Golf Carting Magazine Issue 5 October 2020

A COMPLETE GUIDE TO SEAT COVERS

Let’s face it. Golf carts are going custom and the options are Seat covers are a great way to rehab your old seats by endless. Nowadays, if you can dream it, you can get it. One adding a ton of style and class to the look of your cart. of the most distinctive customization options for your cart Most seat covers are made of a cloth-like material that is is seat covers. Don’t kid yourself; the seats make the cart. simply stretched over the old seats. The materials vary and the

There are some clear advantages to seat covers over styles, textures and colors are endless. No matter what brand purchasing new seats. Let’s take a hard look at all of the cart you have, you can find a seat cover for it. options available to you when it comes to golf cart seat covers. If you are just looking to for an ordinary cover to upgrade AN INTRODUCTION TO GOLF CART SEAT COVERS manufacturer. Yamaha, EZGO and Club Car all offer seat covers Why custom seat covers? Unlike automobile seats, golf cart and you can feel confident you are getting a quality product. seats are far more exposed to the elements. They get dusty, your seats, you may want to get them straight from the sun-beat, rained on, snowed on, and wind beat. In short, they CUSTOM GOLF CART SEAT COVERS show wear and tear quickly. In addition, factory seats are often The real fun is customized seat covers. There are so many plain, solid-colored vinyl that really don’t contribute a whole options and the seats really make the cart pop. Here are some lot aesthetically to a golf cart. of the most popular custom seat cover providers.

LAZY LIFE SEAT COVERS - www.lazylifeseat.com Lazy Life Seat Covers is probably the most popular seat cover provider in the golf cart industry. They are well-respected and have built a loyal following with the custom cart community. They have a massive selection of seat cover options for your golf cart.

Browse through their website and you quickly realize that Lazy Life has what you want and even if they don’t, they can customize a seat cover for you. They have their own proprietary Cool Touch technology and they can do embroidering and pretty much anything you want.

Lazy Life seat covers cost around $185 and are not difficult to install. MADJAX SEAT COVERS - www.nivelparts.com/pages/madjax-seat-kits-seatcovers MadJax by Nivel, is a very popular golf cart part brand in the industry and offer a wide array of products. They have a large selection of seat covers that will fit all the big brands including Yamaha, Club Car and EZGO.

Madjax seat covers are very competitively priced with Lazy Life. They don’t do much customization but they have a massive selection so it’s very likely they offer a solution that will work for your cart. Like Lazy Life covers, as long as you get the right seat cover for your cart brand, installation should not pose too many problems. SEAT COVERS UNLIMITED - www.seatcoversunlimited.com Seat Covers Unlimited is an appropriately-named golf cart seat cover brand. They don’t have unlimited options but they do have 15 different styles to choose from that will work for the big three brands.

Keep in mind that Seat Covers Unlimited is also a seat cover provider for the automobile industry so they are not a small company and they have a lot of experience.

Generally speaking, SCU will get you into some very nice seat covers that will cost you $50-$60 less than Lazy Life and

MadJax. RED DOT SEAT COVERS If you’ve done any research in seat covers then you’ve no doubt come across Red Dot Seat Covers. They are a popular brand and are distributed everywhere.

Red Dot has a large variety of colors and styles to choose from. They start at around $125 and go up from there. They are not the cheapest seat cover provider but they are known to be a high quality product. They also offer universal fits that can

generally work on any cart brand.

INSTALLING CUSTOM GOLF CART SEAT COVERS It would be challenging to go over everything related to installation in this article but we can provide you a general DIY guide to installing seat covers. Seat cover installation is fairly straightforward and involves two main functions, stretching and attaching.

WHAT YOU NEED FOR INSTALLING SEAT COVERS The following are the basic tools you will need: • Staple Gun • Wire Cutters • Pliers • Heat Gun • Flat Head Screwdriver

REMOVE THE OLD SEATS • First remove the seat base and cushions from your golf cart. • Remove the front seat hip restraints, handles and hinges or HSA (Hydraulic Shock Assistant). Note: If the seats you are covering are in really bad shape structurally or have some major rips and tears, these may show up even if you cover them. You may want to just replace the seats altogether.

REMOVE THE TRIM • Remove the plastic trim from the underside of the seat • Save these pieces for reinstallation after installing the seat cover

REMOVE THE STAPLES • Remove all of the staples that hold your seats to the base • Use your flat head screwdriver to remove the staples from the seat

CLEAN THE AREA • Clean up the entire area and make sure to remove all of the staples to that you don’t punch a hole through your new seat covers INSTALL THE NEW SEAT COVERS • Plug in the heat gun • Find the tops and bottoms and left and right on the new seat covers and lay face down on your work surface • Lay the seats down on the new seat covers and use the heat gun to warm up the material so it is easier to get the new seat covers over the seats. (Start at the top and work your way down to the bottom.)

STAPLE THE NEW SEAT COVERS • Staple the top portion of the seat in a few places then wrap the bottom part of the seat cover over the seat and staple in a few places to keep the cover aligned while working your way around the seat • Slowly work your way around the seat with the seat cover heating and stapling as you go

DO IT YOURSELF VS PROFESSIONALLY INSTALLED You can install your own seat covers or have them professionally installed; it just depends on how much you want to spend. Often times a golf cart shop will mark up the seat cover and charge around $90-$100 per hour to install it. Professionals do this all the time so they will probably do a better job than someone who has never attempted it.

Golf cart seat covers are an inexpensive way to really change the look of your custom golf cart. There are so many styles, materials, textures and colors that you have total aesthetic control over this part of your cart. Hopefully, this article has been helpful to you in the search for the perfect seat cover.