MidAmerica Seat Foam too Hard! Color Wrong Too!

[CorvetteArchives]

Alright, some of you may recall that I had replaced my seats with ones from Corvette America and complained that they were too hard even after a couple thousand miles and even had the kids jumping on them in an attempt to soften them up.
Well, they are still so uncomfortable and ruin my driving experience I was faced with a choice. Strip the covers from my premounted seats and use my old seat foam or buy the Mid America ones who claim the "proper OEM density". I not wanting to face the hastle of hog ring horror I hear so much about decided on the latter. I figured that I'd sell the nearly new one's and absorb any loss since I just wanted comfy seats. When I called the salesman pointed out that Mid America is the only one to have the original GM "recipe". They can keep it! Its even harder than the Corvette America Ones!
Whats probably more annoying is the COLOR is WAY off. Maybe the Medium Gray differed during the production run, but my original 84 seats had a slight silver metallic hue that the Corvette America covers matched perfectly.
I currently have an original 84 worn leather seat bottom installed (so my head doesnt hit the roof) with a new Corvette America back and the match is EXACT! The Mid America seats are just grey with no hint of silver at all.
Back go the Mid America ones!

;help
BTW, I do need a top/bottom of OLD standard seat foam since I did throw out one seat since it was so worn:bash If anybody has a top/bottom they want to get rid of please message me! Thanks!

 

[PAULIE B]

I HAVE SEATS FOR SALE 87 RED SET GOOD COND. HOW DO INSERT AN IMAGE OF THE SEATS?

 

[427zone]

Thanks for the info on the seat foam comfort. Because our generation interior ages in dog years we will all be faced with the decision to live with the patina or as you have done, find a suitable replacement. Please let us know what you decide on and what works for you.

 

[CorvetteArchives]

One seat recovered and I'm happy!rotfl

I switched the proper colored leather from my Corvette America pre assembled hard seats to the foam on my old ones.
Removing the old seat covers was SUPER EASY and recovering them was even easier!!
I seriously think all that HOG RING HORROR was total BS engineered by seat manufacturers. One vendor in their catalog said something like.."its nearly impossible to save old seat foam when removing the old cover...so buy our new stuff". Yeah Right!
I swear it took no longer than 20 minutes to remove each cover from the foam and even quicker to reinstall it!

I used wire snips to cut each old hog ring rather than try to pry them apart. Using needle nose pliers the rings removed from the foam in 2 pieces.
Naturally the exposed ones on the back were easiest. After doing those, I flipped the lumbar pad and headrest leather off the foam to access the tailored side creases from the top and snipped those rings withour ANY damage to the foam.
This was just as easy on the new foam despite it being "tighter". The new cover was a snap to install on the old foam.
I was surprised how quickly I reinstalled it. It really was one of those "why the heck didnt I do this originally?" moments.
I bought a kit with 250 rings and really nice pliers on ebay for just $22 and now I sit IN the seat instead of ON it!otfl

I know that the foam despite being in very good condition now may actually wear out in another 10 years. By that time I figure they will either get the density right by then or I can buy a used set of worn seats from folks who bought new foam and have have worn it in.

 

[fumesniff]

when i got my 84 it had brand new seats from midamerica. i thought corvettes were just supposed to be uncomfortable!! i'm going to have to sit in some original seats at corvette gold next month to see what i've been missing. interesting post. kids jumping on the seats rofl.