[68ragtop]

Way back when I first started my restoration I recovered the passengers seat for my 68 GTO. I used PUI covers & they fit well, except there were a few wrinkles I didn't like on the edges of the bolsters. Lack of material pushing back on the cover basically. So, I left the drivers seat & remained that way until this weekend.

I pulled both seats apart & found the springs were fairly shot on the drivers side. rusted thin in a few critical spots & a few broken springs. I was going to buy the zig-zag spring material, clips, etc & rebuild them. Looks easy enough. But then after doing some research I found Dynacorn sells complete spring sets for about twice what I would spend rebuilding them.

Anybody buy the aftermarket springs, & have good results?

Also I bought the PUI seat Buns a while back thinking thats what I needed to get rid of the wrinkles. After tearing the original drivers seat down this weekend I found cotton layers on the lower bolsters on top of the foam, under the cover.
I watched a few legendary videos & noticed they didn't use any cotton on top of the buns, but they are using American Cushion Industries Bun, so maybe those are just a better bun than the PUI Buns?

Going to stop at a local Fabric store today to see if I can buy some burlap & cotton rolls later today.

So my biggest question is the seat springs. Seems like a no brainer to just buy the complete spring sets, unless you guys think they are inferior for some reason?

Thoughts?

[north]

I replaced the lower spring set on a 69 GTO with a spring set from Ames. They had a few minor differences but none of them affected functionality or appearance once installed. I used Legendary covers and reused the original foam. They came out just about perfect. My experience doing a set of PUI covers on a 69 Canadian 2+2 (same interior as a 69 Impala - Legendary didn't offer this application) was that the PUI covers have less "depth" to the pleats (as you can always see on GTO seatcovers from PUI) but that the covers were also too big, like they needed to be overstuffed to be snug.

The first pic is of the GTO with Legendary lower cover, factory padding and Ames lower spring (the seatback is 100% original).

The second pic is the 69 Impala-2+2 PUI covers. They will be ok once I add some padding but Legenday covers are way better made than PUI. Other issue you can see here with PUI is their parchment is TOO parchment.

[FirebirdHank]

I just completed installing new seat covers in my '69 Firebird (deluxe interior) last weekend. I also found broken springs and some that had become unhooked from their mounting slots. I was able to repair the broken ones by re-attaching them (they had broken right at the attachment point). I bought new buns as well as the PUI covers. Over all I am satisfied with the results but there are a couple of puckers, primarily on the backs. Both seat backs have minor puckers in exactly the same place which leads me to believe it is something to do with the way they are sewn. All in all it was quit a learning experience.
It is amazing how the new buns changed the feel of the seats.
I can't post pics today because the car isn't here.

[68ragtop]

These Covers I have I bought in 2001, so I am not sure Ames even had Legendary yet.
I want to say PUI was the best option at the time. Seems odd that PUI covers would not fit their own seat Buns, but I guess nothing should be surprising in the restoration parts world.

I mean, what do we expect? in this modern day world of technology abundance, its still tough to match the quality from 50 years ago....

[68ragtop]

Has anyone bought the spring kits? I see them listed from $65-$90 depending.
Tempted to just replace them, rather than repair.

[TN68GTO]

A few years ago when I put the interior together in my father's GTO he wanted me to just fix his broken springs but they were worn out. Would have spent a lot of time just fixing them. I convinced him to buy the new springs from Ames and he's glad he did. They fit perfectly and along with the new buns and covers they feel like brand new seats.

Next summer when it's time for my interior to go back in I will replace the springs and buns in each bucket seat and then recover with Legendary covers.