I just got back from a 7 hour ride to Cape Cod. Thank God, all went well except for one thing: I think I can now officially say I've worn out the driver's seat . No fat butt jokes allowed ha ha !!

After several hours I asked my lady to drive for a bit. Wow, what a difference in the passenger seat, which gets far less "traffic" than my driver seat.

Backache not withstanding, it looks like it is time for me to explore making the driver seat comfy again so I wanted to check in with you and ask a few questions:

1) My goal is to recover the support and comfort she came with. I can not afford to replace the leather, that will be for another time. Am I on the right track by planning to replace the foam under the leather to acheive this?

2) Where should I look for this new foam? I'm betting it can be purchased spefically for this seat/model, but I don't even know where to begin to look for good quality goot price on this.

3) Is there anything else in there that I will have to stock up on to acheive my goal? (springs, strings, fasteners?)

As I am typing I thought to myself that the seat bottom seems to be most worn. I should ask those with experience: Does this make sense? Or do both seat bottom and seat back wear out at same time so I should plan on repairing both?

4) If the seat "foam" turns out to be "Jaguar Expensive $$$$" can a reasonably handy guy cut foam to fit? (yes this is a hail Mary pass, but leet me ask)

Thanks for your thoughts/experiences,

John

 

John - after I recently completed replacing just the leather - if it were me - I would replace foam and leather at the same time.

I was told you can steam the existing foam to cause it to expand some which will help

I did use a few small pieces of 2 inch thick foam in areas that seemed to be worn down.

On the seat bottom - there is a rubber membrane (similar to webbing of a lawn chair but solid sheet of rubber) stretched under the foam that may have split causing the seat bottom to sag.

If you can - look for a junked car that may have some decent seats at a reasonable price - the foam - SNG Barratts has the foam - 300-400 for seat bottoms and 230 for seat back

 

Steve,

Thanks a bunch. I sure do appreciate you giving me a price reference for the foam (wish it was way less ). I just can't afford the leather right now, but like I said I'd sure like to do something to improve it.

Did you find the addition of foam pieces made a noticable difference? How long should a beginer like me budget to:

Dissasemble seat cover?

Rebuild the seat bottom (assuming all parts are at hand)?

Reassemble seat cover?

Steve if I missed any tasks, categories, or steps, please do remind me.

I think I remember you did a great write up after you finished your job. I'll have to look for that too.

If anyone might have part numbers for the seat components Stave mentioned, please do share them. Looks like I've got some hunting to do to get the best prices.

Thank you,

John

 

Hi John,

I would check with an auto upholstery shop in your area. There's a good chance that you can have them replace the seat foam without having to pay the "Jaguar Tax".


Cheers,

Stu

 

Thanks Stu, good idea.

 

I know you say you can't afford to replace the leather, but just in case this helps - I got a quote last year from an independent leather repair shop for a refurbishment.

I didn't go ahead with it at the time, but I'm sure they quoted £230 to patch up the missing leather on the bolsters and make the cracked leather look like new. I'm fairly certain that was for both seats.

I don't know if that's within your budget and it's not very precise, but I hope that helps.

 

John - the extra foam was only used to build up the areas around the driver's side bolster that had deteriorated due to tears in the leather - so not much difference comfort-wise but smoothed out the appearance - so visual improvement. Overall it took me about 7 hours to remove seats, replace the covers and reinstall the seats

The seats have to be removed to do this - so removal about 20minutes - slide seats forward, remove rear bolts, slide seat back remove front bolts then disconnect battery, disconnect cable to seat controls.

remove mechanism covers and seat back cover

Disassembly - in my case I was not concerned with retaining the leather so I wasn't as careful as you will need to be. Removal of the seat back is the pain due to the spring clips (PN JET100009). JTIS shows a tool to aid removal - I just used a flat tip screw driver and pried them out about 15 clips per seat back took about 45 minutes to get all the clips out

be cautious removing the lever - take a jeweler's screw driver and insert under lever to release tab and pull off - then carefully pry escutcheon cover

seat bottom - remove switch pack (push forward and angle rear of switch pack out then pull back to release front clip), remove a couple of compression clips and then unclip the plastic retainers - maybe 20 minutes total

the cushions just sit on the frame so removal should be a few minute job.

reassembly was the pain trying to stretch the clips into place for the lower cushion and for the bottom section of the seat back

Here is the link to SNG Barratt's catalog section on the seats: SNG Barratt - The Ultimate Jaguar Parts Specialist