jgaz 519 Posted July 18, 2019 So was your need to recover seat cushions or add foam!!! I’m betting it wasn’t to fix the built-in electric butt warmers:D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 3,673 Posted July 18, 2019 So was your need to recover seat cushions or add foam!!! i got new hot-pink alligator skin seat covers with gold piping! full write-up coming soon... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 3,673 Posted July 23, 2019 (edited) butt problems nearly 80k miles of sliding in and out of a lifted rig had taken its toll on the outer bolster of my driver's seat bottom. it was starting to crush down and fold over. my worry was that the seat cover would start to crack from constantly folding out against the lifter handle. you can see how the foam was bending outward at the top here. in contrast, the edge is straight up and down on the opposite side. it was also torn & separating inside the bolster. you can still buy an entire new seat cushion - the part number for 13-18 JK's with leather is 68194641AA and they go for nearly $150. i decided to try my hand at a repair instead, figuring i'd learn something new and maybe save some money. supplies these were the only tools needed (besides a standard socket set to remove and take apart the seat): - any brand of 9" electric carving knife works great for cutting foam, they can be had for about $15 from Amazon or Walmart. - a decent pair of side-cutters are handy to cut off the hog rings holding the seat cover to the foam. - special pliers and a few hog-rings are used to re-install the cover. i bought this kit for $20. since there's only about 10 rings in one seat bottom, you could probably manage with regular pliers, but the correct tool makes things easy. - quality spray contact adhesive will stick pieces of foam together or to fabric... just make sure you get something that can handle high temps, especially here in Arizona. i used "3M Hi-Strength 90 Spray Adhesive" which has a great adjustable nozzle that sprays a well-defined pattern. - i bought a small piece of "Lux high quality foam" from foambymail.com for the repair. they also have "Dryfast foam" if you're a top-down kinda person (drains fast and not likely to grow mold). the Lux foam turned out to be a little on the soft side for the bolster repair with a compression rating of 50 ILD. i'm not sure where to get a small piece of stiffer high-quality foam though. let's fix it! first i cut-off the existing outer bolster section. then i carved up the new foam trying to replicate the overall same shape but a little taller and with a straight vertical outer edge. to join foam simply spray both pieces liberally with the contact cement, wait a couple minutes, then slap em together. i also attached a couple thinner pieces of foam in the middle... a little more cushy for my tushy. after the glue dried i was able to do final trimming and contouring with the electric knife. i glued fabric to the outside edge, thinking it might help prevent the 2 sections from separating over time. after glueing the split areas of the factory foam back together, i wrapped the whole section in more fabric for reinforcement. next, the leather cover needed a little attention. the interior was indeed starting to show a crease on the side where it had been folding over. another section near the hinge was wearing through. this part would never be seen, but it could easily start a larger rip. i simply glued more fabric on the inside of the whole area. a pair of Brady's old pajamas were sacrificed for this project because the soft material seemed like it would soak up a lot of glue and therefore stay stuck well! final steps were to stick the electric warming pad back on, re-attach the leather seat cover with hog-rings, and of course bolt it all back together. results!? so my replacement bolster turned out just a tad bit short, but much better than it was. you can see the outside edge is at least vertical now: that Lux foam is softer than the factory foam, which isn't ideal for the bolster area. it did work out great for the extra bits i added directly under my booty. even though they're only about 1/2" thick, it feels oh so nice! i may take it apart again to add a thin strip of foam at the tip top of the bolster for that missing height. i'm also thinking i'll wrap that area in a stiffer fabric like blue-jeans to help keep the shape intact with the softer foam. Edited April 27, 2020 by theksmith Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dzJeepChic 2,397 Posted July 23, 2019 Way cool, K! Good job. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jgaz 519 Posted July 23, 2019 Nice work Kris! With all your DIY experience I’m sure you’re aware of this Phoenix fabric store but I’ll post a link anyway in case others aren’t aware of the store. http://fabricdepotaz.com/ They have a huge selection of fabric and foam. My wife and I bought some closed cell foam (won’t absorb water) for an outdoor project earlier this spring. They had a nice selection of different foam then. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scottL 175 Posted July 24, 2019 Nice write up K, pretty much gonna have the same thing done to my driver seat real soon.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
emmasanchez3 0 Posted July 24, 2019 Wow it looks so good, congratulations! This is a nice looking Jeep! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zeep 2 Posted August 2, 2019 Very nice work! My friend that does upholstery, uses a small grinder for final shaping on the foam. This gives much smoother final contours, than using just the electric knife. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 3,673 Posted August 8, 2019 Nice work Kris! With all your DIY experience I’m sure you’re aware of this Phoenix fabric store but I’ll post a link anyway in case others aren’t aware of the store. http://fabricdepotaz.com/ They have a huge selection of fabric and foam. My wife and I bought some closed cell foam (won’t absorb water) for an outdoor project earlier this spring. They had a nice selection of different foam then. thanks for that link - i was not aware of them, but they look legit! i'm so used to not being able to find what i want locally i guess i just go straight to online sources most of the time now. Very nice work! My friend that does upholstery, uses a small grinder for final shaping on the foam. This gives much smoother final contours, than using just the electric knife. i actually had seen a youtube video of someone using an orbital air sander for this and so i tried my grinder (i don't have an air sander)... however i learned that a flapper disc was not the right tool for the job when it grabbed and dug in several times! do you know what sort of disc/wheel he uses? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
