Lancia Motor Club

Hi folks.

Anyone here with experience of opening up seat backs and improving the foam?

I've changed the seat base foam but find the backs offer little support which isn't great on a long journey. Ideally I'd like to remove the cover and fit new centre and bolster foams of a firm enough type, bit what type and how to do it?

Thanks

I guess the three questions are: what type of foam to use for the padding, how to shape it, and how to remove and reattach the fabric from its supports to enable replacement of existing foam.

Polyurethane foam seems to be the favoured padding material. Available from companies like eFoam.co.uk.   I have heard of one Berlina owner using memory foam.

Ideally the foam would be cut (or moulded) to shape like the bases that Giuseppe Rampello had made up. Though I imagine that blocks of foam would not be that easy to cut/carve to shape in a diy environment.  The alternative would be to use thin layers of foam, stacked in stepped fashion to approximate the curves.

With regard to removing the fabric of the seat, that looks trickier with the two-part seat back than with the one part seat base.   You could unpick the stitching and carefully peel back the fabric to see how easy it would be to remove.  But after re-padding the edges would need to be re-stitched. With the seat base it was possible to glue the fabric after folding it over the bottom of the metal base.  Not so easy with the backs.

Two other thoughts: maybe take one seat back to a local upholsterer (preferably an automotive one) for a quote, though I know that, like me, you like to attempt jobs yourself. Secondly, it could be worth posting your question in the General Chat section of the forum to see if owners of models other than Fulvia can provide any suggestions.

Hi Norm

I've been searching the net for answers to some of those questions.

My seat covers are just about serviceable so long as I keep up with repairs as and when required but the seat back foam has to be improved.

There seem to be many different grades of foam available but no info as to which grade would most closely mimic the original. From there I could choose to go firmer if required. I'd consider shaping the foam a challenge!

Does the seat back come off when unscrewed from the chrome side plates? If so, I might take a seat off and have a look at how it dismantles.

I'm also interested in finding a supplier for the edge trim that retains the seat base cover. It's a sort of cardboard that's sewn to the cover that tucks under the seat. And a male/ female trim that holds the headrest cover closed.

Does anyone know the construction of the seat back foam?

I recently replaced the rear seat base, with the intention of also addressing the foam. Once the covers were off and the foam removed, the foam construction was like the fronts, in that they had many pockets. So I experimented with just plugging the pockets with new foam, as opposed to cutting it in half and gluing in place new foam. In the end I am happy with the result. The donor foam was quite stiff and coupled with the original has resulted in a seat base that is now firmer than previous.

Perhaps you can give this a go.