I recovered my bucket seats and they came out pretty good (Dark Green). See below. Question is.. I got new headrest covers also and it looks like the old ones are glued or something to the foam.. Is this the case???? I tried to peel the cover away but it seems to be pulling the foam away also. Now what do I do? The headrest covers that are on now are not in bad shape but they are the wrong color... I was thinking about going right over the old covers and use an adhesive to hold them in place.. Does this sound like a good idea? I am worried if I pull the covers there will be big chunks of foam missing... Any ideas would be helpful..... Thanks,
The headrests for the bucket seats are molded. I dont believe they are recoverable. Ive only seen covers for the bench seat head rests. Those are stiched and are re-coverable One option would be to get the new vinyl color matched at the auto body supply. They can mix up a quart of vinyl paint for you. You can dye them to match
The covers I got came from legendary and they are supposed to be for bucket seat headrests. The seat and headrest covers are the same color. They are stitched at the sides and fit very well. The old headrests have a few splits but not bad thats why I thought about going over them.
Being stitched at the sides leads me to believe they sold you bench seat headrest covers. They have piping as well? The bucket seat headrests dont have stitching
Brian, the covers are correct, you just slip them over your headrests & stich them on the bottom. They don't look original but that's the best you can do with covers. I would think it would be hard to find a pair & hard to dye a pair to match the new seat covers.
Brian, If you decide not to use them they work great for covering your arm rests. You can get both arm rest covers out of one headrest cover.
I will use them.. The headrests are black and my new covers are dark green. I think i will try some spray addhesive and use staples on the bottom. The cover plate on the bottom will cover everything nicely. They fit the headrest really nice so i think it will work out ok.
Hi Brian, I bought the bucket seat and matching headrest covers from Legendary in the sandalwood color for my 71 Skylark. This was to recover a pair of dark saddle bucket seats I had aquired. The headrest covers simply slip over the old headrest and staple underneath - looks very good when complete.
Chris.... Thanks for the input...:TU: Thats the idea I was thinking but with the added spray on adhesive... Thanks......
Good luck trying to do it with adhesive, the covers work best without any adhesive. That way they get to "scrunch around" where they want to, so the wrinkles iron out. Then once they are on you staple them at the bottom. This method also works well for the bench seat headrests. Duane
Jason, The bucket seat headrests are a 1 piece molded unit with 2 posts. If you try to take off the "skin" you ruin it and then get to throw it away. Some companies offer headrest covers for these. (I never did.) They do not look perfect, but if that's all you have and the originals are cracked, what can you do. The best way to install them is to shave or sand off the existing beading (like Mark said) and install the covers. Then staple them at the bottom, put the bottom trim plate back on and stick them in the seats. If you don't like how they look the alternative is to either paint/dye a set of originals, or buy a repro set of black ones. The bench seat headrests are made differently They are a foam piece with the single post, and have an actual cover that is wrapped over it and are stapled at the bottom. Here you take off the old covers and install the new ones. They are very easy to install. Even after a few beers.:laugh: Duane
Brian how much of a job was the cover swap. I have a new set of covers front and rear for my 70 along with new padding. Just trying to get up the nerve to tackle it. Bob H.
Bob, This was my first time doing seats and I think they came out pretty good. I did not replace the foam for a few reasons. 1. the original foam was in great shape. 2. I am kinda tall and sit very high in the seat already so I dont need a boost. The job went ok on the first seat and really smooth on the second. (kinda figured out what the hell i was doing....) I would suggest that you paint the frames after you take them apart. I did mine black. As for the covering my covers went on pretty easy.(maybe because the foam was not new. The hog rings were a differnt story. Those are a pain in the ass. I didn't cut them with bolt cutters instead i removed them all by hand with pliers.. Also,, The hog ring pliers are a joke. Maybe if you use them often they are easier but for me it was regular and needle nose pliers all the way.... I bought new aprons and seat backs (reproduction). The backs fit good but the side aprons were a challenge to line up. I changed my seats from Black to Green so thats why i replaced the plastic. I got new headrest locks and seat relese buttons on ebay. Cheap. The headrests are as stated above in the thread. Here is the link to the Buick Performance recovering page..It helped.. http://www.buickperformance.com/bs.htm Hope this helps. If you have any question just ask. If you like I could talk on the phone. Oh and also.. It took me about 6 to 7 hours to do both seats on the floor in my living room. It was in some good pain for 2 days after...lol Hands were the worst...lol Good luck,
