. and it ran him around $300
but that was a few years ago.

Ok guys, thanks... Yeah, that was my initial thought was high, but wanted to verify. I will nail him down on a price for sure. He does real good work from what I saw in his shop. He does a lot of high end leather work and high dollar stuff. He may have just been throwing out a number cause he doesn't want to deal with my seats.

Thanks...

I had my front and rear seats done and and the rear side panels for my ragtop about three months ago. I brought him all the seats stripped and painted. He repaired one spring I missed and added foam to the rear seat. My bill was $550.

For a shop with a good reputation....I think you are about right.

Ok guys, thanks... Yeah, that was my initial thought was high, but wanted to verify. I will nail him down on a price for sure. He does real good work from what I saw in his shop. He does a lot of high end leather work and high dollar stuff. He may have just been throwing out a number cause he doesn't want to deal with my seats.

Thanks...

Haha, I'll bet you are right about him not really wanting to be bothered. But honestly, if it's just putting on new, pre-made covers, any half-decent upholstery guy can do that IMHO.

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Did you bring the seats over for him to take a look at them or did he give you a quote w/out seeing them?

If he didn't see them, it would be tough to tell for sure that your springs and frames are in good shape and he may be hedging his quote a bit so he doesn't have to come back to you later asking for more $$$

When I redid my seats, they seemed fine until I took them apart.

I had to tig weld up quite a bit of the seat frames, the spot welds had let go in a several places, I ended up having to replace all the springs and foam and one of my seat back frames was so far gone that I had to actually get another seat and use the seat back frame from that one to make a good seat.

They came out awesome.

My point is that these are 40 year old cars and the seats can be a can of worms. If you want to nail down the quote, I would bring the seats over to him so he can take a better look at them w/the seat backs removed.

Cruising around in restored seats is awesome and work the effort. Good luck w/your car

I just had my seats recovered.. I took him already restored frames and springs, with all new front foams and covers.. It was $400 which seemed about right to me.. The place has a great reputation and many years experience with the older hot rods. Didn't mind paying a few extra bucks for the piece of mind..

I just had a front set done for $300. Unfortunitly, I brought them back for a better redo. Didn't like the final product. I would be willing to pay the 500 for a perfect job. Whats the first thing that catches your eye when you look in a car, poorly done recovers.

I just had my seats recovered.. I took him already restored frames and springs, with all new front foams and covers.. It was $400 which seemed about right to me.. The place has a great reputation and many years experience with the older hot rods. Didn't mind paying a few extra bucks for the piece of mind..

Zeb

Because you had already restored the frames and springs, the condition of your inner seats wasn't an issue they had to worry about.

I know how much time it took me to do mine, granted it isn't something I do for a living but looking back if I wasn't such a masochist, I would have gladly paid someone to do it for me. You need to know what you're doing or spend extra time to get everything lined up right. Nothing worse than looking at sagging or poorly aligned seat covers in a nice car.

My brother sent off his front seats for a '67 GTO to a shop and they charged him $400 for the two of them.

I'm glad they came out the way you wanted them.

I just dropped my rear seat off (bottom and back) at the upholsterer yesterday. He is putting new foam on and installing my covers (which need a little bit of customizing...they are for a Camaro and I have a Firebird) for $150-175. If it was a stock fitting cover, it would have been $100.

Phil

I had cleaned and painted the frames, supplied new springs, foams and the seat covers themselves, and I paid $250 about 5 years ago. The guy did allot of hot rod stuff, so this was a quicky for him. I was very happy with the results.

Your cover's and not having to do any other repairs $350.00 MAX.