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Seat base restoration

NedHan79

Well-known member
Joined
8 Nov 2018
Messages
1,096
Can the base of a 996 seat be removed without taking the seat out of the car?
My drivers seat has sunken badly, more so on the left and as luck would have it, that's where I get a lot back and hip pain.
I have found out that for whatever reason, these seats where fitted a few years ago. Condition wise they're in decent shape except for this. The foam has sunken away down.

On a few quick searches, it may be possible to steam the original foam to put some volume back into it. The leathers quite saggy but I'd imagine if the foam comes up a bit, it'll help take some shape again. Failing that, it'll have to be some new sponge.
I have absolutely no experience with this but I'm not afraid to have a go.

Has anyone any experience on this?
I'm hoping to be able to remove the seat base, steam it from below and then treat the leather.
 

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I'm led to believe (after discussing spraying my hard backs) that if you want to do any work on the seats, it's easier to remove the seat out the car than messing around in the limited space there is.
 
Takes about 15 minutes to remove a seat so it's not worth the hassle of trying to work on it in the car.

Also the foam bases are interchangeable, I used my slightly worn drivers seat base and changed it with the less worn passengers seat with better bolsters etc.
 
I totally understand that Alex but my problem is limited space. If the seat has to come out, I'll maybe just go all out and paint the hard backs as well but atm it's simply a fix to get me comfortable driving the car. Might be a case of taking the seat out and sitting on a milk crate to reverse the car back in. But I'm guessing that'll have it's own problems with air bag sensors?
 
Infrasilver are the seat bases all the same? Mine are the wing back ones if that's a decent term for them and I also think they're from a boxster as they have strap at the shoulder.
 
The comfort seat has slightly shallower bolsters (15mm if I remember correctly) than the sports seat. Unsure about the strap on your seat back but I assume this is for the seat belt and wouldn't then be interchangeable.

Your base foam should be able to be swapped between N/S and O/S.
 
I'd be more interested in getting a foam from somewhere else as I don't want to ruin the passenger seat.
 
Just a random picture. Not my seat but that's the strap
 

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I had exactly the same issue with my drivers seat, one saggy bum cheek area.

I did take the seat out and noticed that the foam had come away at the sides so I repaired with tie wraps as shown in the pic.

It did the trick and my bad back disappeared along with the noticable dip in the seat
 

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Hans Gruber said:
I had exactly the same issue with my drivers seat, one saggy bum cheek area.

I did take the seat out and noticed that the foam had come away at the sides so I repaired with tie wraps as shown in the pic.

It did the trick and my bad back disappeared along with the noticable dip in the seat

The seats not the cause of my back problem as I've only had the car a short while but it definitely dosnt help. I'll give that a go if I can get a chance to look at it :thumb:
 
Ok so I went to take the seat out and didn't have the correct spline sockets so went to my local motor factory and bought a set. Got home and the rear one was rung so couldn't get the seat out anyway.

I just flipped the base out with the seat in the car. The canvas below the foam had torn away from the lading edge of the seat so the foam had no support below it. I fed cable ties into it and where it had torn from and also cable ties like the photo above.

While I was at it I got the steamer out and onto the cushion to put some volume back into it.

Fitted it all back together and the cable ties across the base broke immediately. Admittedly I'm not 12 stone and the ties weren't big enough. The ties holding the canvas are still in place so the seat has some shape and not just a hole where my left cheek sits :D

The leather is badly stretched as god knows how long it's been like that but atm it's more of a comfort thing than show winner.

I don't think there's much point in doing much with the leather. I'll give it a spruce up but ultimately I'd like a new base so I'll keep an eye open.

I'll try and add photos here if it'll let me :pc:
 
Ripped canvas
 

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Foam hanging out on handbrake side
 

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Adding a little volume with steam
 

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