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The bench in my '68 tore at a stitch seam on the driver's side where a flat portion meets piping. 1st time this happened, dad had an upholsterer repair it and it lasted for a year or two. Next time it tore I just put new covers on. If it is brittle, and you plan on keeping the car, new covers are the best solution.
You can remove the seat from the car and then remove the cover from the seat. A local upholsterer can make you a new cover or you can send it here if you aren't doing a concours restoration.
I ordered a set of generic covers (without removing the OE covers for them to follow the pattern) for 2 bucket seats I was going to put in my 86 Ford truck. I decided to use them as shop chairs instead because my truck is in pretty good condition.
My 2c (I should make that my "tag") my seat covers were brittle and discolored. I took them out and had a local shop rebuild the seats and the sun visors. Mine is a convertible so I had them redo the rear arm rest areas, but not the door panels. I replaced the carpets and installed sound deadening/insulation while I was at it, and went through the dash board wiring. Set me back $3k, but it's the nicest part of the car now. As Jesse said, I wasn't trying to do concours quality so I was able to choose whatever vinyl I wanted. Matching the exact vinyl and doing the door panels too would have been considerably more money. This still puts a smile on my face
You need a new seat back cover. It's a simple job.
Oops, sorry. Thought it was the seat back. Anyways, you need a new seat bottom cover. Easy job.
I would suggest you live with it- don't do anything until you're ready to take it out and have the seat repaired by an upholstery shop. They'll go through the whole thing and give you back a "like new" seat- frame media blasted, springs rebuilt, painted, then new foam and new cover. I wouldn't put a new cover on an old seat. I guess it depends on the rest of the car, but I wouldn't do anything unless I wanted to do the whole job. Ain't hurting nobody. Drive it unless you want to fix it, but don't just throw a new cover on an old seat.
Right ar the stitch line. Besides duct tape, any suggestions? The whole bench is pretty brittle.
A patch repair will not last any significant time unless you never sit in the car. And even if by miracle under active usage circumstances it held up, the rest will start to give because of the brittleness. You are just transferring the pressure to the next weakest link. If it were accidentally cut in a neutral area to the side and the vinyl was still supple you would have a better chance.
Our sit bones can apply 60 psi of pressure. Imagine putting 60 lbs on 1 square inch of brittle plastic right by a perforated stitch line. While the said plastic is on top of a structure of springs and foam materials designed to contract under weight.
