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Removing Wrinkles from Replacment Seat Cover

cloudbreakmd

cloudbreakmd

Forum Mentor
Past Site Supporter
I installed a Travelcade seat cover on my GS550 today. It seems kind of loose on top though :(

I tightened the string as much as I could and tucked it in as far as I could.

What can I do to shrink the cover a bit or make it fit better?
 
The string will never get the seat cover on tight enough...

I think you have a metal seat pan, which uses vampire teeth to hold the cover on. Fiberglas seat pans use staples instead. Get a hairdryer or heat gun.

Remove the old seat cover, make sure the plastic edging on the metal seat pan edge is intact (or get something to put in its place at your local auto parts store).

Put a thin piece of dropcloth plastic on the seat foam, then put the new seat cover over it. Trim the dropcloth to be about 3/4 inch bigger than the new seat cover all around.

Warm up the seat cover with the hairdryer to make the vinyl more flexible.

Pull the seat cover over the metal "vampire teeth" but don't puncture all the way through. Work your way around the seat pulling the cover on tighter and tighter, applying blowdryer/heatgun heat as needed. If you're working with staples in fiberglas instead, you'll have to figure out how to get a heavy-duty staplegun to shoot staples just the way you want them (I'm searching around for a photo-essay i remember someone did about re-covering with a fiberglas seat pan).
 
The seat pan is metal. On 3 sides there are vampire teeth (what's left of their rusted corpes anyway), and on on the last side are flexible metal clasps molded into the pan. I may use drop cloth after all. I also thought about that metal piping stuff, but I would rather the seat not stick out from the rest of the bike.

Also I think I was unclear. The wrinkles are almost like there is extra material in those spots. I take it the drop clotch will fill in those areas?
 
Hmmm... Wish I had photos :)

The edging that I was talking about goes under the cover, just at the edge of the seat pan. The dropcloth piece is just to supply a moisture barrier, and it has the added benefit of letting the seat cover slide around easier as you're pulling it tight over the seat foam.

You might be able to find a tinsnips to "sharpen" some of the worn down teeth, but it'll be a delicate job.

I'm not sure what the flexible metal clasps are like... how do they fasten the material?

The strategy I was talking about is if the cover is baggy, tightening it down as much as possible and use the original metal clips to hold everything down, trying to get it to stretch tighter over the existing foam.

Are you able to take and post pictures of various parts and pieces we're talking about here?
 
When I replaced my seat cover I used a spray adhesive and sprayed a light layer on the foam before applying the cover. It held it in place and kept it straight. The product recommended was a 3M adhesive in a spray can.

Scud
 
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