Seat cushion repair for leather seats

[largeone]

I've seen quite a few threads about OEM seat foam not being available. A few years ago, I was unwilling to pay the price for OEM foam so I repaired my cushions instead. I thought I'd share the cushion repair I did prior to installing my new leather from metrictlc http://shop.metrictlc.com/1993-97-Toyota-Land-Cruiser_c99.htm in case someone else is as cheap as me! BTW, the leather was way cheaper back then!

I'd like to give credit for the idea to a fellow Rising Sun Club and Mud member OILHAMMER for the idea and the foam piece I used for the repair. Thank you B MAC!

First I removed all of the leather and seat hardware and removed the lower seat foam. Here is a picture of the lower cushion prior to removal.

Then, I cut out the "cancer" in a squared off shape.

Glued in a piece of new firm seat foam. I used 3M spray stick/adhesive to attach.

Shaped the new foam with a razor knife after the adhesive dried.

 

[largeone]

I then used more adhesive to attach a piece of cut T-shirt (ghetto, I know!) to cover the repair and smooth under the leather. I wanted to protect the repair so I wouldn't damage the repair during leather stretching. This kit fits really tight on the lower cushions.

Finally, I attached a piece of vinyl I had laying in the garage to give some more support from below for the repair.

I did this repair over four years ago, and the seats still look like when I did them. (Not totally true since they are currently dirty and need to be cleaned!). They have held up very well and you can't see any degradation of the repair.

 

[largeone]

This picture shows the difference b/w the new passenger seat and the driver seat before I made the cushion repair.

These two pics are of the driver seat after the leather was installed over the repair.

The seats have tightened up since the install and still look very good, even with my dogs getting on them. Good luck on your own repair...it was well worth the PIA to install!!!

 

[wearsabrowncoat]

Nice. That section of repair will probably last longer than a new piece of foam would have in that high wear area after all your precautions.

 

[stonemasoncruiser]

Nice work! This is exactly what I was planning to do when new leather fits the budget. Thanks for the post,
you've just made this easier for your fellow mud members.

 

[oilbrnr]

Looks like a great fix!

As a heads up to those folks looking for leather replacement and might come across this thread and be tempted by MetricTLC, read this first:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/pr...ather-kit-support-yet-again-vaporware.838329/

 

[FirstToy]

Excellent post
A quick additional suggestion is to steam the foam to bring it back from years of compression.

 

[dogfishlake]

Excellent post
A quick additional suggestion is to steam the foam to bring it back from years of compression.

That's a good idea, but what do you use to steam it?

 

[largeone]

Looks like a great fix!

As a heads up to those folks looking for leather replacement and might come across this thread and be tempted by MetricTLC, read this first:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/pr...ather-kit-support-yet-again-vaporware.838329/

Unfortunately I have heard this from others as well. I will say that when I purchased, the entire kit was around $900 for front and middle seats as well as all of the door leather and center console. I was a bit surprised by the pricing when I linked to his site! When I purchased, Shane was still selling through PM from thread, and I had an absolutely perfect buyer experience. Obviously by reading your linked thread, others have had issues. That's really not good. Bummer. Glad I got in when the gettin was still good.

 

[mac]

 

[wearsabrowncoat]

Couldn't hear any volume but looked like it works fairly well. My question is if it is a semi permanent solution or if it just squishes all the moisture back out when you sit on it.

 

[mac]

It restores the cushion to the original shape. You allow the cushion to fully dry before recovering.

 

[Tools R Us]

I did the same, back in 2008. But also added some foam on the frame side, between the wires to add support. It has worked, held up well.