New Seat Cushions on the Cheap

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Seth_O

Seth_O

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Apr 6, 2007
Threads
118
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1,742
Location
Under the hood
Like many of you I noticed that when I get in/out of the truck it leaves a fine golden powder of seat cushion crumbles on the floor beneath the seats. My seat cushions are 22yo, and are really past their life expectancy.

I started researching and found that the seat cushions are ruddy expensive! At $150-200 per, I cant really afford to replace the two front seat bottoms, even if they need it. At least it was lower on my spend priority list than things like alternator, fixing the oil leaks, OBA, etc.

Bulk upholstery foam is not that expensive, but I'm not super crafty so I didn't trust myself to be able to buy a 6" thick piece of foam and carve it into the correct shape. So I had to come up with another solution.

I started by buying an old set of cloth seats off CL. This wasn't necessary, but I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, and I didn't want to ruin my seats in the endeavor.

seats 1.webp
 
seats 2.webp
seats 8.webp
I ordered 6 sheets of 1" thick upholstery foam from eBay. $60 shipped. I wasn't sure exactly how much I was going to need, so this seemed like a safe bet. I then took the new-to-me seat apart, and removed the bottom foam. I h8hog rings.

Then I took a measuring tape, and marked the seat bottom foam with a line, 1" up from the bottom and grabbed my wifes electric knife. I cut the foam along the 1" line, all the way through to make a 'slice' of seat foam. Then I marked again, 1" up from the new bottom and cut that 'slice' off. I continued along until I had the seat cut into 1" thick slices.
 
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seat 9.webp
Once I had all the 'slices' cut, I laid them out on a sheet of new foam, and traced the outline. Then I cut those pieces out, paying attention to order and orientation.
 
seats 7.webp
From there I stacked the pieces up, and compared it to the old seat. It looked pretty darned close, close enough for me at least. I grabbed a bottle of 3M spray adhesive I have sitting on the shelf from a different project and sprayed the foam pieces on both sides and stuck them together.

I was careful to ensure I had the wire for holding the cover in place embedded between two of the sheets (between the bottom, and 2nd layer.)
 
A final little bit of trimming to get it closer to contour.
seats 6.webp
 
At this point I was pretty confident it was going to work out well enough to move on. I took the seats out of my cruiser, and removed my existing 'good' upholstery ;-). Did I mention ih8hog rings?

I threw the covers in the washing machine and set it for gentle. 30mins later and I had clean, fresh smelling seat bottom covers.

I then attached the upholstery to the new seat bottoms and had a test-sit. It felt good, comfortable and fairly firm.
seats 4.webp
 
When getting ready to reinstall, I noticed that my passenger seat back was missing a bolt! That explained the rattle that had been bothering me. I also found that one of the side bolts bolting the top to the bottom was missing. Sheesh. Fortunately I was able to scavenge extra bolts from the seats I bought off CL.

Got it all reinstalled and took it for a test spin. My son pronounced it "Great!"
seats 5.webp
 
We'll see how it holds up over time, but for now it's much more comfortable and I don't have a shower of golden crumbles every time I get and out.

So for a spend of $60 on the foam (I have 4 sheets left, so I guess technically its only $20 in foam,) about $15 in hog ring pliers and rings plus a little 3M spray adhesive and an afternoons time I have two new seat bottom cushions. I did buy those seats off CL, so I was into it another $80 but that's not necessary for the project to be successful. Just my risk aversion ;-)
 
Wow! Great job! I'm going to remember this... where did you buy the foam?
 
Golgo13 said:
Wow! Great job! I'm going to remember this... where did you buy the foam?
Click to expand...
I ordered it off eBay. It came in 6 sheet increments. It turned out one sheet did one seat about perfectly. The sheets measured 1"x24"x72" I did both front seats, and used 2 sheets.
 
Thanks!
 
Wow, great job! It is nice to see folk using their head to find a solution to a problem rather than just go the most expensive OCD route.
 
A quick follow-up on this. I am now a year into using these seats on my DD LC. They show no noticeable wear and are still very comfortable.

I didnt mention in my original post, but when I did this I also installed cheapo ebay seat heaters.

This was a great repair for very little $.
 
Any new input on this? Very interested in making my own foam. I’ve got leather and heave to purchase new covers soon, so I’d like to save some cost somewhere if it’s practical
 
KrOswalt said:
Any new input on this? Very interested in making my own foam. I’ve got leather and heave to purchase new covers soon, so I’d like to save some cost somewhere if it’s practical
Click to expand...

Still holding up well, and very comfortable.
 
How's it working out for you now? Doing 1" sheet foam increments and building up from there with spray adhesive is a nice touch, versus carving with an electric knife.
 
I've never tried it, but I wonder if you could 'carve' foam with a wire wheel...? Would be messy as hell if it did work, but the mess would probably be manageable with the right prep.
 
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