A seat cover can protect your car’s seats from wear, tear, and spills. Most are designed to be easy to clean, either by wiping down with a cloth or by being machine-washed. Seat covers can also help reduce the depreciation on your car and make it easier to sell when you’re ready to upgrade to a new vehicle.
Stentering is an important part of the process for fabricating transportation seats because it provides a flat, tension-free substrate for lamination and seat fabrication. However, the type of finish used in stentering can affect fabric durability and performance. Silicone finishes, for example, are known to weaken the surface of polyester fabrics and can cause the elasticity in these materials to change.
The seat cover material you choose will also impact your comfort. A neoprene seat cover, for example, has a wetsuit-like quality and is effective at repelling water, sweat, and stains while providing insulation to the user. However, this type of cover can get hot and does not breathe as well as linen or cloth.
Another option is a polyester cover with a nylon lining that adds extra strength and protection while being lightweight and stain-resistant. However, these covers do not provide as good an abrasion resistance as a neoprene cover. Similarly, polypropylene fibers are used in some transportation seat coverings but offer poor moisture transfer, dyeability, and abrasion resistance. Nevertheless, these fibers are lighter and more durable than cotton or wool.