"Rosshaarspinnerei, Gummihaar und schaumpolsterfabrik” (horsehair sprayed with a rubber material)

Decomposing horsehair seat pads...

I'm looking for a cheap solution for replacements on the W116. Best price I've found for the back seat was $170 for the bottom and $197 for the back cushion. Local upholstry shop wants close to $1k to re-cover front and back seats. I just need to find a cheap alternative.

From what I can tell the original pad was formed to fit. I'm thinking foam replacement won't be firm enough.

Tips, suggestions...

About to do this myself, but only because I want something firmer/cushier. My horsehair is in decent shape, it just doesn't stack up against the firmness of newer seats.

There's so many different kinds of foam available, and if I'm not mistaken, a few people have used "Memory Foam" to their advantage. I'm planning on just hitting up a good foam store and taking a look at what they have.

The "pool noodle" DIY in the DIY Articles uses foam for a top layer. While his cut leaves a little to be desired (square edge cuts look to bulge around the corners of the seat), he says he's real happy with the results.

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You'll be shocked at the price of foam.

Horse hair seat pads $28 for VWs.

http://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/DetailsList.cfm?ID=113885775E

Too bad they don't carry MB pads.

I got a queen size memory foam mattress top at target for about $12 a couple months ago. It is about 2" thick, think it would be perfect folded in half or in thirds for a bench seat.

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

All seats are 20% off this weekend at Pick N Pull.
That would be my first stop.

GAHH has new horsehair pads for around $100.
I recently got a new pad from them and it was
flatter than the original--not curved up on the sides
so I was a little disappointed.
I made it work, though with some memory foam.

Brian Carlton did a whole write up on it.

Jeff

I'll check into that. The 3" thick foam I found that was large enough to do the rear seat bottom was close to $80.

The '79 SD, AKA "Banana Boat", is kinda a beater so, I won't be dumping much into it at the moment but, it's got to seat four without poking holes in ones clothes.

The passenger seat is perfect, rear seat covering is not too bad but all the padding is gone and the drivers seat is shot.
I've been watching the yards for a W116 with good seats for a couple of years with no luck.
Hate to part her out as it only has 120K miles and no rust.

$12 or $120???

http://www.target.com/Memory-Foam-Select-Topper-Gray/dp/B000MMBFHS/ref=br_1_3?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=1&searchView=grid5&searchNodeID=2226202011&node=2226202011&searchRank=salesrank&searchPage=1&searchSize=30&id=Memory%20Foam%20Select%20Topper%20Gray

Holy $#&^ you gotta be kidding me....I think mine was on clearance but I still have the receipt, $12.99. Original was $20 or $30 at most, same product as that. Might have been a store overstock or something, but still....

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

I just redid the horsehair seat pads in both seats of my W126 300SD. I didn't do the backrests, they were still OK. It ran me $116 per pad from Gahh, a better price by $50-100 than both Performance Products or World Upholstery.

For the covers, the best prices I found for a W126 (new) are ~$1K for leather, both front seats, or ~$700 for Vinyl (with the leather pattern, if you want it). I ended up replacing the drivers seat cover only for $350 from Performance Products, and it looks great.

If you want cheaper than that, your best bet is to find a good junkyard interior, but even if you do I'd replace the seat pads (bottom only) as a bare minimum, I suspect not many 28+ year old pads are in very good shape.

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-Brian

1984 300SD, 375XXX miles, Light Ivory w/ Palomino TEX

Totaling it up and I'm looking at approx $1500 from Gahh the cheapest way out. My local shop's quote looks good now.

Dan ---- stop!

I think I have some solutions that you might be interested in......It seems a w123 front seat bottom just "might" be the same size as a w116 front seat bottom. I have NOT tried to do a Remove & Replace, but eyeballing the w123 seat bottom ontop of the w116 seat did provide enough encouragement that I plan on undertaking this soon......soon as in AFTER Coda is back together.

Regarding a backseat......I think at least one of the three w116s here has a decent backseat. It's not bamboo, but paint is cheap.

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daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
Cluster Needles Paint
New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

the wv pads might be the same size. return it if it doesn't work