2005 Passat TDI Seat Bottom Cushion Foam

Has anyone ever had to replace the foam in their seat bottom cushion? My leather is in excellent condition at just over 10 years, but when I sit in my seat, I drop just a bit too much and feel like I am sitting on my legs. I just need some new foam. Is this simple for an upholstery shop to do, and how long does it take with foam in hand (e.g. can I wait for it at the shop)? Thanks again everyone.

So I did this in another car (I'm sure it's about the same) that it took two days. Once they got the foam in, I dropped the care off and it was just a matter of the guy taking the seat out, taking off the cover. Reshaping the new foam and applying the adhesive and reapplying the leather.

I was charged 70 dollars but I'm assuming most of that was just for taking the seat out of the car.

I don't think anyone can answer how long foam will talk to get in. You would need to discuss that with the guy that's doing your seat. But that doesn't matter as you can still drive you car until he gets what you need in.

I took the seat out of the Passat when I was doing an Alarm upgrade and it's really not that difficult. If you were confident in your abilities you could probably change the seat foam yourself.

I was given this rating for foam:
Here is the grid rating
CF-NT Extra Soft Seats for infants, cover for stiffer material, bedding applications
CF-40 Very Soft Seats for children, cover for stiffer material
CF-42 Soft Seats for 115 lb. person 3"-4" seat pad
CF-45 Firm Seats for 170 lb. person 3"-4" seat pad
CF-47 Very Firm Seats for 200+ lb. person, or seat in hot-humid environment for 170 lb. person.

You could find how much VW wants for the original foam seat bottom and replace it. That would be the right way, as the seat contour will be back to original. Screwing around with adding foam to a 10yo foam cushion usually ends up a mess and more costly.

i've played with those. It's not difficult as such - strong and small fingers help. Needle nose pliers will be your best friend

I've done it on other VW models with leather seats. Get the new seat foam from VW. Remove and disassemble seat. Remove cover (it's easier than you think). Install new foam. Reassemble! Take pictures during disassembly helps.

Seat foam cushions are made from several different density foams for different areas and that is why trying to add anything to them ends up a lumpy mess.

Gas
Foam pad for cars with Cloth
3B0881375H - Seat cushion pad SEAT CUSHION, cloth trim Left-$219.08
Foam pad for cars with Leather
3B0881375P - Seat cushion pad SEAT CUSHION, leather trim Left-227.82


TDI
3B0881375R - Seat cushion pad SEAT CUSHION, all Left-$97.02

The seat bottoms are pretty easy to disassemble. The seat backs seem to be more challenging with the later seats. The 98-01 seat backs could be disassembled somewhat easily. Anybody have a trick for the seat backs in the 04-05 cars?

Reason I ask is I installed cloth in mine and have a set of power seats with bad leather. Would like to have power cloth seats in my car.

What about the heating element for heated driver seat?

Thanks for the advice thus far. My heating element works fine, so does that create any foam replacement issues? What I am asking is whether the heating element is glued to the foam cushion (and thus a new heating element will be easier to install instead of screwing with old adhesives, possibly breaking the heating element, tearing the heating element off, etc.) or, is the heating element attached to the leather cover, and thus completely separated from the foam? Anyone know. Thanks again!

fastcar4re said:

Thanks for the advice thus far. My heating element works fine, so does that create any foam replacement issues? What I am asking is whether the heating element is glued to the foam cushion (and thus a new heating element will be easier to install instead of screwing with old adhesives, possibly breaking the heating element, tearing the heating element off, etc.) or, is the heating element attached to the leather cover, and thus completely separated from the foam? Anyone know. Thanks again!

Click to expand...

It's glued and sometimes kept into place with upholstery hog-ties onto the pad, but you can just rip it off and glue it to the new pad. After all this time the glue should be really easy to separate. Seat

Thank you very much. I may buy a new heating element and be done with it since mine was used a lot during my 7 winters in Michigan. Nothing like a firm hot seat cushion.

Probably limiting heating to #2 is best to keep element from frying.