Upholstery finally done in my 412

[SureFit Travis]

Well, I haven't done the carpeting yet, and opted to leave the original door panels in place, but I finally got around to reupholstering the seats, and replacing that faded carpet behind the rear seat, as well as recovering that panel below the rear window. What a difference. I'll have to find a before picture to show how sad the front seats were.

All of that coconut matting over the springs had done the usual deterioration, and had fallen through the springs, so I replaced all of it with a 1/4-inch thick mixed-fibre deck-matting (for spring decks in furniture....almost looks like automotive carpet underlay), and then added polyurethane foam for padding. With the additional 1/2-inch foam in the upholstery, they make for very comfortable seats.

Oh, and I added the carbon-fibre seat heaters too. Very nice to have this time of year.


The car:


Front seats:


Rear seat:


Behind rear seat:


....and another shot of the car....



Now, I just have to get that fuel gauge working again.....

Travis

[vwbill]

Wow, great job!!! Your car is looking great! I really like the seat fabric and the look in the compartment behind the rear seat! It will be nice having the heated seats for the cooler cruizes! The seats came out so nice! How did the release lever area work out? Looks like the seats are formed really nice! Great job! Bill

[SureFit Travis]

Thanks, Bill. I still intend on packaging up a 'repair kit' to get your seats back into shape (well, minus new upholstery covers), and get that into the mail for you.

Release lever area? I am confused by that question. If you are referring to the seat adjuster knobs and the lower plastic side panels, these parts are still original, and in great condition. In fact, after much debate, I mounted the seat heater switch half-way between the two knobs, which is a small round illuminated rocker switch. I figured I'd rather have it there, than drilling a hole into my dash, or mounting them under the dash like a clumsy after-thought.

I'll drop you a line via e-mail within the next couple of days.

Thanks, Bill.

Travis

Edit: Oops, wrong Bill !! I thought it was Bill K (I'm such a dummy).

[Lars S]

Nice job Travis! Really looks great, makes me want to refurbish my 412 seats...


/Lars

[ubercrap]

Looks great Travis. I don't know much about uphostery work, would it be possible to duplicate the original ribs (presumably formed by heat) if one was getting new vinyl seat covers made? Or is this something that really has to be done by a large manufacturer rather than an individual? One of my cars has had the seats redone with normal stitching where the original seams are. It looks OK, but the seats also have kind of a "puffy" look which isn't nearly as attractive, in my opinion, as the more tight, square look to the original seat padding/covers.

I hope this fuel gauge I have for you will work!

Anyway, I also like your "Marathon" wheels, they look great on these cars. I was starting to put together a set of the very similarly themed 16X5.5 Porsche alloy spare wheels awhile back, but ended up selling what I had. I still think these would look awesome (in silver/black/polished)!

[Wally]

Great job. Well done!!!

I was starting to put together a set of the very similarly themed 16X5.5 Porsche alloy spare wheels awhile back, but ended up selling what I had. I still think these would look awesome (in silver/black/polished)!

I agree, but which tires did you put on the 5,5x16?? I found it to be a very difficult tire width to get anything fitting nicely.

[ubercrap]

I think that wheel in the picture came with a 195/50 16 on it. That is a drawback, though, the sidewalls are going to bulge on that narrow of a wheel.

[SureFit Travis]

Hey Uber,

Yeah, unfortunately I don't have the equipment to duplicate the heat-seaming to replicate the original VW look. I remember reading a post by Ray quite a while back that he was going to try to arrange a group-buy for upholstery kits for these cars, and I chimed in to ask him whether his upholstery source was able to duplicate the heat-seaming. I never did see a reply on that subject.

I did come across an upholstery supplier based in Quebec (hello, Albert, if you're reading this!!) that came out to British Columbia for an Industrial Fabrics trade show, and they specialized in custom heat-seaming. I seem to have lost their information, and may have to try to acquire it again. I do recall asking their sales rep if they could do 'custom requests,' and he informed me that they could.

If Ray would have come back with a reply that they could have replicated the heat-seaming, I likely would have opted to go that route to keep it original. Since it wasn't an option, I decided to go mild-custom, and go for comfort at the same time.

I know what you mean by the 'puffy' look; we typically use 1/2-inch foam backing with a light cloth on the backside to hold the stitch, so it gives it that depth. We do have 1/4-inch available to us (which is pretty much what my original covers had in behind them), but rarely use it, as it doesn't give enough of the desired effect.

Those are rather cool wheels; they remind me of the optional wheels that VW of Mexico had for the new Beetles prior to the end of production (I think I sitll have a sales brochure around here that I picked up in Cabo back in 2000), which were still just 4.5x15's, with the 4-lug pattern. I'd love to get a set of those.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone.


Travis

[ubercrap]

Thanks for the information-sorry to hijack your thread. Just to reiterate, your car looks great!

[InaneCathode]

Now *I* dont mean to hijack the thread, but i just got done reupholstering my first ever anything, the hintersitz in my typ I. Kinda plain with no welting, just straight regular seams with comfort suede (thicker type) topper and very very soft vinyl sides. It's my first try ever upholstering anything, i wish i was as good as you are travis
Wish i had pictures. Doh!

Anyway, carry on!

[Bill K.]

Wow! Looks great Travis. Were your seats leatherette before? Do you like the cloth better?

Where did you get the seat warmers?

What did you use to cover the rear panel? Is it same color as vinyl of seats? Looks great!

[SureFit Travis]

Hey Bill.....see my previous post right after vwbill's......I got the two of you confused!

Yes, they were the Leatherette before, and I certainly enjoy the fabric far more. Not blistering hot from sitting in the summer sun, and never cold from the cooler temps of Spring and Fall (of course, I'd never drive it in winter !!).

The seat heater conversions are one of the services we offer at our shop, and they are a kit that are made overseas. They utilize carbon-fibre in a cross-hatched grid pattern, with a parallel circuit. Early seat warmer kits were of single-strand series-circuit design; if there was a break in the circuit along the way, that was it, the heater pad was done! We've replaced many of these. This carbon-fibre design is used by VW, Audi, Cadillac, and others. If anyone desires to install seat heaters in their car, I would ensure that you are buying a kit with the carbon-fibre design, and shy away from the series circuit/single strand design.

Now, as far as the rear panel, I assume you mean the map pocket on the rear of the seat. Actually, my originals were is such good shape that I reused them...including the headrests. I just found a vinyl to match the OEM stuff to do the side panels of the seats. I debated re-doing the headrests, but opted to leave them alone. I thought that changing them to fabric would have been over-doing it visually.


Travis

[SureFit Travis]

Here's a couple of shots of where I ended up locating the switches for the seat heaters. I didn't want to drill holes in my dash, or add any brackets below the dash, but at the same time, it was a struggle whether or not to drill holes in my plastic side panels.

Oh well, they're so small, they don't look too out-of-place.

Travis

[Bill K.]

Hey Bill.....see my previous post right after vwbill's......I got the two of you confused!

Now, as far as the rear panel, I assume you mean the map pocket on the rear of the seat. Actually, my originals were is such good shape that I reused them...including the headrests. I just found a vinyl to match the OEM stuff to do the side panels of the seats. I debated re-doing the headrests, but opted to leave them alone. I thought that changing them to fabric would have been over-doing it visually.


Travis

No worries.

By rear panel I meant behind rear seat under window:

Is that vinyl? What color?

I like the headrest done in vinyl and your heater switch install. Are the heaters Webasto?

[SureFit Travis]

Oh.....duh.....

No, I recovered the rear panel in a black vinyl. It was a black painted finish before, which had scratches and was flaking off, so I scrubbed it down with a nylon brush, and then glued the vinyl on it.

I suppose the blue color would have worked, but experience tells me to use black in areas below windows to avoid reflections on the inside of the glass.....can be very distracting. Which is why you don't see white dash panels in vehicles from the factory.

No, my seat heater kits are not Webasto, however if you go to their webpage ( http://www.webastoshowroom.com/seatcomfort/seatheat.htm ), you can see the differences I was explaining earlier. Stay away from the wire element versions.

Travis