I have had many old MBs with crunchie hair that was all there, with its proper shape, and not yet broken to bits and crumbs. Pads are expensive but I think that they are needed to give the chair its proper shape and fit with the cover. I have often thought about how onw might rejuvenate the pad.

My thoery is that a good strong material could be sprayed onto and into the degraded hair pads which would then cure to shape on individual hairs and in the pad. Impregnated with the proper material the new coating would not just add another matrix for the hair but it would structualy take the place of the bad hair. If the new rubber skin has great enough material strength, then the pads will be rejuvenated.

This seems like a good idea because the pads could be treated without taking them off of the frames. If one treats a number of pads this way, the cost saving of labor and materials could be very good. I think a few people have probably tried this. I did this once with contact cement. It worked OK but took too long to outgas. I also do not think that it is strong enough. Has anyone successfully put this thoery into practice? Is there a good horse hair pad rejuvenator rubber material that I can spray on?

I would tend to try some sort of polyurethane. Even if it costs $30-40 to do a back seat bottom pad.

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JMF

What you say reminds me when MB seats went to hell in early 1970's. Here's the story as it was told to me:

Whining crybabies snivelling over 'automotive safety' quickly discovered that massive horse-hair uphostery and ALL glue that held it together was extremely flamable.

How, when or why somebody's car seat might catch fire was not a factor. But the fact that one in a million car owners might get torched was enough to cause restructuring of seat design.

108, 114 and 115 owners take note - seats from the late 1960's are vastly superior to what was produced after Ralph Nader's Raiders' attacked the automotive industry...... also abolishing highly desirable corner wing windows on account of something ridiculous about "obstruction" to drivers' view of the road.

That story makes sense to me dieseldog.

The seats in my 114 car were near perfect. The rear seat in my '80 sd was a disaster. But so was the rest of the car (cosmetic/rust wise- mechanically it was like NEW) so I never attempted a fix.

The rear seat in my '80 123 car is still like new. What gives?

Which model do you have jmfitzger?

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'90 300SE 298k
-300K and it gets put into retirement.
'80 300D 255k Purchased new by family in 1980.

Had a:
1973 220 (gas)
1980 300SD
1992 400E

It is a W115 300D. As far as safety goes I don't care about the 1 in 1,000,000 chances of the interior catching fire. I have aphoto of a W115 that hit a wall on an overpass then fliped back over front and fell 20 feet to the street below and landed on its trunk. All four doors still opened. So the big safety factor seems to be steel - in the right amount and in the right places.

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JMF

The crash happened in Australia. See the right hand drive. I don't think the interior cought fire:

Attached Thumbnails

 

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JMF

The MB seat pads are actually animal hair (not usually horsehair anymore, more likely hog and cow). Vulcanized together with rubber, maybe some synthetic now.

The real cause of pad failure is water. If you don't fix the leaking window seals, the car gets damp and your friends bacteria and mold munch the hair, so the pad disintegrates. You can smell it -- that old, damp car smell.

otherwise, they tend to last forever.

There isn't much point in trying to rejuvenate a bad pad, since the fiber is actcually rotted. The "glue" is usually OK, but too brittle to stand up to being sat upon.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

That 115 looks amazing considering what it went through. The pass cell looks new.

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63 220S W111
76 300D W115
2013 VW JSW TDI M6

previously-
73 280 SEL 4.5
86 300E 5 speed
2010 VW Jetta TDI M6

Not far from here is horse boarding stable. I went out last night with some sheep shears to harvest some hair. Without hair they look like a cross between a rat and a hippopotamus.


Actually I have decided to buy new pads. I have found that GAHH has the best prices on some pads but that the best source seems to be the MB dealer so long as you get a decent discount. Hair pad prices range from $85 to $220 for w115/114 pads. I think that these pads are important because they are what shape the seats.

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JMF