Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I have just bought some new seat covers for my Sprint and got a quote from a local trimmer for over ?400 + VAT to fit them. My question is, are they easy enough for a regular enthusiast to fit?

I do all of the work on my car, in fact in the 10 years since I have owned this one, no one else has put a spanner on it so I am mechanically competent but I have never tried fitting new upholstery.

I guess what I really need is a step by step guide if anyone can help.

regards
Dave

The trimmer has probably anticipated that there will be frames to repair springs to replace foam to replace hessian to provide etc, there was all of the above on mine, also each seat was of different construction, however I did them myself and am very pleased with the result, just take photos and sketches as you dismantle them. You will need to buy hog rings and hog ring pliers readilly available on ebay. Just do it.

I had several sets of federal S4/Sprint seat covers made up, accepting that the federal seats are more complicated because of the headrests it took me 2 attempts to make them look good. I would rate this an 8 out of 10 for difficulty.
Take your time, do 1 at a time & assembly is the opposite of disassembly....

P.s. if you bought Paul West covers he can also fit them....

I have fitted seat covers myself no problem but you need to replace the cushion foam. So the new covers are supported correctly
Alan

Dave,
Did you just buy the outer covers.
I bought the Sue Miller ones which come with the foam fitted to the cover, so it goes on over the frame like a padded jacket. Even then I had considerable difficulty getting the finish I was happy with.
A lot of attention was needed to the detail especially at the top of the shoulder pads, where I had to insert extra thin strips of foam. Those corners were probably off and on again twenty times.
I worked until my fingers ached and I had to leave it until the next day.
Like you I do everything myself and I have reasonable manipulative skills, but it was more work than I expected.
Instructions came with it, but you need to read between the lines a bit to work out what they meant.
When finished it looks good, and is a very worthwhile job.
Both seats are identical so I could fit the finished one as a drivers seat and still use the car, but it is definitely a winter job.
Do it and take your time and don`t expect anything to fit correctly at the first attempt.
Very satisfying afterwards.
Best of luck and let us know how you get on.
Eric in Burnley
1967 S3SE DHC

I have watched professional trimmers fit seat covers and they use a heat gun (hair dryer) to stretch and shrink the cover material to improve the fit, remove wrinkles etc. after the covers have been installed. They even do this when installing leather covers.

Had Paul west to make and fit new covers and foam after replacing tubes springs and having to make a press tool for no longer available spring retainers

A few pics

I did find a tip for fitting of seat covers is to spray the foam with Silicone spray. This helps the covers to slip into place.
Alan

alan.barker wrote:I did find a tip for fitting of seat covers is to spray the foam with Silicone spray. This helps the covers to slip into place.
Alan

Absolutely helps.

Shaun, those look very good.