I have a 68 camaro. the bucket seats are ripped. How easy or difficult is it to put on new upholstery. I heard of sliding a garbage bag over foam and sliding covers on. Also are hog ring pliers necessary or can i just use regular pliers? How do you remove knobs on the back of the seat?

Hogring pliers and new Hogrings are a must, the pliers crimp the ring in a special way that "is" possible , but not feasable with regular pliers. (it takes too dang long) a plastic garbage bag (usually a 13gal size) will help new covers go over the foam easier, but it usually only gets in my way. the trick is , Keep them warm, lay the new covers out in the sun for a while to get warm, they are alot easier to work with when warm,before starting the recovering when you have the old covers off, inspect the foam , burlap and seat frames for any damage, usually the frames are all rusty so i clean em up and paint them black + a new piece of burlap can be bought at any arts supply store for cheap ($2.00 for 6 ft) cover the springs with this before placing the foam down. And you take the seat lift off the back with a phillips screwdriver, the screw is underneath it. I did my seats in my older camaro and it turned out nice, I took my time and used the correct tools and they look just as good as they did back when new


[This message has been edited by Chris Edwards (edited 04-20-2000).]

Chris is on the money! you only want to do this once, so invest in the right tools. Hog rings and pliers are available at the hardware store for less than resto. cataloge.

The hardest part is where the front of the seat back is attached with hogrings through the foam. You reach through the backside of the seatback with the pliers, while pressing the U-shaped vinyl spline firmly against the foam bun and front of the seat. The hogring pliers make this step go a lot quicker. The seat back chrome knob has an allen set screw on the lower side. The seat back bumper post has a phillips head indentation.

Jim, Definitely do on a hot sunny day. Check the "fill" of the seat cover BEFORE you apply too many hogrings. THe foam will collapse with age and not completely fill the seat cover. (ended up doing my bottom rear seat twice- the second time with a layer of one inch foam added)

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Replace the foam at the same time (at least the bottoms). New seat covers won't fit right with old worn out foam. I've seen some pretty nasty jobs - too loose and wrinkles - when using original foam.

Yes, you can do it yourself, but don't get the kits they sell which include the cheesy little hog-ring pliers that are held together with a rivet, it'll break. Pay the $13-$15 for the professional hog-ring pliers. I recovered a couple of sets in my basement, but it is easier to work the material if it's warmed up a little. Just take your time to line things up and move it around and if you have to cut out some hog rings to adjust it, don't hesitate, your the one that has to look at it and sit on it when it's done. I was able to re-use the old padding on all the seats I did. It took some extra time reaching up inside to make sure it didn't bunch up, but they all came out great. Also, don't try to do it all in 1 day, your hand won't be able to take it.

jeff is so right, we got a pair of cheap ones the first time and all the rings got bent so round that the points were trying to come back through the vinyl. we learned cheap is bad, go good or better the first time and it will actully save you time and look better.