Interior & Comfort

Project #13: Re-Upholster Seats, Paint Seat Rails and Tubing

Project #13: Re-Upholster Seats, Paint Seat Rails and Tubing

I knew quickly that the upholstery on the new seats was not going to hold up to the Arizona weather, especially considering they were intended for indoor use.

In less than a year and a half since installing the brand new seats (Project #01), the extremely thin vinyl was literally crumbling and coming apart from all sides.

I decided to keep the seats and have them re-upholstered with thick marine-grade vinyl rather than replace them altogether. This was mainly because I really love the shape and comfort of the seats and the installation job was good and solid. At the same time that the seats are being worked on, I also decided to get all of the metal work under the seats sanded and painted.

The image above shows the "before" and "after" of the newly upholstered seats. They are so much better and now have twice the foam padding in addition to the ultra-thick marine grade vinyl!

Below is the "before" and "after" of the seat rails and tubing underneath (before installing the newly re-upholstered seats):

seat rails

Here is the paint and sanding blocks that I purchased for this project:

This project included the following tasks:

  1. Remove the 4-point safety harnesses from both sides
  2. Remove both seats from the buggy
  3. Take seats and drop them off to be upholstered 
  4. Remove flaking paint and heavily sand all surfaces to be painted
  5. Clean sanded areas very well with acetone to prepare for paint
  6. Mask areas that I didn't want to get paint on using masking tape and plastic sheeting
  7. Paint using brushes of various sizes depending on the area being painted
  8. Pick up newly upholstered seats
  9. Re-install both seats into buggy
  10. Re-install both 4-point safety harnesses

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