Bench seat foam "help"
 

Hey Guys !

I want to hear your experiences with replacement Bench Seat Foams ! I know of 2 manufactures: American Cushion & PUI. and I'm sure there are imports also.

I have a 71-72 Full Foam Seat and a new cover from Truck Seats. My upholsterer says I need new cushions or to have him build new foams. Because he's so busy he would prefer I buy the foams pre-formed. But I'm reading some are too dense and people are having issues with head room and leg clearance between the seat and steering wheel.

Help me make a decision on what mfg. of foams to use, tell me the good, bad & ugly !!!

Thanks in advance !!!
Gary

Re: Bench seat foam "help"
 

I bought the set from LMC and are pretty happy with them. They seem like good foams and fit well but they did push me a couple of inches closer to the roof.

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Thanks Boogieman ! Do you know who's cushions they sell ?

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Anyone else ???

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Don't buy the expensive stuff. It's to dense!!! I had to cut mine down.

Re: Bench seat foam "help"
 

Thanks !!! heathbirkendahl, Do you know who made the foams you had to cut down ?
This is the kind of info I'm looking for, do you know if it was PUI or American Chusion ?

Oh and did you have the full foam seat frame or the standard seat frame?

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Anyone know the manufacture of seat foams you had good luck with ?

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Post a picture of your seat foams , it just sounds like your upholster is lazy it usually much easier ,cheaper and a better fit to repair what you have rather than replace it with over priced aftermarket foam that doesn't fit .

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Hey Grumpy!

I have no pics at this time, but Repairing the seat is still an option, he will do what ever I want from repair to replace or custom build new foams. I'm looking for the option that will give me a nice useable / comfortable seat without going crazy with the $$$. I can get PUI foams for $185 from Jegs. But would like to hear feed back about them. He is a PUI dealer but has never used the 69-72 bench cushions from them, he's going to call them Monday and get the low down. He recently did a seat for a customer that brought his own foams and had the issues of being too stiff & tall. ( he'd didn't know the brand ) he had to cut them down. I'm / we are doing the research before jumping into it.

More feed back Guys !!!

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Hey Gary,

I have a nice set of original foam in good shape from 72. I could post pics tomorrow?

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Hey John !
Are they full foam cushions ?

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Yes. I will post pics later today. On a plane from Newark to seattle

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Sounds good John.

STILL LOOKING FOR FEED BACK ON NEW FOAMS !

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I've been building interiors for a very long time ,replacement foams are not only expensive but junk in my opinion and I've rebuilt thousands of seats over the years , Believe me when I tell you your butt will not tell the difference between an original good condition foam and one that has been correctly repaired . Foam is cheap to buy a piece large enough to repair just about any damage and many guys fix their own and install their own replacement covers with great results .we used to charge a $100.00 to install a customer supplied seat cover including basic foam repair and those jobs always went to the low guy in the shop and took less than an hour . An electric carving knife for $10.00 cuts and shapes foam just as good as my $500.00 Bosch foam saw. And contact cement can be purchased at any home store and can be brushed on we used to install carpets ,jute padding and vinyl tops for many years brushing the glue on . I suggest you fix it yourself as a weekend project and you'll find many uses for the left over contact cement .

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To do what you just described he would charge $165, and that might be the way I go !

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I need to do the same and plan on doing as GOM suggests. Suggestions on foam density that most closely matches original foam would be helpful from anyone in the know..

Re: Bench seat foam "help"
 

i really dont understand "buying" brand new foam. it cost way too much for what it is.

junk yards are filled with vans,busses,motorhomes and trucks
most have perfect bench seats in them.

in the back of full size window vans they have rows of removable seats there is great foam in these and sometimes the covers are useable just for the material...its good stuff

measureing is really important. and the foam is so easy to shape the way you need it. you can add layers of differnt density foam to achieve maximum comfyness;)

now i understand those who do concourse restorations and want everything perfect.
but those who are capable and willing and on a budget can get it done for way less.

right grumpy:lol:

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Here is the lower. The back is in the same or better condition.

Attachment 1534986

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Hey John !

Those do look to be in nice shape. So what do you want for then ? and then there's the shipping ! You can PM me if you want.

Gary

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Hey! Sorry for the delay. I'm not sure one the brand. It was a couple years ago now. I can tell you I bought it from guy here on the forum. Very nice guy and great service. Foam was just to stiff. My head touched the roof.

I believe the guy was "Truckseats"....

Re: Bench seat foam "help"
 

On page 9 and post 211 this guy gives the most in depth explanation of foam types and density for seat repair, pretty interesting. Link takes you to page 9 http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=456911&page=9

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Thanks for the reply !

That would be Tim @ Truckseats, I bought my covers from him, good stuff.
I'm currently waiting on a reply from him on who makes his cushions and if he has had any issues like you described.

Gary

Re: Bench seat foam "help"
 

Yeah Jim did a great job of repairing his seat, and very informative. But if it comes to that I'll let the upholster do it !

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Just wanted to update my experience with the cars ins #580 seat foam for my 1972 full foam seat

I bought the foam and seat cover from cars, had it installed at local upholstery shop. Looked great, was super happy until I realized I no longer fit in the truck. The foam is EXTREMELY stiff. I weigh 260lbs and foam barely compresses. Legs hit the steering wheel and head is into the roof

Going to try the PUI foam next. Seems alot softer

Re: Bench seat foam "help"
 

Thanks All!!!
I have a couple of cushions to repair, The mega buck prices for the cushion foams is ridiculous...it's not rocket science as Grumpy eludes to...

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My original seat looked just like yours if not worse. I bought new covers from Brothers Trucks but next time would get them from Tim. I then went to Fred Meyers a local grocery and hardware store and bought foam from them. i bought 3" tall and just wider than the original seat. I used spray glue from 3M and i went to a garage sale and for 5.00 i bought an electric knife. So i glued the new foam to the old foam and then started forming it with the knife, then i used an air grinder with 80 grit sand paper to smoth over the edges. I then put the cover on, use the hog ring pliers and for under 200.00 i rebuilt my seat. Now it is not perfect, but it looks good and is very comfortable. not to hard to do if you ask me.

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here is pic i made a mistake, i used 1" foam not 3".

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I had to completely redo my seat for the same issue. I'd strongly recommend getting the cheaper less dense foam. OR, you will need to work redo your seat cover.

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I got my seat back from the upholstery shop today. Huge improvement with the PUI foam over the Cars Inc foam. I now have a few inches above my head and couldn't straighten out my neck before

Hopefully this saves someone the headache I went through

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I ended up having my upholstery shop get the replacement foams for my seat, they are also PUI. He only used the bottom cushion, the back cushion didn't fill out the cover completely so he reused my original back because it was in good shape. The seat is definitely firmer than the original, but I still have about 3" above my head ( I'm 5'11" ), hopefully this will be enough. The truck still isn't on the road yet so only time will tell. Oh and yes I have replaced the rusty slides under the seat. "LOL"

Gary

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I used the high-density foam (can't remember who I bought it from) and I sat way too high in my truck as well. I ended up cutting 1.5 inches out of the brackets. It is perfect now.