The little strips of foam are coming out of my seat.. I guess I need to rebuild my seats soon...

Take them out to do it! I promise.........

Another thread with pics.

seat + pool noodles = bloody hands

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

Surprised to see this thread make it back to the top!

Some have commented on a concern that the pool noodles will deteriorate over time. I had my back seat out this weekend looking for MIA kid toys and observed 0 cuts, splits, crumbling, dust, etc.

This is after ~ 2.5 years total, with more than one year in Mexico (HOT!) and two little girls bouncing all over the place. Maybe the grease from lost French fries is conditioning the noodles? Maybe the Academy Sports noodles are OEM?

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2002 E320 Sedan 93K Designo Mocha Black Metallic!
1995 E320 Wagon 205K Black Wagon
1982 240D 183K SloPoke

I believe each of these cars are the final production year for that model.

As a side note, pool noodles come in 2 sizes, bigger and smaller. I used the bigger ones on the outside edges of the seat and cut them to a taper towards the seat back. Then placed the smaller ones next to the big ones. I was replacing both front seat bottoms at the time, so i removed the green horsehair crappy pads and replaced with zip tied pieces of used carpet topped with that "memory foam" and stuffed out with that polyester spun foam from Wal-Mart. This made it run way over budget at about 20 bucks, but it was worth it, Now my front seats fell better than my old living room recliner.....hmmmm....maybe I should pool noodle the recliner.

Short story, this is one fine, cheap, and easy project with results you really can feel!

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Mark
1983 300TD Wagon
Even a broken watch is right twice a day

I noodled my mother's 300D the other day, and *BOY* what a difference it makes! It doesn't quite have that "factory new" feel, and if you try and stuff too many noodles into it (like I did.. I got a tad overzealous), it can be incredibly firm.. but it certainly helps.

Put it this way, the driver's side seat was so low that when I sat on it, my entire left side sank to the floor (practically), I always slouched towards the door due to a broken spring, and I could barely see over the wiper blades. Alas, I couldn't even see the MB star! After noodling it, I was so high up that it felt like a new car, and I could see the hood star without any problems!

If someone like ME can do this, anybody can. I suggest anybody who has a sagging seat, tired tush, or sloping side to run out, grab a few dollar store noodles, and fix those seat springs. Your butt and back will thank you!

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(Oo{=|=}oO) 1983 MB 300D USA, 212,000mi. 80's yellow/white. "Gunther"
(Oo{=|=}oO) 1984 MB 300D Euro, Turbo Added in Germany, 186,000mi [SOLD] Missing her dearly.
(Oo{=|=}oO) 1984 MB 300D USA Turbodiesel, 269,000mi. [SOLD]

Found my noodles at the dollar store today and was trying to unbolt my first victim. The bolts in the front of the seat came out easily and the ones in the rear won't even turn. What would be the best tool to use to get those suckers to turn and come? Should I put WD-40 on them? I was using a ratchet-screwdriver handle combination and not sure if that's too little torque.

So what wrench should I use and/or lube to get that thing to turn. There's no rust to be seen but she's an old girl.

I find that a standard 3/8" ratchet with a 10mm deep socket works well for both the front and rear bolts in the W123's I've unbolted seats from. Most of my 3/8" ratchets are all of 8" from end to end.

The only trouble I have pulling seats is usually due to the height adjustment being frozen from grit, grime, and age. I swear it had to have taken me an hour of kicking and cursing my driver side seat to get it to move forward when I wanted to replace the seat. I bet the neighbours were wondering why I kept getting in and out of the back of my car and kicking the back of the front seat with both legs as hard as I could.

I may just try pool noodles on the rear seat bottom if needed when I replace all of my seats with a matched set in the future. Not too many people will ever be in the back, unless the wife and I go to the drive-in movies.

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- K.C.Adams

'77 300D Euro Delivery
OM617 turbo / 4-speed swap
404 Milanbraun Metallic / 134 Dattel MB-Tex

Current status:
* Undergoing body work

My '77 300D progress thread

Instead of WD 40 use PB Blaster. You won't be disappointed.

Cheers,

Bill

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Cheers,
Bill

I use one of those "impact drivers" with the Philips head which seats very will into the fastener then a wack with a hammer. Always does the trick and fits down through the rail just right.

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

Anybody tried welding the broken seat springs?

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

Depends entirely on the steel the springs are made from, as well as the skill of the welder. I'd have a heck of a time welding a tiny spring. Of course, you'd have to temper it correctly when you were finished, which means quenching it in oil.

I'm seeing either a spring that loses it's spring, and just sags, or one that ends up so brittle it fractures easily unless it's done right. I'm not saying it's impossible, but surely it would take a craftsman to pull it off.

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- K.C.Adams

'77 300D Euro Delivery
OM617 turbo / 4-speed swap
404 Milanbraun Metallic / 134 Dattel MB-Tex

Current status:
* Undergoing body work

My '77 300D progress thread

Success! What a difference $4 can make! Good thing I just had my tetanus updated! I didn't realize a spring was broken and it cut the top of my hand. Otherwise, the only difficult part was loosening the bolts on the back part of the seat. That was mostly due to my not having the correct tools. I'm off to K-mart to get me a nice socket set! That just sounded really dumb, but they do carry Craftsman now... I'm almost too tall for my car now! The shorter people probably REALLY love this noodle stuff! - Lance

after reading from the beginning, first I had to finally look up swmbo (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=swmbo) which now makes perfect sense, and now I'll definitly have to do this mod too. I just got a 300D for my girlfriend but the drivers seat sags uncomfortably to the left and she wants a very firm seat so I believe i will be stuffing it to the gills with the things!

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1980 500SE/AMG Euro
1981 500SEL Euro
1982 380SEL
1983 300TD
1983 500SEC/AMG Euro
1984 500SEC
1984 300TD Euro
1986 190E 2.3-16
1986 190E 2.3
1987 300D
1997 C36 AMG
2003 C320T 4matic

past: 1969 280SE 4.5 | 1978 240D | 1978 300D | 1981 300SD | 1981 300SD | 1982 300CD | 1983 300CD | 1983 300SD | 1983 380SEC | 1984 300D | 1984 300D | 1984 300TD | 1984 500SEL | 1984 300SD | 1985 300D | 1986 300E | 1986 560SEL | 1986 560SEL/Carat | 1987 560SEC | 1991 300D 2.5 | 2006 R350

Works great, sure beats paying for those silly little Mercedes repair pieces of foam on eBay!!!
Thanks for the idea.

Cool. Ill try and remember this in an event I ever encounter a problem like this