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General Tech Upholstery Adhesive

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glemon

glemon

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I would appreciate some recommendations for redoing the seats on my TR250. When I restored the car several years ago I didn't want to spend $200+ in addition to all my other restoration costs on seat foams. In hindsigght this was a mistake, as the old foams have continued to deteriorate, and my straps on the back have broken as well.

So now I have the newish covers off and I want to do it right this time. There is some stuff that it seems like it would be best to pull into place and have it stay there with a contact or quick set kind of adhesive, any suggestions on some type that will work with fabric and foam and, perhaps most importantly, not eat the foam?

I could post a picture of the old foam but this is a family forum and I am afraid it would give small children and the faint of heart nightmares.
 
I used 3M 08088 from an auto parts store. Seemed to work very well: https://bullfire.net/TR6/TR6-56/TR6-56.html

Ed

P.S. My original foam (it's a TR6):

IMG_0068a.JPG
 
I found the 3M product excellent - but ... if the foam is old and starting to pull apart, even the adhesive won't keep it from continuing to break up.

Here's the work I did on my 1958 Rambler American. When I found the old foam crumbling and couldn't be glued back together, I "started from scratch".

https://s224.photobucket.com/user/f...1958 Rambler American/Seat restoration?sort=2

IMG_0068.jpg


Definitely a learning experience.
Tom M.
 
DAP/Weldwood makes an excellent contact cement made for extreme temps called vinyl and landau top adhesive. I use it primarily on Austin Healey dashes and cockpit surround and it holds extremely well. Another adhesive I've used is a spray made by Permatex and it allows you to reposition parts without messing up the glue or substrate. I was really impressed when I used it to hold rubber panel inserts to the doors.
Rut
https://www.permatex.com/products-2...im/permatex-all-purpose-spray-adhesive-detail
 
If I understand correctly, you want to glue the foam in place. I've used epoxy to glue pieces of foam together. It is much stronger than the foam and does not harm the stuff. However, since the foam is an inherently weak material, it will break readily along the glue line leaving a thin layer of adhesive behind. Silicone adhesive caulk will do as well and will not leave a hard joint but it's more difficult to work with. I would not recommend trying to hold the foam in place with glue unless it is in addition to mechanical fastening.
Tom
 
So you now have a car that looks like it could be worth in excess of $30,000 or at least $20,000 and you do not want to spend the money for the seat foams to replace the deteriorated foam. Further this is the one place that you come in contact with every time you are in the car. And the one place that you can feel comfortable in when you sit for a long drive. I have rebuilt three sets f TR6 seats and I would buy the foam kits again if I had a set as bad as Ed's pictures. In fact all three sets were worse than Ed's pictures. All that said If you notice the foam in Ed's pictures that the center of the seat back is still in relatively good shape it is the sides that deteriorate and fall into dust. But those edges are the ones that are difficult to reshape. With the foam kits there is little glue needed. And they come out looking good even by an amateur. I believe TRF has a seat rebuilding sale on right now.
Good luck.
Charley
 
Sorry, I re-read my original post, I wasn't very clear. I cheaped out and didn't get new foams the first time around, that was a mistake. I have new foams now. The bottom foam is two pieces, a flat lower cushion then a raised perimeter that goes on top. The seat cover has cloth extending out from the pleated inset, looks like it should be sandwiched between the two foams and glued in place, ideally stretched close. Thought a quick set might be better so it stays in place when I fit the seat cover on the rest of the way.

Didn't want to use a glue that would eat the expensive new foam. Good suggestions, I may try the permatex product.

Greg
 
Greg,
Sorry for the contradictory remarks earlier. Sounds like you are doing the right thing with the foam kit. There are several other places that you will need glue before you are done. Namely at the bottom of the seat back and the rear of the seat bottom. I used regular upholstery glue for all of these applications. By going to a friendly upholstery shop you can buy a small can maybe a pint of their regular upholstery glue. They usually use it from a larger container and pump it out as needed. This works great and is made for this application. By getting a can you will get away from the pressurized stuff that usually flies well beyond where you want it to go. Just get some small glue ( disposable ) brushes to use. You will use several as they will not clean up easily and so they last for a single use.
As a further note I have seen somewhere replacements for the straps in the seat backs. Again I went to a local upholstery shop in search of said material. He sold me what he called English strapping. I removed the existing straps, salvaged the end pieces, carefully measured the various lengths and made my own. I used pop rivets to fasten them together.
Good luck,
Charley
 
Thanks Charley, looked closer at Ed's link above. While not exactly the same as the TR6 seats, it has the same general set up for the bottom seat foams. This has turned into a little bigger job than I thought, but I am taking my time and hope to do it a little better this time. Good tips from all, thanks again.
 
I've always used Stick 2 spray contact adhesive with this company's upholstery foam and never had a problem. Not sure if different types of foam would makes a difference by I tend to use average high density for any upholstery projects.
 
Second vote for the DAP product suggested by Rut.

i could not find it locally, and ended up buying it on-line and paying a fortune for shipping. But good stuff that won’t fall apart in the heat - car interiors can get hot!!
 
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