What are you doing for replacement car seat foam?

[rcx132]

Last job to do on my restoration project.... car seats.

The steel frames have been blasted and resprayed, the springs stripped and zinc plated, and the fabric has been professionally repaired.

I need to figure out what to do for foam now. What are people on here doing? Are you cutting your own foam? Anyfoam.co.uk said they can cut foam for me but they want drawings, they won't accept the old cushions to copy.

 

[gaz1]

i wouldnt go foam way

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i bought this stuff for concrete floors for house

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you could walk around the house in bare feet and your feet was loverly and warm
3.6 tog approx.

theres one issue with both if they get wet

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

I got all mine in the past from a foam shop in Radstock.
But the horse hair etc I got it from a furniture restoration place.
Back then it was yellow pages.

 

[RWD3M]

Last job to do on my restoration project.... car seats.

The steel frames have been blasted and resprayed, the springs stripped and zinc plated, and the fabric has been professionally repaired.

I need to figure out what to do for foam now. What are people on here doing? Are you cutting your own foam? Anyfoam.co.uk said they can cut foam for me but they want drawings, they won't accept the old cushions to copy.

I'm lucky enough to have these guys on my doorstep:

South West Auto Trimming

We will help you to come up with new ideas and designs for your vehicle.

www.swautotrimming.co.uk

 

[rcx132]

Additional info: the front seats are modern foam based spring seats. The foam is shaped, not flat.

The rear is a bench seat that uses fibre with a layer of foam over it but that's easy to replace as it's just some flat foam.

 

[Parm]

When you start looking at foam it’s starts to get complicated quite quickly.

Few years ago I refurbished a Parker knoll chair. The foam place in Bedford bamboozled me with the range of different density options.

In the end he let me take away pre cut cushions to try for “feel”

I settled for a dense foam for the seat squab and a softer foam for the back cushion

 

[Kram]

You may find interesting https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gwzd
The presenter used PU resin to make foam for her shoes, which to me seems a bit silly, but would make sense for seat foam.

From the old foams can you make up a mould to pour the resin into?


"Sorry, this episode is not currently available" what do we pay our licence fees for?

 

[Ubique]

Seat cushion and backrest foam is moulded, not cut and appears to have different 'strengths' in the same moulding, possibly from varying the propellant pressure in different parts of the moulding, or different types of resin, if you have the cushions all the same strength, it won't feel right at all.
Could you not cover them with a thin but robust layer to get the shape back and put a thicker layer in the seat frame for a bit of extra compression?

"Sorry, this episode is not currently available" what do we pay our licence fees for?

The BBC Pidgin news 'service' won't fund itself you know...

 

[piman]

Hello, RCX132,

have you tried the various car trim specialist suppliers? You don't say what car it is but specialists of that make could also be worth asking, ditto any owners club?

Alec

 

[dobbslc]

I got hold of a second hand seat for my Surf to nick the scwab to repair my driver's seat. It's a big PITA shaping it otherwise.

 

[500e]

Pipers Upholsterers
Unit 1, Vantage Park, Goodwood Drive, High St, Sparkford, Yeovil BA22 7FQ
Super Co but slow

 

[keithski122]

What car and what do you have of the original? Lot of difference between a 1920's bentley and a 1980 golf.
1930's talbot I've just done below.

 

[Seadog]

I'm sure @ajlelectronics will have some useful info.

 

[Gareth J]

Scavange a scrap set of seats from something your bum likes the feel of and dissect them to take the bits you want out?

I built a little seat for a ride on mower out of the cushion from something or another, think it might have been a Peugeot or something equally low spec. Way more comfortable than the original or any others I've sat on. Dissecting a Merc or something a bit more luxurious should get you some quality feom.

 

[keithski122]

Recaro style bucket seat.

And after.

 

[rcx132]

When you start looking at foam it’s starts to get complicated quite quickly.

Few years ago I refurbished a Parker knoll chair. The foam place in Bedford bamboozled me with the range of different density options.

In the end he let me take away pre cut cushions to try for “feel”

I settled for a dense foam for the seat squab and a softer foam for the back cushion

I know. I had this when I got my desk chair redone, I asked for the firmest foam as that's better for prolonged sitting, and what they put in feels bog standard and has collapsed after a year. Wasted money. Still there have to be common densities that are used for car seats. One YouTube channel is saying 2.5 - 3.0 lb for the cushion.

You may find interesting https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gwzd
The presenter used PU resin to make foam for her shoes, which to me seems a bit silly, but would make sense for seat foam.

From the old foams can you make up a mould to pour the resin into?


"Sorry, this episode is not currently available" what do we pay our licence fees for?

That's an idea.

Hello, RCX132,

have you tried the various car trim specialist suppliers? You don't say what car it is but specialists of that make could also be worth asking, ditto any owners club?

Alec

Of course. Most owners of these Suzuki jeeps are using Suzuki Swift seats. But I'd prefer to keep the car original if I can, I like the original basic 1980's style seats. The cushions are available in India where the car is still produced for the military. But the shape seems to have changed a bit compared to the original 1970s model.

What car and what do you have of the original? Lot of difference between a 1920's bentley and a 1980 golf.
1930's talbot I've just done below.
View attachment 333515

It's a 1970s Suzuki SJ.

I'm sure @ajlelectronics will have some useful info.

Yep, been waiting for @ajlelectronics to come in

Seat cushion and backrest foam is moulded, not cut and appears to have different 'strengths' in the same moulding,

Good point. The original is made of two densities glued together, softer foam round the sides.

I've been watching some YouTube channels. One tactic is to build up the shape in layers, and then shape with blades and abrasive tools. Considering how complex the original moulded foam was, I'm tempted by this tactic.

 

[northwest]

Tin of spray foam and a sheet of plastic. Spray the foam at/into the seat, cover with plastic and sit in it. Perfect shape?
Don't try it, tried it myself in the 70's/80's in different bucket seats and it was never successful. Managed to get the foam onto places I didn't want too IIRC.

 

[Ubique]

View attachment 333620
I've been watching some YouTube channels. One tactic is to build up the shape in layers, and then shape with blades and abrasive tools. Considering how complex the original moulded foam was, I'm tempted by this tactic.

One thing I would say is that the exposed edges using that method would be 'open' and not sealed like a moulded one would be, which could lead to creases, lines where the edges of the sheets are or baggy bits due to the tension not being even on the cover. I don't know what the answer is, other than sourcing newer moulded foam bases (generally, passenger seat foam suffers less than the drivers seat and is usually interchangeable), the only other thing I can add is that we use an electric heat gun to smooth out any wrinkles in the cover once fitted, some factories use steam to shrink/stretch the cover to fit correctly.

 

[rcx132]

One thing I would say is that the exposed edges using that method would be 'open' and not sealed like a moulded one would be, which could lead to creases, lines where the edges of the sheets are or baggy bits due to the tension not being even on the cover. I don't know what the answer is, other than sourcing newer moulded foam bases (generally, passenger seat foam suffers less than the drivers seat and is usually interchangeable), the only other thing I can add is that we use an electric heat gun to smooth out any wrinkles in the cover once fitted, some factories use steam to shrink/stretch the cover to fit correctly.

In the video the guy then covered the sides with a wrap of thinner foam to smooth out the edges. Good idea re using foam from passenger seats.

 

[keithski122]

I'm a car trimmer and if the foam is worn but still usable it can be puffed back up using steam and worn sections cut out and new sectioned in using contact adhesive.We generally use the blue foam pictured above but you could use a chipped foam inside, for shaping an electric meat cutter works well, I use a spice grater for shaping though some people use grinders.Where the foam sits on metal areas it can be reinforced, we use scrap leather or car hooding.If a replacement foam is available at a reasonable price then obviously thats the way to go, maybe if you can get one that fits but the shape needs modifying again could be another way to go.in the picture above the foam is layered on top of each other, a way I've seen is layer it side by side cutting each section with a band saw.