Today i received a box of 50 rubber seat bands from a well known supplier. I was looking forward to replacing the worn out ones thinking i was going to have a nice evening improving the seats. Instead it has turned into a nightmare. My seats are generally in good condition including the wire frames under the upholstery where the bands attach. After breaking 5 of the new bands i began to think perhaps they are too short to give an attachable strong fixing. The amount of pressure needed to pull them into position was too much and they snapped. I tried heating the rubbers in hot water but this only partially helped. Are the rubber bands i bought substandard or am i not doing the job properly? Obviously there has to be a strong tension on the rubbers but i can't stretch them to within 10cms of the hole. I have never done this job before and i am wondering if there is a "secret" to the job or a special sequence to attaching the bands? Can anyone shed a light????????????????

I *think* there are a special set of pliers that you use for these seat rubbers.
EDIT:
Found something on another 2cv website, apparently hog-ring pliers are what you need.

Hi Hardy.I changed all the seat rubbers on my seats,front and back.I was knackered when I had finished
I bought them from a well known supplier with 2cv in its name,oh,and city too A few broke as i was fitting them,well more than a few.In total,a box full.Did this on a saturday,when I came into work on Monday.almost half of them had twanged in two.
To be fair,they were replaced without any problem.I was told that they were from a faulty batch.The new ones felt softer,easier to put on so to speak.
I used a long nose pair of vice grips,brill.
There is no special tool I am aware of,just brute force,and vice grips

Dave sounds like i got the same faulty batch

hardy,
I'm a bit puzzled by your comment about 'not being able to stretch them within 10cms of the hole', as the fitted length of a rubber plus its clips on a seat base should be 10cms...

I've never bought new rubbers, just re-used ones from worn out seats, but they could always be fitted easily by hand.

Afaik, hog ring pliers are only needed for those heavy staples which fasten the cloth together.

ken.

Sorry Ken i got me metrics all wrong. What i meant was when one end was attached, with much pulling i could only get the other end within about 1/2 to 3/4 inch of the opposite attachment hole and if i pulled harder the rubbers snapped. \\\\\\\\hope that makes sense now.

Ah well,
'return to sender'?

Several bad batches are around, rubber too hard and not flexible.
Just return the lot but the next lot may suffer the same hardness

Like I said,the replacements were softer

Definitely faulty, we've had to ditch one maker (nice cheap rubber but it breaks) and now sell more expensive original stretchy Citroen rubbers.