I did a thing.

[— kung fu jesus —]

OK, prepare your loins this will be a multi-part post.

Lets start with the old seats...

I landed a pair of black MSM seats with silver accent stitching a few years back. I had these in my NA, transferred them to my NB before I sold it off.

They are nice. They sit higher, but firmer and comfortable. I condition them regularly, but even so, the leather is a bit on the stiff side. They also suffer the 'infamous' flattening bolster on the outboard side that some companies like Paco and IL Motorsport sell bolt on supports for. I was never a fan, so I decided the best course of action was to refurbish the foam.

It's a pretty labor intensive job, but not difficult. I bought a $40 household steam cleaner on Amazon and went to work. I separated the seats into their components:

IMG_1788.jpg

IMG_1789.jpg

Using snips and dykes, I cut off the perimeter hog rings that hold the upholstery to the base:

IMG_1794.jpg

I didn't touch the center sections. My goal was to restore the shape of the foam bolsters and re-align the seams. This top view shows how the the bolster foam compressed/collapsed and the seam slipped over the peak. It looks like a bloated tick.

IMG_1799.jpg

I lifted up the upholstery and and applied steam, using distilled water. Cue soundtrack:



IMG_1814.jpg

Here is a quick video, hard to shoot but you can see how much volume comes back with a few quick shots of steam. Repeated, I got quite a bit more and it sort of reminded me of a marshmallow in a microwave. ;)



After allowing it to dry a bit, I reassembled, cleaned the leather, and moisturized. There was an indentation on the back, near the top where my rollbar presses into the seat. I pushed one of the steamer attachments under the cover, and a 5-10 second shot eliminated that sizeable 'dent'.

Here is a before/after of the seat bottom:

IMG_1802.jpg

IMG_1823.jpg

I repeated the process with the passenger seat (left below), completed driver's seat on the right:

IMG_1827 (Edited).jpg

Finished product:

IMG_1831.jpg

IMG_1834.jpg