Rebuilding seats

allgonoshow

allgonoshow

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Nova Scotia
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The seat cushions in my 09 are done, flattened out and no support.
The rebuild cushion kits are not expensive and available in Canada.
Any one done this job. Is it a diy winter project??
 
allgonoshow said:
The seat cushions in my 09 are done, flattened out and no support.
The rebuild cushion kits are not expensive and available in Canada.
Any one done this job. Is it a diy winter project??
Click to expand...
There's been several posts over the years of members replacing seat skins with not too much difficulty but not sure if any re-did the foams as well. There are certainly aftermarket skins available. Not sure if it's something I would tackle but that's not to say it's not a DIY job for someone more adventurous than me... lol.... Good luck and yes, sounds like a winter job.
 
An OEM seat foam from a dealership should be around $150. The Seat Repair Kit is also a good idea to include if you replace the foam as it'll make it more supportive and last much longer.

I recently purchased the seat repair kit for my '09 and will be installing it tomorrow. I'm expecting it to take about 2 hours.
 
You will be messing with the seat side air bags. Be careful. After 70K miles, our seats are showing your typical creases in the leather. In talking to our local GM parts guys, who have years of experience, we agreed that GM doesn't put the best quality leather in the seats and much of it is actually vinyl. Our old 1969 Chevelle seats still looked pretty much like new after 40 years of use and it was the 300 Deluxe SS396 with the cheap seats with the lighter material. I've never been impressed with how the leather that they use in cars stands up. If I could get seat skins made from the old Naugahyde, I'd use that. http://www.buzzfile.com/business/Naugahyde-574-773-5983
 

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I installed the seat repair kit a few years ago, and it has stood up, no more sagging on the side, and the leather creases although still there are much tighter.
I found that the seat frame on the side bolster had cut into the foam, thus making it sit lower, and also the lower seat frame cross wires had also cut into the foam. I used 3M 77 adhesive to glue the seat foam bolster back together at the cuts, and once I installed the seat repair kit jute under the seat, and the foam pieces under the bolster to support it, that solidified the sides of the bottom cushion, and would keep the foam from being cut by the frame in the future
I used hog rings to replace the ones I removed from the back edge of the bottom cushion, but zip ties can be used as well,

There are great you tube videos showing how to remove the bottom cushion without much problems.
i removed the seat from the car, which is required, so no worries about the air bags, as the power is disconnected from them if the seats are removed.
 
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Hello, the seat covers and foam were just replaced on my C4 when I got the car. Interior work is safe. You almost can't screw it up. Obviously remove the seats and the method of recovering them is listed in Chilton's. If you are mechanically inclined, the job isn't too hard. Yes, new foam from the dealer is expensive and obtaining enough foam to cut it yourself is too expensive. I like doing interior work the best. I replaced the headliner, the buldge on the dash in the passenger compartment, and new rear cargo carpet. My whole interior now looks new and is graphite grey. There are several places to obtain the leather covers. Here in the US, Eckler's Corvette has a good choice of interior pieces. Their shipping to Canada can't be much more than they charge to ship to the US.
On the newer cars, be careful with side air bags. Just disconnect the battery before removing any interior panels where air bags live.
 

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Keith Tedford said:
You will be messing with the seat side air bags. Be careful. After 70K miles, our seats are showing your typical creases in the leather. In talking to our local GM parts guys, who have years of experience, we agreed that GM doesn't put the best quality leather in the seats and much of it is actually vinyl. Our old 1969 Chevelle seats still looked pretty much like new after 40 years of use and it was the 300 Deluxe SS396 with the cheap seats with the lighter material. I've never been impressed with how the leather that they use in cars stands up. If I could get seat skins made from the old Naugahyde, I'd use that. http://www.buzzfile.com/business/Naugahyde-574-773-5983
Click to expand...

My leather is ok, it is the foam supports that have failed as described by Area Z51.
I'll take seats out, if I can't do it I can take it to an upholstery shop.
Got all winter to get it done....
 
Area Z51 said:
I installed the seat repair kit a few years ago, and it has stood up, no more sagging on the side, and the leathercreases although still thrre are much tighter.
I found that the seat frame on the side bolster had cut into the foam, thus making it sit lower, and also the lower seat frame cross wires had also cut into the foam. I used 3M 77 adhesive to glue the seat foam bolster back together at the cuts, and once I installed the seat repair kit jute under the seat, and the foam pieces under the bolster yo support it, that solidified the sides of the bottom cushion, and would keep the foam from being cut by the frame in the future
I used hog rings to replace the ones I removed from the back edge of the bottom cushion, but zip ties can be used as well,

There are great you tube videos showing how to remove the bottom cushion without much problems.
i removed the seat from the car, which is required, so no worries about the air bags, as the power is disconnected from them if the seats are removed.
Click to expand...

Sounds like mine.
I believe the stuff I need is listed on this page. Jute kit near the top, foam near the bottom of the page

www.corvettedepot.ca

"seat foam" | Corvette Depot

Shop "seat foam" at Corvette Depot
www.corvettedepot.ca www.corvettedepot.ca
 
Get your seat covers , foam cushions, hog rings, and whatever you need to refurbish the seats from the US Vette guys, like Eckler's, Corvette Central, MidAmerica, etc, just because the cost to you here in Canada is ridiculous, and even with currency conversion, shipping costs and duties, you still will come ahead! If you can work it out to ship to and pick up your order at a mail and parcel pickup operation at a town on the US side of the border, you can save a bundle on shipping and duties. Just as an example, I can get an identical rubber replacement bushing kit for the rear leaf spring from RockAuto in the US for $5.00 cheaper to my front door than a leading parts supplier here in Canada, shipping included in Canadian dollars. Pretty sad!
 
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Sure, if you can obtain the seat foam inserts already cut and at a cheap price in Canada, you're all set. The rest of it is a piece of cake...
 
Vette1993 said:
Get your seat covers , foam cushions, hog rings, and whatever you need to refurbish the seats from the US Vette guys, like Eckler's, Corvette Central, MidAmerica, etc, just because the cost to you here in Canada is ridiculous, and even with currency conversion, shipping costs and duties, you still will come ahead! If you can work it out to ship to and pick up your order at a mail and parcel pickup operation at a town on the US side of the border, you can save a bundle on shipping and duties. Just as an example, I can get an identical rubber replacement bushing kit for the rear leaf spring from RockAuto in the US for $5.00 cheaper to my from door than a leading parts supplier here in Canada, shipping included in Canadian dollars. Pretty sad!
Click to expand...

There is a threshold at which I will buy in the US before Canadian suppliers, but I don't think this job will be over that threshold.
 
Please check out pricing and do yourself a favour monetarily. Most of the Canadian Corvette part suppliers are getting their stuff from their American counterparts, calculating the exchange rate and then putting on their mark-up. Throw in the shipping and taxes, and the price is way up there!
 
Vette1993 said:
Please check out pricing and do yourself a favour monetarily. Most of the Canadian Corvette part suppliers are getting their stuff from their American counterparts, calculating the exchange rate and then putting on their mark-up. Throw in the shipping and taxes, and the price is way up there!
Click to expand...

I know all that, I just prefer to support Canadian vendors when I can.
I just bought heads in the US but that was a 2k difference.
 
allgonoshow said:
My leather is ok, it is the foam supports that have failed as described by Area Z51.
I'll take seats out, if I can't do it I can take it to an upholstery shop.
Got all winter to get it done....
Click to expand...

Once you have the side panel for the seat switches off, it's a piece of cake. I have a PDf if you are interested, but it's too large to post on here. Click on my username and add your e-mail and I'll send it to you.
Here are a few pics from the PDF file
seat hamndle.jpg
seat trim1.jpg

seat trim2.jpg
1574012728570.png

1574012877567.png
 

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