My Front Seats Need to be Replaced. If you had about $1500 and wanted an easy fix what would you do? (1 Viewer)

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charx

charx

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Oct 10, 2021
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If you were not a DIY fabricator kind of guy but were handy enough to pull seats out and install plug-and-play rails and toss some new, non-power seats onto the rails.... and you had $1500 or so, which seats would you install? The stock seats fit me fine. I'm handy ... but fabricating brackets and such is beyond the realm of what I want to do.
But I am open to suggestions. Is $1500 enough? Is there some sort of universal rail I could bolt down which would allow the installation of different kinds of seats I might acquire at a wrecking yard?

PS: I am busy scouring this at the moment. It's HUGE and amazing. (thanks alia176 !) Thread 'COMPILED - 80 Series Seat Swap Thread' COMPILED - 80 Series Seat Swap Thread - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/compiled-80-series-seat-swap-thread.1031353/
 
Last edited:
There are heaps of options, If you want to re-use factory seat structural parts make sure nothing is decayed due to rusting, etc.. $2500 in Oz money is equiv to about $1500 US and would almost buy a pair of new aftermarket seats. Some aftermarket seat places make rail/mounting kits ex-stock for 80's/lx450's and some don't.
 
It seems that most of us either replace the seats entirely with something high end like the Scheel Mann seats or reupholster the existing seats. I chose the reupholster route and bought the matching kit from Lseat to do my fronts. The kit was just a little over $300 for both front seats, but this was a couple of years ago. The fit is great and the seats look awesome -- the lseat leather is definitely cheaper and definitely lower grade than the stock leather Lexus used, but it has held up great. I replaced the lower foam cushion in the driver's seat, but all of the other foam was fine. Even with the added seat heater elements, I bet I spent under $600 on the project.

I will say though, the upholstery work itself is a complete pain and I would probably pay someone a thousand dollars to do the work for me next time. You really have to be methodical and give your hands a massive workout if you want that leather to be stretched nice and tight like it should.
 
Subaro outback seats or some other kind of cheap donor seat.
 
If you're fine with the stock seats and don't mind manual I would search salvage yards for a set of stock cloth seats, won't run you anywhere close to $1500. In fact I just picked up a freshly re-done stock front and mid leather power set for considerably less than that from a junked 80. You might get lucky like I did and find a nice leather set on there, there was another one last I checked but it was some funky custom job from an LX, but cloth wouldn't be an issue to find at all.

You're also in an area with significantly more options, I'm having mine shipping from NM to MI. Still came in well under $1500 with a bunch of other misc parts thrown on the pallet with them....
 
Very happy with my Audi A4 B8 (whatever that means) seats. You have to cut the hump in the body at the front of the seats down to get them to fit, and even then they're pretty sloped (butt down). Great for me at 6'2", probably unusable for someone significantly shorter.

I think I found them by perusing the seat swap thread and then searching on car-part.com.
 
I will sell you my two front seats with heaters in them for 1500. come pick them up!
 
gummycarbs said:
Very happy with my Audi A4 B8 (whatever that means) seats. You have to cut the hump in the body at the front of the seats down to get them to fit, and even then they're pretty sloped (butt down). Great for me at 6'2", probably unusable for someone significantly shorter.

I think I found them by perusing the seat swap thread and then searching on car-part.com.
Click to expand...


Im 6’1 and the seats sitting lower was a big criteria for me when i started looking for seat replacements but I couldn’t pass up the stock set I found. I made a thread recently on looking for a way to lower the stock seat height, they definitely sit up high and don’t adjust very low at all unlike my GX….lucky you!
 
aclos3 said:
It seems that most of us either replace the seats entirely with something high end like the Scheel Mann seats or reupholster the existing seats. I chose the reupholster route and bought the matching kit from Lseat to do my fronts. The kit was just a little over $300 for both front seats, but this was a couple of years ago. The fit is great and the seats look awesome -- the lseat leather is definitely cheaper and definitely lower grade than the stock leather Lexus used, but it has held up great. I replaced the lower foam cushion in the driver's seat, but all of the other foam was fine. Even with the added seat heater elements, I bet I spent under $600 on the project.

I will say though, the upholstery work itself is a complete pain and I would probably pay someone a thousand dollars to do the work for me next time. You really have to be methodical and give your hands a massive workout if you want that leather to be stretched nice and tight like it should.
Click to expand...
Thanks... I will look into this option!
 
Francis K said:
If you're fine with the stock seats and don't mind manual I would search salvage yards for a set of stock cloth seats, won't run you anywhere close to $1500. In fact I just picked up a freshly re-done stock front and mid leather power set for considerably less than that from a junked 80. You might get lucky like I did and find a nice leather set on there, there was another one last I checked but it was some funky custom job from an LX, but cloth wouldn't be an issue to find at all.

You're also in an area with significantly more options, I'm having mine shipping from NM to MI. Still came in well under $1500 with a bunch of other misc parts thrown on the pallet with them....
Click to expand...
Cool... I shall check the wrecking yards for manual seats!
 
gummycarbs said:
Very happy with my Audi A4 B8 (whatever that means) seats. You have to cut the hump in the body at the front of the seats down to get them to fit, and even then they're pretty sloped (butt down). Great for me at 6'2", probably unusable for someone significantly shorter.

I think I found them by perusing the seat swap thread and then searching on car-part.com.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty short... probably not for me. But thanks!
 
Another option is BMW E90 sport seats.

I just had these out into my 80 and had a buddy's shop tech wire them in for power and heat. Used modified Planted brackets for mounting. They sit about 1"-1.5" higher but not that big of a deal (I'm 6'2" fwiw). I just need to add my heated seat switches for full functionality. The seats have at least 8-way adjustment and thigh bolster extension. I love them.

All in I spent about $1300.
 
Sheepskin and save $ for full foam and leather later.
 
rolliges said:
Sheepskin and save $ for full foam and leather later.
Click to expand...
I have the sheepskins and I love them. The electric adjust is kaput. I tried to fix it on the passenger side but I couldn't get it right. I headed for manual adjust seats of some sort.
 
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