Seat foam, which type is right?

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and enjoying all of the articles I run across, working on making the no sew door panels (soon as pleating comes in).

I'm going to "attempt" to make some seats, I just am having a time figuring out which foam, which thickness, etc.

It is going to be a bench seat in a 1966 Impala. The frame and all is good, the padding is basically all gone or what is left looks like cotton candy.

I do not know how thick of a foam I should get. What is a normal thickness for a bench seat as far as foam goes? Which type of foam is typically used? I got lost in all the rubber foam, closed cell, open cell, etc.

Thanks for any help.

 

I'm basically in that same boat. Need something passable now, but don't have the hundreds to put into the seat right now.

 

You can buy different thickness foam,,high density is preferred,,check out some automotive supply houses.they can guide you with which will work best for you. HRP

 

Try this:
http://www.rochfordsupply.com/buyersguide_foam.asp

 

I just did some and found a mattress maker locally that had high density foams of all kinds and was able to buy remnants for almost nothing, just an idea

 

I can tell you that just one thick block or slab of foam, is less than comfortable. (In a car, or on a couch.). I did just this years ago, on my old Deuce 5-window, & it wasn't what I liked at all. *After* I finished the seat, I read a couple of articles -which I've since lost - that suggest using different densities of foam, in a sandwich style build. IIRC, you'd use some heavy density foam at the bottom layer, then med, then a thin layer of soft foam. The key to making this work, was to completely glue each layer together, using a layer of muslin between each layer. That trick allows the weight to be spread out more evenly across the seat, sort of mimicking the tied-coil-springs-effect of the old style seats. & of course, cover the whole seat cushion w/a layer of muslin prior to the actual upholstery. Do the same thing for the seat back, just thinner, esp the heavy density foam.

Now a Q?
Since I never re-did my seat to try this, does anyone know about this trick, that can either verify that it works as intended, or that it is a bunch of hooey? & maybe which magazines/books the info showed up in? My current projects either don't use this style of seat, or are nowhere near ready for a seat. I've always wondered just how well this works. Will try it someday, but tha day could be a long ways off.

FWIW.

Marcus...

 

I went to costco and bought a dence foam mattress cover for a queen size bed. Its memory foam quite heavy but worked fantastic. It was a little over a hundred bucks its enough to do a few cars. Fed

 

I have heard of this from different sources but never tried it myself.

 

X2!! That's what I did. It's way cheaper than regular upholstery foam. Waaaay cheaper.I got the memory foam pads for twin mattresses. Spent about 30 bucks to do the front and rear seats in my old 51

 

Many years ago I worked in a furniture manufactures plant. Pretty neat stuff, all foam... no springs, no wood. At that time closed cell foam was rated with a number system. 1510 was very soft and used over denser stuff (1526) for seat backs and head rest. 1510 was also used for arm rest, in 4" thickness. 1024 is very stiff and was used for the structural sections of the base. We used a thin black flexible spun fiber glass material for support, glued under the seat cushion. Hope this helps.

 

2" high dense foam is best. I bought mine on ebay. came in a small box that was vaccum packed. What a blast when tht opened up. First cover your springs with burlap, then use carpet remnents on the springs. Trim foam with electric carving knife( this works slick), cover foam with muslin and install seat covers. Thats what I was told to do from the guy I bought seat covers from 10years ago. Still comfy.