Nurdyguy

Hey folks,
Right before my parents gave me my Grandma's '65 Mustang, they had the vinyl seats repaired. She only has maybe 500 miles on her since and the seats are already tearing at the seams (see pic).





Is there anything which can help prevent the tearing along the seams? Do they make a good seat cover that helps protect the vinyl?

LynnBob Mustang

Material and stitching is probably starting to dry rot and rip out, I can see a reupholstery job in your future if you want to keep them looking nice.
Lynn

barnett468

.
standard generic seat covers from the auto parts store . . hey...you already messed up the door panel so now the seat will match it.

Nurdyguy

For every two things I fix, I break something new. The vinyl on the panel is in good shape. The press-board is a little weak in some spots and I need to replace two of the clips. Also, when trying to get the door handle off I scratched the shiny fake chrome trim piece and all of the shiny peeled off.

The annoying part about the seats is that my parents had it repaired about 2 years ago and it is already tearing again.

tx65coupe

Define repaired. If they restitched old dry rotted vinyl then this is about what I would expect. If they replaced the vinyl, then it should have lasted for a long time.

I wouldn't bother with seat covers. Just use the seats they way they were intended. New upholstery isn't that expensive for our cars.

Nurdyguy

Yes, that's the original vinyl. That red mark has been there as long as I can remember. Id rather preserve as much of the original car as possible but if the vinyl is dry rotted and the only thing to do is replace it then that's what I'll do. I think cjpp has a set of vinyl for about $150.

cashs mom

Welcome to Texas and vinyl. The heat here is really hard on vinyl seats. I'm on my second 66 in the last 20 years. We've done about 3 seat cover replacements on my cars and the 65 fastback my husband had because if the car is out in the sun and heat the vinyl just doesn't last. My personal opinion is that I'd rather have the car look good, run well and drive well, rather than have it original so I don't worry about replacing stuff.

I would never have vinyl repaired. If it is ripping on the seam line which yours appears to be, there is no way to fix it. Once the vinyl is stitched there are holes in it that will tend to rip especially if they are too close together. You can't undo those holes. It's best just to get new seat vinyl. We've installed a couple sets and they aren't hard. You can make the Texas heat work for you when you install them.

barnett468

yup.


yup . . also, if you install sheepskin covers, you might as well buy a sheep and ride it around instead.

unfortunately, new seat covers will make the rest of the interior look old and dingy, plus the covers are now made out of crappy chinese vinyl that is thin pos material which is why new seat covers might last 4 years instead of 40, however, you can buy the original ford vinyl for around 200.00 then send it to tmi and they will make new seat covers from it for around 150.00. then you will have concours orig seat covers . . i do this on my concours cars and high end show cars.

69FB

I agree with Barnett on this, but I have a friend that made a 67 Shelby convertible clone and used TMI products and this was more than 4 years ago and they still look great. With a convertible if you can keep it indoors (especially in Texas) the better. I can attest to the Texas heat since I grew up there.

It is very hot and dry (unless in and around Houston then it is hot and humid). Replace it and the interior will thanks you. If it has to sit outside get some good interior/convertible top cleaner and protectant. My DD is a vert (not a mustang) and I keep it in the garage to protect and prolong both the top and the interior.