[Coodeville]

Originally Posted by trimmer2

You could try not gluing it.Don't understand why everyone thinks you have to g(was it glued from the factory?) Bruce

No, it wasn't.

[Coodeville]

I just spoke to K-Grip. I explained to them how my first can poured like a thick syrup and how the current can pours like water. The rep said that it sounded as if something is wrong with it and is sending me a new bottle. He told me it would be in a plastic jug and not in a can. He said it was important to the company to stand behind the product.

[DanTwoLakes]

Originally Posted by trimmer2

You could try not gluing it.Don't understand why everyone thinks you have to glue to foam.Been doing this for 35 years and have never glued vinyl or leather to foam on a stock automobile seat.(was it glued from the factory?) Yes you have to be more careful sewing the face to foam but once you learn how in my opinion there is no need for it.
Bruce

Because it works, and it makes sewing around the individual pieces a lot easier, especially for a beginner. I glue the fabric to the sew foam for one reason only,.... to hold the two together long enough to stitch around the perimeter, which is why I recommend only using foam to foam glue for this operation. I've been doing this for 37 years myself, and most of the original sew foam I've run into has been glued to the sew foam. Most of the new seat covers I see are bonded to sew foam at the mill. I did a set of seats for a mid 80's Cadillac a couple years ago and the original seat covers weren't glued to the sew foam, but the edges of all the pieces were run through a serger, and were the exception. The new leather seat covers I made were glued to the sew foam and turned out just fine. This happens to be a concave shape which in my humble opinion is what is causing the problem. I think in this case not gluing the two together is worth a shot, but is not necessarily the answer.

[Coodeville]

Well, I picked up some marine grade vinyl yesterday that was on sale and made a new panel. The marine vinyl is twice the thickness of my $5 a yard garbage and is called Spradling Softside. You get what you pay for and this stuff was much more than $5 a yard. Today, I finished about 75% of it and even during the production phase, I'm noticing a big difference. I'm headed to a conclusion that my inferior vinyl stretching was the cause of the problem. Once I get the job done, I'll post pictures.

[DanTwoLakes]

Originally Posted by DanTwoLakes

........I did a set of seats for a mid 80's Cadillac a couple years ago and the original seat covers weren't glued to the sew foam, but the edges of all the pieces were run through a serger, and were the exception. The new leather seat covers I made were glued to the sew foam and turned out just fine........

These are the seats I was talking about. You can see they turned out just fine.

[trimmer2]

Dan
Don't want to get into a pissing contest with you.Took a lot of seats apart in my time and untill the modern cars started bonding to sew foam I never saw any glued,(especially to leather) Not saying your seats don't look good.I will tell you my opinion.if you know how to sew you don't have to glue the faces of stock seats.( there are times in custom work,concave where it can be helpfull)The other and most important reason I don't like it is,after the seats are used awhile they have a look that I can see right away they where glued.Just by leaning on them you can see it. The leather doesn't react the same.Again just my opion.
Bruce

[DanTwoLakes]

There is no pissing contest. Every upholsterer has their way of doing things, and we disagree about this. It doesn't mean either one of us is wrong, we just do things differently. If you don't want to glue your fabric to the sew foam, it's fine with me. The only thing that matters is the final result. In this particular case, I think there is something causing the problem that neither one of us could figure out unless we could see and touch the seat cover in person.

[Coodeville]

Originally Posted by DanTwoLakes

I think there is something causing the problem that neither one of us could figure out unless we could see and touch the seat cover in person.

And take it from me, I'm pretty sure at this point it was the cheap vinyl that I used. I have both halves of the seat finished and will do the final assembly this weekend. I'm convinced now that it wasn't the glue - although KSpray aka Maple, told me my glue is funny and should not pour like water. They are sending me a free gallon! Here's a picture of the new cover. I used the crappy cheap black vinyl on the sides and the new higher quality red vinyl in the seating area. Again, it's not completed yet.

[DanTwoLakes]

If you put the buttons in now, it should turn out fine.

[Coodeville]

I cut a square foot of my cheap vinyl today and weighed it. It came in at 2 ounces.

[DanTwoLakes]

That's not how the weight of vinyl (or any fabric for that matter) is measured. The weight is calculated by either the square yard or the running yard. A square yard is obviously 36" by 36", or 9 square feet. A running yard is 36" by the width of the roll, usually around 54", or 13.5 square feet.

Spradling calculates weight by the running yard, so your vinyl would be 27 oz. vinyl. The Spradling mill specs on their softside collection is 27 to 29 ounces.

[Coodeville]

Originally Posted by DanTwoLakes

That's not how the weight of vinyl (or any fabric for that matter) is measured. The weight is calculated by either the square yard or the running yard. A square yard is obviously 36" by 36", or 9 square feet. A running yard is 36" by the width of the roll, usually around 54", or 13.5 square feet.

Spradling calculates weight by the running yard, so your vinyl would be 27 oz. vinyl. The Spradling mill specs on their softside collection is 27 to 29 ounces.

So that's what my good stuff weighs? I'm going to have to see what the cheap black vinyl comes in at now. The cheap black stuff is half the thickness of the good red vinyl. I'm going to see if I can find my mic and measure it. Have you ever used Spradling?

[DanTwoLakes]

Yes, all the time, it's made by Proquinal. I use that and Naugahyde, BoltaFlex, Futura, and Enduratex.