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Frankenhaar -How To Replace/Repair Rear Seat Cushions


LindrelT

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I had seen this idea mentioned somewhere but never saw anyone try it.  It works!

 

So the 50 year old hard and crunchy gummihaar seat pads in our cars just turn to brown dust and slowly disappear.  While new FRONT seat backs and bottoms are available ($$$) we have not had rear seat ones forever.  Working off the knowledge that other manufacturers also used the product opens up new possibilities.  So the vintage VW folks have gummihaar pads available and at a reasonable cost — hummm…

 

Working on the WolfsburgWest.com site the best match by size are rear seat pads for a’56-’64 sedan.  They were (April 2021) $44 each and shipping was $32.  Here is what I got:

 

113885775B PAD/R BKRST, 56-64 SEDAN, VW Qty 1

113885375B PAD/R/BOT, 56-64 SEDAN, VW Qty 1

 

 

I never could get a measurement on the thickness but they are almost identical to our ’02 ones!  The edges need to ‘wrap” around the metal seat frame and these do.  So what isn’t perfect?

 

Let’s start with the seat bottom.  And this is where the title for this article comes in.  The VW part is an inch wider than we need and the depth is one inch shorter.  Also the edge shape at the back corners is a little different.

 

Frankenhar-1360.jpg

 

Frankenhar-1361.jpg

 

Frankenhar-1363.jpg

 

How about keeping the back edge of the old part (it is under the seat back anyway) and we can get our missing inch of depth back.  Then for the front section we take an inch out of the middle.  I used very heavy scissors and cut the gummihaar along my marked lines - not fun. Re-assembling our “Frankenhaar” with upholstery thread or monofilament line stitching we get this new bottom cushion!

 

Frankenhar-1365.jpg

Halfway there.  While the VW seat bottom is a good match, the seat back in the ’02 is a moulded marvel that is anything but straight or flat.

 

Frankenhar-1367.jpg

 

After puzzling over it a couple of days I just couldn’t put that crunchy seat back pad back in the car.  So the idea is new padding is for where you sit, right?  Bingo, I’ll just replace the contact area with new material and preserve the shaped area I have.  The 15” square donor sections look like this:

 

Frankenhar-1369.jpg

 

Same exercise…  use thread/line to make big loop stitches holding them together.  Spongy and soft where two people can sit back there!  My new covers came with a layer of foam stitched to the material so I didn’t add anything else over the gummihaar.  Reattached the cover to the pointy tabs and then some additional hog ring work and done!

 

Frankenhar-1371.jpg

 

Frankenhar-1377.jpg

 

Given the front seats get more use and have more “shape” in them, I didn’t explore the VW donor route and just gave my German friends at WN some business.  I hope this gives you some ideas and may answer an old question you may have had like me…  “I wonder if those cheap VW pads could work?”  Cheers!

 

 


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Nice job and great tutorial.  Hope this'll go in the articles section.  

 

And for those of us with early cars--68s and 69s for sure, possibly 70s--the rear seat back is flat--no indents like the later ones, so I suspect that VW seat back pad will work (almost) in its entirety.  And as an extra tip for those whose cars have those flat seat backs, the back upholstery from a curved seat back can be adapted to work with the flat padding.  A good upholstery shop can do the necessary nips and tucks to make it happen. 

 

mike

'69 Nevada sunroof-Wolfgang-bought new
'73 Sahara sunroof-Ludwig-since '78
'91 Brillantrot 318is sunroof-Georg Friederich 
Fiat Topolini (Benito & Luigi), Renault 4CVs (Anatole, Lucky Pierre, Brigette) & Kermit, the Bugeye Sprite

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  • 1 year later...
7 hours ago, Birdie said:

Great article.  Looks like a very fun project.

Might I ask where you got that backseat upholstery?

It's great looking. 

 

Thanks!

 

The covers came from ‘zoom-zoom-zooming’, an eBay vendor.  They fit well, just wish the vinyl portion was a little heavier material.

 

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