Seat Foam

[Will_Ringrose]

Alright, I am finally employed again, My little 73 GT6 is not going to have to be my commuter car until i can get a 2nd car. I the Mazda seats I have int her now are alright for short trips. but with traffic I am looking at nearly an Hr each way. I think the original seats would allow me sit back farther, and lower thus making it a nicer drive. Right now I feel hunched over a lot trying to look out the windshield.

Anyone know of place that has good prices on seat foams? Or maybe someone has a set of seats they are willing to sell that are OK (not falling apart)?

 

[hymodyne]

Its a link to an auction on ebay.uk that has ended, but the item did not sell and may be re-listed.

Hym

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280573979784&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

 

[71MKIV]

I got mine from Rimmer in the UK. The price of the foams themselves was ok but shipping turned out to be 10 bucks a pound because of the way it was boxed. Turns out UPS will charge by the size of the box over a certain limit and they charged me as though the box was full of rocks. The shipping was almost as much as the price of the foams.

If you can talk them into boxing the foams as a seat set, or order one set at a time, maybe shipping will be more reasonable.

 

[tdskip]

The quality of the foams can be variable as to fit, and you may wish to have a local upholstery stop do this instead. Can be the same or even lower cost with better results.

 

[DNK]

I'm with Tom on that.
Local can be best

 

[vagt6]

I went through the same circus with my GT6, modified the Miata seats to the hilt, still didn't like the fit.

Then, completely stripped the stock seats, got custom seat foams cut at a local upholstery shop. That's the ticket, the stock seats are acceptable and work just fine for me.

Let us know . . .

 

[Will_Ringrose]

Well all my Local Guys, want $300 ~ 600 just for making the foam per seat. I have tried like 3 or 4 different shops in my area.. one of them was so lazy they just gave me quote of Vicky Brit's foam with a $200 charge for installing it.


I planned on only doing one seat at a time, for money reasons. But the local shops I have tried are just asking way too much. I will keep looking and trying, who knows maybe Ill fond someone who isn't charging such a high price.

 

[hymodyne]

I'm going to cut and glue my own closed cell foam for the seat and back areas and stitch up new skins too. I've made patterns for the coverings from the original (which aren't in bad shape at all, just brown when I need them to be a darker color) and will use the old foam as a template for cutting and gluing new foam pieces together. I've found closed cell foam available in 2" thickness and 10" width on ebay.

hym

 

[tdskip]

Bummer Will, but having seen the amount of work that can be required to fit the stock foam $200 isn't out of line for the time involved.

Anyway - some have great results in doing their own, I bet you will too. I'd just picking up some thin foam to help "stuff" the seat material so you don't have wrinkles etc..

 

[Rhodyspit75]

I purchased my foams and covers from Park Lane Classics.
https://www.parklaneclassics.com/ I have no financial interest in this company. However I was very satisified in the product and pricing.
I normally prefer to buy from US companies, but for this the price difference made me go to the UK.

The illustrated instructions made the job pretty easy. Their installation uses Zip ties to secure the covers and I found this to work very well. If you do one seat at a time and follow the step by step instructions you should have no problems.

 

[71MKIV]

In looking at my foams once they arrived, they circular sections at the front of the seat bottom and the sides would have been the hard part.

The price for the foams is reasonable for the amount of time it would take to make them.

Buy one set and then use them as a pattern for the other one, just remember to make them a mirror image.

I made the covers for my seat bottoms, not hard but definitely very fiddly. The trick to getting an upholstery shop to do it is to ignore the established main line shops and go find an out of the way tiny place that's a retirement hobby or a housewife making ends meet. Many times the quality is better and the prices are waaay lower.

 

[hymodyne]

This just came up on ebay:

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270661918647&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

I'd buy it myself, but I'm already close to having to sleep out in the garage from buying car bits...

hym

 

[DNK]

GT6 FOAM