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Vinyl Repair on Seat?

Nessism

Nessism

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Seam split open on my GS550 seat. The flaps for the seam are clean which gives me hope that they can be joined together...somehow. Was thinking about stitching it back together but the threads would show. It looks like the seams are heat sealed somehow, maybe with an adhesive of some sort. Not sure.

Anyone have any ideas on how I can repair this seat properly? Would like to do it myself if possible but don't want to mickey mouse it together. The cover is almost perfect other than this one split. Thanks in advance.

BTW, the cover is off the seat thus the wrinkles.

Picture036.jpg
 
your gonna have to try some sort of adhesive.. but i dont know what. its gonna have to be strong with the pressures these seats take.... stretching it on and then riding the heck out of it

good luck
 
Don't you remember the nu-vinyl commercials at 3am. Buy now and you'll receive.......If you are one of the first ten callers..............If you call in the next fifteen minutes.........

Sorry I couldn't be more help. I would just get a new cover from Saddlemans or Travelcade. (Plus many others)
 
It sure looks heat sealed, check with an automotive trim shop and see what they use.
 
I would think some Gorilla glue would work, but I'd call an upholsterer or maybe a sign shop that makes banners (they glue or heat bond those letters to the backing).
 
Take it to your local shoe repair guy, I just had mine resewn for $12 and it looks perfect. btw, the viny can be removed from underneath the seat to get at the seam, but just let your cobbler deal with it!
 
smagnusen said:
Take it to your local shoe repair guy, I just had mine resewn for $12 and it looks perfect. btw, the viny can be removed from underneath the seat to get at the seam, but just let your cobbler deal with it!
Click to expand...

Seat cover is already off the pan. Only hard part was the aluminum trim pieces they put on the side had to come off first.

The cover really is in good shape other than this one spot.

Permatex sells some vinyl adhesive that is slow dry (4 hours) so that gives me hope it actually might work. Going to check around local as well for a repair shop. The original seams must have been heat sealed since they look melted. Would love to find someone that knows how to fix this kind of thing properly. Most of the upholstery shops I've seen are just hacks.
 
I might be inclined to use a good adhesive plus a bit of stitching. If you used black thread and didn't go overboard the stitches wouldn't look to bad, would they?
 
Looks heat sealed, prolly with an ultrasonic process, btu that's no reason you can't use real stitching to reseal it. I agree with the suggestion that you take it to an authentic cobbler. He'll definitely be able to sew the seam back together.
 
The only thing I might add is that whether sewn or glued, I think it needs to be done from the inside (cover off) to look good.
 
I've had great success with a product called "Tear Repair" which can be found at many hardware stores. It does a great job with butt joints and is VERY VERY resistant to being pulled apart. I believe it would work extremely well for the type of repair you need, one way to "hedge your bet" would be to add a backing strip of canvas or vinyl behind the repair area and adhere that to the back of the repaired area with additional "Tear Repair." I have small repairs on my seat that are three seasons old and show no signs of coming apart.

Good luck!
 
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