SPF Seat Rivet Came Out

[Tim Terry]

One of my seat rivets came apart on the driver's side. :sad: One half of the rivet is trapped under the seat cover and the other is loose. If I remember correctly from the "How It's Made" television series, the part of the seat that is riveted is simply a wide strip of material, glued to the foam down the center.

Should I remove the riveted strip and tap the halves back together, then re-glue?

 

[Julian]

The SPF seats I had the Alcantara was glued to the foam. You'll probably want a grommet tool (similar to used on tarp eyes) to reset the grommet properly or I suspect you'll be back in the same position in the not to distant future.

I'd also contact SPF for advice with the hope they'd offer help? The seats are pretty easy to ship.

Julian

 

[Tim Terry]

Thanks, Julian. I have contacted my dealer as well.

 

[Jimmy P]

Tim, I had SPF seat (cushions) in my CAV and let a buddy get in the car. People tend to "slide" down the seat after getting in position as he did and because he was wearing a belt he snagged two of the grommets and out they came. The alcantara material is not real good about holding them in. Just an FYI. I've read others suffered the same issue with this type seat. Unsure if the SPF leather seats were better. The CAV leather seats were much better about maintaining the grommets but also much heavier.

 

[Tom]

Remember seeing these awhile back on an endcap at Harbor Freight. Looks like the brass-style steel grommet SPF uses on some of their seats...
103 Piece 1/2" Grommet Installation Kit

 

[Bob Mortimer]

I have had this same problem but just pushed them back in. so far they have stayed the other guy is right people do slide down.

 

[Bob Mortimer]

I have posted a help post, but no response, or I can't find it. So as I have some of your attention. My problem is fitting the ZF 5 DS 25/2 gearbox to a 347 Roush Engine. The input shaft is hitting the end of the crank before it tightens up on the block I am using a Safir Bell Housing and flexy plate. We're there different lengths shafts or is it OK to grind 3mm of the end. I do not now the history of the box as I bought it from RML GT40s UK

 

[DaveM]

One of my seat rivets came apart on the driver's side. :sad: One half of the rivet is trapped under the seat cover and the other is loose. If I remember correctly from the "How It's Made" television series, the part of the seat that is riveted is simply a wide strip of material, glued to the foam down the center.

Should I remove the riveted strip and tap the halves back together, then re-glue?

I had several come apart when I first got the car. I never found it necessary to loosen the fabric. Usually the half under the fabric can be teased out. Then carefully crimp the two halves together with pliers. Finally work an edge of the grommet under the fabric and rotate so it's fully back in place. Takes practice to get crimping right and on a couple of grommets I put a dab of superglue to retain things. Very careful on gluing though. Haven't had any more come loose in 6 years now.

 

[Tim Terry]

Great idea! And worth a try before removing the leather strip with all of the rivets attached!

 

[Tim Terry]

Follow Up: We teased out the bottom half of the rivet, as Dave suggested. Reshaped the two halves a bit and epoxied them together. Then carefully worked the rivet back into its original hole in the leather without removing anything else.

Worked like a charm!

 

[Dave Hood]

I had problems with maybe 10 rivets coming out the first two years I owned my car. Even though I was very careful getting in and out. I took the seats to a good upholstery shop and their conclusion was that Superformance didn't install them tight enough at the factory. They said most of the ones that hadn't fallen out (yet) were loose. I ordered new rivets from Hillbank and after they were installed properly, I haven't had an issue in over four years.

 

[Grady]

Sometimes I find myself thinking, what would Henry Ford do?