Seat repair - Foam / Upholstery replacement

Was hoping to find out how anybody has renewed the bucket seats in their Tacoma. My truck is going through a rebuild at Toyota due to the frame issue and while this was happening I'd like to freshen up the seat. After 14 years I finally noticed that it is getting worn out by sitting in passenger seat while daughter is driving with permit. WOW is it supportive and comfortable compared. So I would need new foam and upholstery - has anybody done this and in which way ? Factory / aftermarket etc...

 

I usually just upgrade to newer used seats because custom upholstery would cost more. I can get a pair of new used seats at the junkyard for $100 or less. New foam from Toyota is $180 per seat and new covers are over $500 a seat. That's for both the seat and back portions.

 

any 3rd gen 4runner front seats fit right in our trucks, just swap the seat brackets out and your done.

lots of 4runners had better quality foam seats then ours and many have optional upgrades like heated seats or lumbar controls

 

Oh wow - I might call around and look for some that way. I guess the salvage yard would know what all years fit the 03 - like if the seat mounts changed with 2nd gen ?

 

you can also look here http://www.car-part.com/index.htm

now if you want to get fancy you might even find a set of leather seats for it

 

wow...What an AMAZING site...I have been dealing with a worn out seat in my 2010...I bought it in 2012 with 78K on it but the driver was a fat guy who ashed into a cup in his lap...upholstery repair was done but it's failing and the seat is saggy...might be a nice investment in a new seat with me doing 1.5h of driving a day

 

I’m looking for a seat cover myself, have you actually found them for this price anywhere? I’d pay it but every site I’ve ordered them has canceled my order bc they were not in stock. I’d be happy just to source the material at this point.

 

I think they're NLA I tried to order them over a year ago from my local dealer, just to do the driver's seat.

 

I checked a few weeks ago. All NLA

 

I ended up having my entire entire redone buy road wire leather. The door panel inserts, front seats and rear jump seats. The price to do this will bring out the hate.

 

Sounds like it would, haha! Hope you are happy with them.

 

I went through the trouble of swapping out the buckets in my truck. My research indicates only first gen tacoma seats will fit in a first gen Tacoma. Even 3rd gen 4Runners will require modification to the bracket or swapping the bracket entirely.

I bought 2001 Lexus ES300 seats with leather, memory foam, heat, and power adjustments and am putting them in my truck. Wiring is a pain (30 something wires coming from driver's seat) and I have to weld my own tacoma brackets to it. I bought a shitty pair of 60/40 Tacoma buckets from the pick n pull and threw away everything besides the brackets (I sold the seat cushion and seat shields though). I grinded the top of the Tacoma bracket off and welded angle iron to it. I cut the stock mounting feet off the Lexus seats so it's flush with the bracket.

Now I haven't done this yet but I will be welding the Lexus rails to the angle iron on the Tacoma rails.

Yes I could've just bought nice seat covers for my Tacoma seats but I really like the Lexus seats with the memory foam and heat and power stuff. I sat in over 100 different german luxury cars and the seats were all terrible. My final choices after trying them all were some Subaru seats, VW seats, BMW 325i seats and finally the Lexus seats. The Lexus seats were by far the most comfortable. The memory foam is amazing.

Yeah there's no bolster support but damn I would take no bolster support over the memory foam.

 

That's going to take you at least 2 or 3 hours
It's really about the satisfaction of completing the project...the seat will be 50% more comfortable just because of that..

 

So if I wanted to get new foam in my bench seat, what are the best options? Would an upholstery shop be able to do that or can I still get the foam itself from Toyota?

Pretty sure I can wrangle the foam in myself if anyone has a source.

 

If you can do the job yourself, do it. I paid 1000 for my two fronts to be done with new foam and black unpasteured leather. It was not worth it, and they ruined the foam in one of my headrests completely!, now I need a new headrest for a 2000 trd seat, for the foam only, its a bummer. I havent found one yet, now when I lean my head back it hits the metal under the headrest. Not many people take pride in their work anymore.

 

The regular cab's bench is basically 2 large foam pads, I think as long as I can stretch the fabric back over the foam I should be good?

Now I'm looking for anywhere that'll sell me oem foam, wonder what that'll cost

 

I recently did a bucket swapped, the passenger to the drivers. What a difference!

 

Tacoma Limited package seats are nice too!

 

I was a shop foreman of a trim shop for many years.
Do yourself a favor and take it in to have the foam steamed.

 

Jesus Christ for the price of reupholstering 20 year old seats you can buy really nice Recaro bucket racing seats or retrofit Lexus seats like me.