Thread: seat recovering
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Old 07-05-2009, 10:34 PM   #18 (permalink)
klee27x
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I think you stopped before finishing, maybe? Mine looked like that at first. But then I went around and pulled a staple here and there and stretched it some more. You particularly have to stretch and restretch it where it wraps around the tank, to get all the wrinkles out of the "valley." I found I was using the stapler head, itself, to get more leverage for the final stretching; I kinda held the vinyl up and I pressed down and in to grab the vinyl with the stapler and get that last stretch in before landing the staple. Hopefully, you still have enough excess material around the edges to get a decent grip for restapling. I started at the back, initially. I don't know if it makes a difference, but I also oriented the material with the lines on the backing running side-to-side, so there was more stretch front-to-back... I think. It ended up so tight that the vinyl wasn't even touching the seat for several inches next to the pillion bump until broken in, because I kept stretching the cover down and forward, down and forward under the ears.

Here's a pic. (I was actually taking a pic of my R/R, so a bit of the front is clipped, but it looks pretty much perfect, everywhere). It's hosted at Photobucket. You can click on it with the magifying glass to get a close-up of the (fake) grain.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...recover003.jpg

18.00 for the material (15.00 plus shipping)... it's marine upholstery grade vinyl, and I have enough left over to do it, again. Your leather cover looks great! I might try real leather next time.
3.00 for 6mm staples (short ones)
22.00 Stanley electric stapler gun (already had)
Quote:
I wonder if trimming around the top front and sewing on a flap to add an angle there would help with the wrinkling?
I was worried about that. The original has a stitched seam. But I didn't have any problems with wrinkling, and I just stapled a small bit of material just over the edge, like Crusty did, then covered the staples with gaffer's tape to protect the tank.

Last edited by klee27x; 07-05-2009 at 11:34 PM.
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