Seat cushions

[Chrispb]

For info
Front seat base cushion (foam) is still available from VW 7M3881375 Ã,£94.97 inc vat
Front seat back cushion is no longer available

[insanitybeard]

Is that plus or including VAT Chris? If it's including VAT then it's cheaper than I could buy it from Ford, even at my old 'staff' rate!

[Chrispb]

Sorry Paul have amended that it is inc vat, they said the back cushion is no longer available, suppose there's not much call for that one, though the lower outside bolster has gone on the back I may try and pack it out with a bit of the old seat cushion when I get it.

[gregers]

dunno if youve got 1 near you chris,but there used to be an upholsters near me that used to cut foam to shape,proper old shop type business.

[Chrispb]

To be honest Greg I didn't think that was a bad price, have paid over a hundred for same thing on a scorpio years ago, also had new foam cut for our two settee's that was a couple of hundred for 5 square cushions not shaped or anything like a car seat.
It just seems foam rubber is a very expensive product.

[insanitybeard]

Just out of interest Chris have you bought the replacement foam base? I took a quick look at my seat backalong just sizing up what kind of job it would be to replace the base foam and it didn't look too bad, although I know some seat covers are held in place with those wire 'hogrings' and are a right P.I.T.A to work with!

[Chrispb]

Am waiting till I go down to pick up the new sharan , supposed to be ready on Saturday, am going to order and pay for it then.
Was in two minds whether to get a secondhand seat but you take a chance what that's going to be like, mine had a new sliding mechanism a few years back as it had been repaired before and I didn't think it looked to bad a job to do the base cushion, wasn't looking forward to the backrest as that looks more involved, there are also screens in the headrest just to add to the difficulty but now that part is not available I'll try and pack out the bottom edge of the backrest bolster with a bit of the foam from the old base when it's out.

[Chrispb]

Changing the seat foam requires removing the complete seat from the car and separating the seat back from the base.
Start by disconnecting battery as you will need to disconnect wiring to seat airbag and multimedia screens if fitted.
Remove complete seat from car (4 bolts)
Remove plastic trim around seat base, remove backrest from base by removing 2 bolts and two clips, one of each on each side.
Unhook the seat cloth tensioning wire, you should now be able to ease the cloth over the foam, at this point you will see the cloth is attached to the foam with hog rings, they keep the cloth taut but will require cutting to remove.They are quite fiddly to work with when refitting your new foam so I used cable ties which are a lot easier to work with.

[insanitybeard]

Aaaaaaargh! The dreaded hog rings! I'd hoped they hadn't used those things! Bit of a bugger that the seat back has to come off as well. I've substituted hogrings with cable ties in that application before just as you have, though I recall a technician friend telling me that it wasn't recommended in instances where it could impede the deployment of (e.g) a side air bag as unlike hog rings which can spring open when force is applied to them, cable ties won't. Not that it makes any difference in this case as it's a) the seat base cover we're talking about and b) the side airbag on these particular seats has it's own plastic cover which displaces/ pops out when the airbag deploys!