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Seat refurbishment
#774748 April 17th 2021 6:09 pm
Joined: Aug 2017
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old hand
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So I'm thinking of fixing up the 2 seats that came in the Econoline. Like totally restuff & recover them - they're not too bad looking, but they have practically zero cushion in them.

Who's done this and what did it run you $ ? I'm just looking to put new foam in the bottoms at minimum and reupholster them totally, probably in some budget black vinyl/fake leather.

Re: Seat refurbishment
cornfarmer #774755 April 18th 2021 3:51 am
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The two I had done for the QAR cost me $600 at the local upholstery shop. IIRC the marine vinyl I went for was around $25/yard. They had to replace a little foam in mine, but not much.

Are you sewing your own covers?


[Linked Image from live.staticflickr.com]
Re: Seat refurbishment
cornfarmer #774764 April 18th 2021 12:33 pm
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I bet you could get a hook up on Craigslist with an upholster taking on side jobs.

Re: Seat refurbishment
kursed #774870 April 20th 2021 6:07 pm
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Originally Posted by kursed
The two I had done for the QAR cost me $600 at the local upholstery shop. IIRC the marine vinyl I went for was around $25/yard. They had to replace a little foam in mine, but not much.

Are you sewing your own covers?


I can sew pretty good, and I'm man enough to say that, but I'm not going to even try doing my own covers. I took them to an upholstery shop which is re-doing them for a reasonable price (for my area), so they should be done in a couple of weeks. I'll just flip the Starcraft seats I dyed a while ago, they just didn't get black enough for me, and wouldn't really look right in the van.

Before pic for posterity

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

Re: Seat refurbishment
cornfarmer #774882 April 20th 2021 9:09 pm
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OH YEAH! I love new upholstery. Can't wait to see how they turn out.


[Linked Image from live.staticflickr.com]
Re: Seat refurbishment
cornfarmer #774920 April 21st 2021 9:15 am
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Those seats look comfortable. Definitely post the pics when they come back.

Re: Seat refurbishment
cornfarmer #784530 November 01st 2021 5:06 am
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For the seat foam:

I have found that the seat foam is not as firm as it should be when our vehicle seats (especially the driver's) get worn and old.

My brother works in the furniture repair business and taught me that new foam cushions have a break in period where they loose a good amount of their firmness. Unfortunately often, they are no longer firm supportive enough for people's weight. Many people discard sofas and chairs once this happens...

After foam breaks in fully, loosing firmness, they don't loose much more firmness for the rest of their entire life.

The best solution I found to restore new like firmness is easy enough using sheets of carpet foam padding:

Remove 3 sides of the foam seat cushion by unhooking the seat cover.
You may have to unbolt and tilt the seat from the floor or remove it from the vehicle to work on it.

Then add 1 sheet or 2 or 3 max(if the seat cover will still fit enough down on) of used carpet foam padding(the padding made with all the chopped foam pieces) on top of the seat spring deck.

All the sheets of carpet foam don't have to be full size-covering the entire seating foam area.

Scope out the seat foam and see where more foam support is needed.
You can cut a sheet of foam that is just the size of the buttox area or add foam to the edge of the seat by the door where it may be flattened more from getting in and out.
Also the carpet padding is more resistent to damage from the spring deck wires than the oem foam.

It makes a dramatic amazing difference. The seat support is like new.
You know when you have the right support when the seat feels as firm as the seat back when sitting in the chair.

Generally the seat back does not need any foam addd and this would be more difficult anyways.
Thanks to gravity, our body weight does the damage to the seat foam, not the seat back.
-
I've had much success with this method for used home sofas and chairs where you can unzip and unroll/remove the foam core from the seat cushion.
Then cut the foam open in the middle like a bagel, using a hack saw blade only held in hand.
Cut the foam core from the back towards the front but do not cut through the front of the foam so a hinge flap is left to still connect the 2 foam halves.
Then add used carpet foam inside the cut halves and close and carefully(so not to tear the seams or zipper) work it back into the cushion cover/roll it on and zip closed.

Amazing difference it makes! People think the springs are metal shot but no it's the soft foam compressed and needing more foam to get that new support restored.
So often the fabric is still in good shape, just needs more foam added to bring it back to life.
-
If you don't have any carpet padding to use, left over from an installation, you might easily find some in a neighbor's trash or in the dumpster behind a carpet store or apartment complex dumpster. It doesn't take much of this used foam. It's usually still like new if it was not in a common walkway area under the protective rug.
Buying it new is pricey and they only sell it in large rolls where you'll only need some square feet of it for each seat is all.
-
INSULATION:
BTW loose polyfill from discarded pillow back sofas and chairs is a free, allergy free, mildew resistant material that works well as van light/medium duty insulation in anywhere loose insulation fill is desired.
Also poly batting can be found in some discarded sofas/chairs designs as well, covering their foam cushion cores.
The batting is also very good where a batting type insulation is desired/needed. I insulated my van roof between the roof supports, above the head liner with the batting by cutting it to size and headliner spray adhesiving it to the sheet metal.
All I had to pay for was the spray.
Of course for more extreme temperatures, someone living in their van, foam insulation is superior and called for and not free.

1 member likes this: Ram4ever

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