super cool, but a little beyond my abilities (or patience, or time manangement). A question: do you think mixing 1/4 inch and 1/2 foam for the bolsters and seating area would be the ticket? I'd like to get a skoosh more support in the lower back area... Or find an inflateable bladder insert to slip under there. And, if I wanted to use vinyl on the bolsters and fabric for the center, will there be issues? I imagine if one wanted to be super bold, they'd put in some piping. I suppose that means a stronger machine is needed, and a steadier hand/eye... No point in spending the money at the local upholstery shop on having them do it until I repair the AC... which I am doing myself. So, maybe I can justify that to the wife since I'm saving $$$ by doing it myself....
For lower back: Get a chunk of foam & shape as desired. Unzip seat upholstery at bottom of back. Insert foam thru unzipped opening Position as desired. Zip opening shut Done
I used to do my own reupholstery. Regular sewing machines are mostly not adequate for the job.
Since owning Fieros, I've found it far easier (and comparable in price) to look for and install used seat skins--they are pretty plentiful, and quite often the passenger side skins are like new. It's easy to install pax side skins on the drivers side seats, BTW.
30+mpg: Which cloth is a match for the Fiero diamond pattern at Autotrim.com? I was looking through their website, but couldn't tell which was a match.
i recently tried to reupholster my seats with vinyl to give it that leater look. Bad idea. The vinyl doesn't bend very well and it takes a lot of work to get it to look nice. Stick with fabric
The gray material that looked like the Fiero's diamond velour pattern was discontinued. But I've done the usual and gone a different direction. I've ordered the Dk Grey Rave vinyl, and Cardinal Red tweed for my seats. Now to see if I can pull it off...
I have new gray material for the main CENTER section of the seat for 84 SE seats... with the stripe down the center. Back of the seat material can be reused, and the material on the "side bolsters" can be had from most any upolstrey shop.
That's cool. Would this method work to increase the side and bottom bolsters?
I would really love the look and feel of stock racing seats (Mitsubishi EVO, Subaru Sti, Dodge Viper/Srt-4) without having to get new seats all together and having to give up the Fiero seats.
-Max
[This message has been edited by Austrian Import (edited 03-30-2007).]
Excellent thread (just noticed it). I did this for a living for 10 years (loved it, but more money in sitting on your butt at a desk). One thing i might add that may help some of you line stuff up. Before you take your old seats apart take a marker (notice i said OLD SEATS, the ones you are going to cut apart for a patern) and mark about every 6 inchs between the two pieces of material at all seams. It also helps to lable the marks, with A----Seam----A (seam is your actual seam you are going to rip apart) B---B, C---C, etc use AA----AA etc if you run out of letters. Now when you cut your patterns out you can mark the same lines and letters on them BUT! DO NOT MARK with a PEN or MARKER on the new pieces, get a fabric pencil (sorta like a really hard crayon). A MARKER OR PEN may with age, heat or spilled liquid show through someday. Now when you stich stuff together you have marks to line up, this helps quite a bit when going around corners as its very easy to tug one peice of material more then the other. You may want more marks on tight curves or wierd angles.
Another tip, If you want a little more cushion. If the bottom is weak or wore out, or the foam seems "shot" here are some things you can do. First, find a clothing STEAMER... its just what it sounds like, it shoots steam out, you fill it with water and plug it in, it makes steam that you can point at a specific location. Take the foam and STEAM the crap out of it! the steam will (if your foam isnt totally shot) make your foam go back to its original un-smashed state. Some foam is Closed cell and this wont really work, but most it will work on. The guy who started this thread washed his ( think it was him) this might do the same thing, wash it and dry it in a dryer? Not sure never tried it. You should also be able to add some foam (as mentioned earlier in this thread) to the flat middle parts of the seat. I would keep it to 1/2 inch to 1 inch max and cut it the same size as the peice its on top of. Adding to much foam can put alot of stress on seams.
Tip for putting the new seat back on if your having problems . There is something called SILK FILM ( it has other names too) its a very thin, almost tissue like fabric that is..hmm best term i can think of, SLIPPERY. this will make slidding the new fabric around on your seat foam easier if you need to twist it and make it sit better. it comes in a roll about 3 feet wide. just drap it over your seat and then pull the new cover over it. its light and easy to punch through with Hog Rings.
Also once you are all done, if you have a few small wrinkles in edges or wherever, the steamer can help with those too! ONE THING, some material does not like steam, velvets, valors, stuff like that. Its best to steam a extra piece before hand to make sure it wont cuase you problems! If it looks like it wont make problems for your material take it steam it and pull gently on seams and areas with wrinkles alot of time you can pull them out with some care. Steam can shrink your fabric some and this will also pull it tighter and pull out wrinkles. Anotehr way to get out wrinkles in edges ( this is the cheap dirty way) is buy some batting, looks like a roll of cotton or white fiberglass. Take and cut some off and stuff it into problem spots like edges to fill them out a bit. Of course this wont work for flat areas, but it works great in edges.
Here is some more advanced stuff, some not so easy to do without a very good (can sew through several layers of cloth) machine and a very steady hand):
Somebody mentioned piping/weltcord (the round stuff between seems on most edges of seats). This will make seams follow the foam edges better and give the seam a "guide" so to speak so it looks good. But there is a Downside to this stuff especially in the Fiero. When you get in and out you rub that edge of the seat bottom and almost always back lumbar wing (what ever its called) almost all Fiero seats are wore there if they have any miles on them. The Piping/weltcord is sorta like an extra snag to grab. When you push over it, it has a little extra snag, which in turn pulls at the thread in that spot. keep in mind its not alot, but its more then a smooth seam. And unfortantly it will wear quciker with this. This is the old Catch-22, it looks better with it, but wears faster. I prefer to not use it and double stich the seams. To double stitch a seam you do one of two things. One you lay the fabric all to one side and go on the TOP (the part you sit on) and stitch it right by the seam, abouty 1/8th an inch away. Or number 2, you take and cut a 1 inch wide strip, lay the fabric back on itself and put the ich piece down the middle and stitch on both sides of the seam (strong, but alot of work and takes a steady hand to make it look good).
Sorry no pictures, some of it may be hard to understand without them. If anybody has any questions at all feel free to PM me. I may not answer right way, but i will. I check the forums at least once a week normally. And yes I know Im a crappy speller
Any opinions on it? There's lots of choices, so when I comes time for me to reupholster, I've definitely got lots of factors to include!
I haven't read the thread yet, so if this is a repeat question, my appologies. Does anyone have comments on Fiero seats in general? Is it worth it to put time effort and money into reupholstering my stock seats? Should I invest in a upgrade to reuphoster? I'm on a budget. How are they in terms of weight? How are they in terms of rigidness? Mine are '84's, if that makes a difference.
-Michael
------------------ "A guy know's he's in love when he loses interest in his car for a few days." -Tim Allen
Hey, would it be possible to get scans of the patterns you made uploaded? I understand the whole thing wouldn't fit on a scanner, but if you put reference lines on the pattern, it should be easy to piece together and get acurate recreations... I need my Fiero on a daily basis, and just can't go tearing out the seat without having something to replace it with right away... It would be really helpfull, and save me alot of money
Twilight Fenrir:Hey, would it be possible to get scans of the patterns you made uploaded? I understand the whole thing wouldn't fit on a scanner, but if you put reference lines on the pattern, it should be easy to piece together and get accurate recreations... I need my Fiero on a daily basis, and just can't go tearing out the seat without having something to replace it with right away... It would be really helpful, and save me alot of money
No, not from me.
It should be easy to obtain old worn upholstery from a Fiero seat from which new patterns could be traced. Also, if you are the only occupant in your DD, pull the passenger's seat. The driver & passenger seats use the same patterns.
[This message has been edited by 30+mpg (edited 09-01-2011).]
It should be easy to obtain old worn upholstery from a Fiero seat from which new patterns could be traced. Also, it you are the only occupant in your DD, pull the passenger's seat. The driver & passenger seats use the same patterns.
Heh, I thought about that... but, my passenger seat is pristine XD I don't think it was ever sat in :P And my drivers-side has alot of compromised seams besides the holes in the fabric, I doubt it's intact enough to make a copy from, though the foam beneath it is still good. Oh well, I'll find a way.
Originally posted by Twilight Fenrir: Heh, I thought about that... but, my passenger seat is pristine XD I don't think it was ever sat in :P And my drivers-side has alot of compromised seams besides the holes in the fabric, I doubt it's intact enough to make a copy from, though the foam beneath it is still good. Oh well, I'll find a way.
Compromised seams don't matter since you're going to "dismember" the cover along those seams any ways. Thing of it as making the job easier.
Search function? 
Hmm..I've heard of that. That was very useful. Thank you.
