Seat Upholstery Wires

[NorCalC20LWB]

I am in the process of putting on a new seat cover/upholstery for my '72 bench seat and just removed the old aftermarket set. Looks like I have all the wires for the seat back: 2 short side wires and 2 long wires for the top and bottom. Unfortunately, there are no wires in the seat bottom upholstery. There is one wire that runs along the back bottom of the seat, still hog ringed to the frame. What other wires do I need for the seat bottom, and any tips on where I can find them?? Or, are they even necessary?

[NorCalC20LWB]

Anybody? To put it in a less wordy way, what does the front bottom wire look like that appears to go along the front of the seat and curves around the sides of the seat frame? The other wires look pretty straightforward, just straight. If anybody has one of these front wires exposed and can take a pic with some measurements, that would be much appreciated. If not, I guess I can try to match the shape of a thick wire to where it would attach to the frame.

As always, thanks for any input!

[leddzepp]

Here is a pic of the bottom of a bench seat I recovered. I use zip ties instead of hog rings, much easier and cleaner job that way for me. You can see how the wire goes into the sleeve on the cover.

[NorCalC20LWB]

Thank you Leddzepp, that helps a lot. Looks like I can just fab up a nice fat wire to coincide with the connection points on the frame. I like your idea of using zip ties, bought a cheap set of hog rings that included pliers so if that gives me problems nice to know there is a plan B.

[A1971Blazer]

I bought some spring steel wire and replaced all the wires in my covers with new ones....most of the old ones were pretty rusty....

[NorCalC20LWB]

71Blazer, is that type of wire available at Home Depot/Lowes?

[A1971Blazer]

Originally Posted by NorCalC20LWB

71Blazer, is that type of wire available at Home Depot/Lowes?

I'm not sure....I got mine from McMaster-Carr...I just guessed at the size and got .110 diameter....it was way too stiff and difficult to bend...you have to bend and shape it to fit the sewn-in sleeves on the covers and then work them in.....I used it anyway....but if I had it to do over...I would get a smaller diameter.

I think that about an .080 to .090 diameter would be better....I thought that a coat hanger wire might work....... but it was too weak and flimsy...

[Bigdav160]

Sometimes categorized under "listing wire" because it fits in the "listing sleeve".