VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Upholstery - Interiors & Glass Removing and reinstalling seat upholstery?

I need to replace the crumbling foam under the cloth seats in my ‘54 210. 32,000 mile car with original interior. Seat cloth material in very good condition but a bit stained.
1) What are the chances of removing the cloth seats and after replacing the foam, successfully reinstalling the original cloth seats?
2) The seat material is in very good condition but stained and a bit faded. Any way of cleaning and possibly a light stain to brighten it up a bit?
3) With many companies that used to sell authentic material no longer in business, does anyone have correct material available?

Thanks.

Dan, is there a business near you that does auto interior work, convertible top replacements, or sunroofs? They should be able to remove the covering from the seats, replace the sponge, and replace the covering IF the covering is strong enough to withstand the pressure of pulling it when reinstalling it to remove any wrinkles. If the covering is too far gone because of age, they might have a way to replace the sponge anyway without having to risk the covering. It's worth trying - the worst thing would be they say "No!" to your request. Good Luck!!

[quote=DanGroman]I need to replace the crumbling foam under the cloth seats in my ‘54 210. 32,000 mile car with original interior. Seat cloth material in very good condition but a bit stained.
1) What are the chances of removing the cloth seats and after replacing the foam, successfully reinstalling the original cloth seats?
2) The seat material is in very good condition but stained and a bit faded. Any way of cleaning and possibly a light stain to brighten it up a bit?
3) With many companies that used to sell authentic material no longer in business, does anyone have correct material available?

2) The seat material is in very good condition but stained and a bit faded. Any way of cleaning and possibly a light stain to brighten it up a bit?



i would leave that up to an upholstery shop, but if you seat material is too old, its time to redo the interior

We were able to remove and reinstall the original seat and back covers on my ‘37 Master coupe. As noted, the key is the condition of the covers.

I was in a similar situation. All the padding and stuffing were gone. The bottom side of the seat cover was almost rubbing on the springs. I could not drive the car with the seat in that condition.

We got cotton batting, burlap, and a sheet of 1/2” very dense foam from a furniture upholstery shop. Our thinking was that we needed to replace all that material regardless.

So the only question was whether the seat covers would withstand the re-stretching. We figured that the worst case scenario was that the covers would fail and I would have to find replacements. So there was minimal downside risk.