What is the proper procedure for installing new set covers? Do you do the corners first, talcum powder, cornstarch, heat gun what? Don't even know where to start. You think they would send short paragraph or something to point you in the right direction. I'm thinking it must be pretty simple because I haven't seen anything about it. Thanks... Girl.

 

Before I did mine, I had found an article saying to lay a sheet of plastic over the seat foam, like a trash bag slit down the side so it's single layer, so the seat cover slides easily over the foam. The article said to pull the plastic out but I couldn't get it to budge, so I left it in. Just figured it would be a good water barrier.

Anyway, I have buckets and attached the rear first, pulled it over the front, then attached the hog rings along the front bottom edge. It was really simple and straight forward; I did both front buckets in an afternoon.

 

The seat bottoms and rear seat back are pretty straight forward and easy. Bucket backs are more difficult, but still not too bad. The only ones that are a real PITA are the bench backs since they are not tapered and the covers go all the way around the back. You can try turning the cover inside out and "rolling" it onto the bench back like you'd put a condom on. I wish I had thought of the trashbag trick when doing mine, but alot of gnashing of teeth and tugging with finger tips later, mine were done.

Taking pictures of the factory covers and how they are secured underneath is helpful in attaching the new covers.

 

Trash bag worked great for me, I ended up leaving it under the cover too because of the tight fit.

 

An upholstery friend told me long ago he uses dry cleaner bags, same purpose just a thinner bag. Also another guy would spray silicone on the foam, not sure if thats a good idea or not. If you can put downward pressure on the assembly to compress the springs just slightly while your pulling the upholstry snug to hog ring it, once your finished, the springs rebound and the covers will be a little tighter.

 

When I was doing buckets in my Impala I used the dry cleaner bags and left the seat covers in the sun for couple of hours. It was pretty easy after that.

 

I did my 70 Cutlass buckets seats this pass summer and i didnt use anything. I just let the seat cover soak under the sun while im disassembling the seat. When im good and ready the covers are soft and stretchy. I do one side and pull tight, clamp it down with the hog rings and work around it.

 

Dry cleaner bags and covers left out in the sun =