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Topic: Seat Covers (Read 1743 times) previous topic - next topic

Seat Covers

Any leads on aftermarket seat cover replacements? Mine is a 1988 LX, light gray and unfortunately they were in good shape, but now seem to be dryrotting? Driver side has torn, passenger side OK for now, back seat seems fine.
1988 LX, 306 with GT40P heads, Downs Upper Intake on Truck Lower, Powerdyne Supercharger and T5 swap.  Scavenger Hunt Build at it's best.

Re: Seat Covers

Reply #1
I doubt this is what you are looking for in seat covers.  I covered my seats so I didn't have to worry about trashing them when drinking my coffee.  These are from Advanced Auto.
1988 Thunderbird TC, 5spd
Stinger 3" single exhaust, Cone Filter, Adjustable Cam Pulley, Schneider roller cam, Walbro 255 lph, AEM Wideband O2
'93 Mustang Cobra replica wheels on 235/50R17

'21 F150 Powerboost
'17 Husqvarna TX300

Re: Seat Covers

Reply #2
The only aftermarket covers are the ones that fit the Sport/Turbo Coupe seats, since the are the same as Fox Mustang seats.

Otherwise you're going to have to visit an upholstery shop to get the seats covered professionally. 
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Re: Seat Covers

Reply #3
Why couldn't 4-banger Mustang LX seat covers be used?

https://lmr.com/products/1987-Mustang-Seat-Upholstery

The pattern might be a little off, and some colors might be different, but they're the same base seats that we had. I do know that the Mustang did not have Smoke Grey as an option.

Re: Seat Covers

Reply #4
Why couldn't 4-banger Mustang LX seat covers be used?

https://lmr.com/products/1987-Mustang-Seat-Upholstery

The pattern might be a little off, and some colors might be different, but they're the same base seats that we had. I do know that the Mustang did not have Smoke Grey as an option.

They physically fit but the patterns/colors are off. That's why I didn't suggest them.
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

 

Re: Seat Covers

Reply #5
For some people it might work, especially if they're doing a color change. And having them pre-made saves a little money. Just throwing it out there as an option.

To get a truer color match then upholstery shops are the way to go but they'll be more money in most cases. And that's if they can get a close enough color...I ran into that a few times. There was only one light blue headliner color the shop had for my '84; I got lucky as it was dead-on to the original. Color selection for older cars is getting homogenized now.

Re: Seat Covers

Reply #6
All the photos are "gone" for the time being, but I have a thread where I redid my seats with TMI covers.  Doesn't solve for the back seats and not exactly cheap, but they turned out nice.


Re: Seat Covers

Reply #8
All the photos are "gone" for the time being, but I have a thread where I redid my seats with TMI covers.  Doesn't solve for the back seats and not exactly cheap, but they turned out nice.
Those seats look great.  If mine were not perfect I would go that route for a color change.  I am not an original type guy though, but understand others like to keep it that way.
1988 Thunderbird TC, 5spd
Stinger 3" single exhaust, Cone Filter, Adjustable Cam Pulley, Schneider roller cam, Walbro 255 lph, AEM Wideband O2
'93 Mustang Cobra replica wheels on 235/50R17

'21 F150 Powerboost
'17 Husqvarna TX300

Re: Seat Covers

Reply #9
For some people it might work, especially if they're doing a color change. And having them pre-made saves a little money. Just throwing it out there as an option.

To get a truer color match then upholstery shops are the way to go but they'll be more money in most cases. And that's if they can get a close enough color...I ran into that a few times. There was only one light blue headliner color the shop had for my '84; I got lucky as it was dead-on to the original. Color selection for older cars is getting homogenized now.

Reupholstering isn't cheap. It cost about $1K to have the front seats and one bad panel on the rear seat in my Thunderbird redone. Granted it was leather and labor was also part of that.

But I'm weird in that I want the car to look stock with the hood shut.
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Re: Seat Covers

Reply #10
All the photos are "gone" for the time being, but I have a thread where I redid my seats with TMI covers.  Doesn't solve for the back seats and not exactly cheap, but they turned out nice.
Those seats look great.  If mine were not perfect I would go that route for a color change.  I am not an original type guy though, but understand others like to keep it that way.

Thanks.  I requested fabric swatches from TMI and the color/material was a dead on match to my door panels.  TMI has all the Mustang colors and materials ... luckily for me, charcoal was used on the SVO Mustangs.  I bought the front covers and then spec'd them to be charcoal on the bolsters and black suede down the centers.  I just ordered additional material by the yard and then had an upholstery shop recover the back seat to match.

Re: Seat Covers

Reply #11
Thanks for the input. I think this will be a winter project.
1988 LX, 306 with GT40P heads, Downs Upper Intake on Truck Lower, Powerdyne Supercharger and T5 swap.  Scavenger Hunt Build at it's best.