honasbone

A little back story: My driver's seat is not as comfortable as it ought to be for a flagship Lexus. I've felt this way since I bought it last year. The lumbar supports are all but hard and my butt and legs get fatigued after relatively short drives. I'm 6' 160lbs. Not a large guy by any stretch. So I know I'm not crushing the foam material under me caused by my immense weight.

My thought at the time was the foam had probably started collapsing now that there is 14 years on the car. So I started calling around to see what could be done to refurbish the seat.

I spoke with a company that said they could restore factory comfort by using steam to revive the foam back to its former glory. But they wanted to charge me $350 to do it. So I youtube'd it and watched a few videos on how to steam foam cushions back to new. It looked exceedingly simple. Just needed to have a portable steam cleaner. I picked up one for $40. Figured I just saved myself $310 bucks! Just needed to put an hour or two into it.

Last weekend I pulled the leather cover off of the seat bottom. The foam looked to be in pretty good shape. Didn't see anything wrong with it. But I thought I'd give it a go anyway. So I steamed it. Nothing changed in outward appearance because the foam had held up all of these years. Put the cover back on and voila! I had a seat that felt just as lack luster to sit in as it did before I steamed it.

I now believe the only way to get the comfort I'd like to experience is to add more foam. Maybe memory foam. Or a thicker/slightly denser foam than the grey (or purple in newer years) top foam on the cushion.

Has anyone added foam to their seat cushions and achieved what they feel is a significantly more comfortable seating experience? If so, I'd love to hear the details of what exactly was done to achieve this.

This is a great car. Very comfortable otherwise. I'll put up with a mediocre seat best experienced on short distances for all of the other perks this car provides if there is no other choice. Hoping that's not the case though.

warminwisc

I did just that on my last one went to an auto restoration shop. 150 bucks or so let them add the foam figured they knew what they where doing. Worked well they also took out some of the stretch in the leather at a seam.

whutt

Just picked up my LS last week and feel the same way about the seats. We're about the same height and weight too hah. Definitely want to revitalize the foam and leaning towards going with a denser/thicker foam if it doesn't compromise the cover.

Do you have any before/after pictures? Was it $150 for both, and what type of foam? Thanks!

W.

BCrews

I'm in the same boat. All the other seats feel better than the drivers, and yet my driver's LOOKS no worse for wear, but definitely feels a bit dead.

$150? I'd love to find someone in SoCal for that cheap. Pretty sure someone would charge that simply to open it up.

whutt

I'm in SoCal as well, maybe we can get a group buy on foam? We can't be the only ones.

W.

aypues

I am so cal too. the problem is not the foam cost, it is very cheap. the labor to do it is not the easiest. and it is hard to get the feel right for each customer. There are usually redo's.

honasbone

What did you think of the outcome, warm? Significant improvement? Any idea what kind of foam was added? Any impact to the heating/cooling function of the seat?

warminwisc

150 for one side. I told em to er on the firm side and it stayed firm until I traded it at 200k. Interesting my new one the seat has been fine and I push 270 lbs. Both 04's and guy that owned the last one was from CA so prolly not a heavy weight. It was like matching foam to the seat in density or a bit firmer. Took a bit of the heat out of the heated seats but they work marginally anyway. Initially felt like a slump in the lower cushion, after felt firm and supportive. I would prolly ask em to build up the side bolsters but my new one has 120k and seat is fine I got it with 60 rounds.

I would ask to stick around or come by to check the feel while it is being done it is subjective.