Seat foam replacement

[Tom Nas]

Hi all,

Yesterday, we replaced the bottom seat foam on the driver's seat of a 
friend's Audi 90. Though not that easy, it wan't as tough as I thought it 
would be either.
The foam (sports seats) has a wire moulded into it, as has the upholstery. 
To provide the seat's contours, these wires are fastened together pulling 
the upholstery into the foam's moulded crevices forming the 'bucket'. Audi 
uses 'hog rings' to attach the upholstery, actually steel u-rings pulled 
together by special pliers. To remove the upholstery you need bolt cutters, 
we used nylon tie wraps to reattach the upholstery. There's no glue holding 
the bottom foam to the frame, it's held in place only by the upholstery.
The toughest part (you'll soon get used to sliding tie wraps under the wire 
where there's no room and you can't see what you're doing) is to get the 
tension on the ties evenly matched, so that the upholstery doesn't end up 
skewed. It's also a good idea to mess around with the upholstery so that 
the wires in the cover are neatly aligned with those in the foam.
 From 'seat out' to 'seat ready to go back in', the operation took some 90 
minutes. It's very useful to have someone help you, as it's impossible to 
maintain the right tension on the seat cover and simultaneously fastening 
the tie wrap. Also, getting the seat into and out of the car is a two-man 
job, really.

If your driving position is so-so, change the bottom foam. The improvement 
is incredible, these seats were really excellent when new.

Tom