Seats, seat springs and ride quality

[Mr Lee]

Thinking about ride quality, I notice that I bounce up and down in my seats quite a bit.  The seats are very...  springy.  (they have new seat foam from Legendary).  I have new shocks in my sights also, but... do modern car seats have springs like our old cars do?  I don't feel like they do.

So I'm thinking of a way to lessen the travel of my seat springs.  Maybe adding some thick foam under the seat somehow.  Not sure yet.  Was wondering if anyone else had a similar mindset and had a go at this.

Also, a question to anyone who has put modern seats in their car.  Did it make the ride less bouncy?

[DeathProofCuda]

Did you recover the seats or do you know how they were recovered?  The reason I am asking is because from the factory the burlap in your seats would have small diameter wire woven through it in a grid-like pattern.  I believe this is supposed to provide additional support and tie the spring support system together a bit.  If you watch online videos, like the ones put out by Legendary, they do not install these wires when replacing the burlap.  I am assuming this is because the new foam is denser and more supportive than the original stuff, so they think it isn't needed.  Seems to me that without these wires you would get a bouncier seat because your support is only coming from the springs of the seat frame.

When I recovered my front seats I replaced the burlap wire grid and had to use a slightly thicker wire than original.  That, plus the denser foam, has given me seats that are much firmer than original, more similar to a more modern seat.

Here's a link to a how-to article by Steve Dulcich on recovering e body seats that includes the burlap wire replacement.  This is the only reference I've found online that includes this step.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/mopp-9904-how-to-install-front-and-rear-seats/

[Dakota]

The only other seat innards I've seen recently is for my 2008 Dakota.  The front seat has a "sling" stretched under the foam instead of the burlap and spring arrangement described above. 

If you're getting bounced in your seat, I suspect it had more to do with your suspension than the seat structure but I'll defer to our resident wizards on their experience. 

[Mr Lee]

That's an interesting thought.  Yes I recovered them myself as per the how-to videos by Legendary and therefore did not reuse that thin gauge wire mesh stuff.

@DeathProofCuda  You mentioned using thicker wire... Why did you have to use a thicker gauge wire than original?

[DeathProofCuda]

@Mr Lee

My original burlap wires measured about 0.042" thickness, but I couldn't find a similar wire available commercially.  I finally stumbled upon "Music Wire" supplied by K&S Precision Metals.  I was able to buy it locally at my hardware store, but you can also find it online.  K&S didn't have anything at 0.042", so my options were either to go up to 0.047" or down to 0.032".  I chose to go up. 

Here is a link to the wires I used.

https://www.amazon.com/K-S-Precision-Metals-502/dp/B0006MZNAE

Here's a pic of one of my seats showing the burlap wire grid.

[HP2]

Modern seats have much thicker foam in them than vintage seats do. Many do not have wire springs either, but are the straps as explained above.

[tparker]

Hey, What do you mean when you say bouncy? I can't imagine the seat having a huge bouncy effect. I would be thinking suspension, unless your just talking a little. When my challenger was running it never had a bouncy seat, but they were well worn out so that isn't a surprise.

I rebuild my seats with legendary kits. As was mentioned above, they didn't use the woven in wire. I found a great resource on line from muscle car magazine I think that showed it. Since my seats originally had it I decided to add them back in. I just used welding wire the was close to the same diameter. My car isn't running yet so I can't answer one way or the other. Still waiting on the damn machine shop. LOL. Hopefuly I'll get a chance to find out how the seats are in the next month or two.

[Mr Lee]

@tparker

By bouncy, I mean ... when I go over a bump and my body sinks down into the seat, the springs flex, then they rebound and send me bouncing back up, higher than i was before i hit the bump.  Basically theres too much movement up and down.  Even though its a small amount, it just feels like im bouncing.

Just like a car's suspension needs shocks to slow down the rebound. I feel like the seat springs need some kind of shock absorber too to slow down the rebound.

I feel like if there were no seat springs and just some firm thicker foam underneath me, there wouldn't be any rebound back up.  Shrug.


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[smallblocksrock]

I recovered my seats and used new foam, but still felt like I was sitting in a hole.  This is my fix. 

I used two pieces of clothes hanger wire, cut to about 13" and bent each end into a loop.  I then hog ringed them across the four rows of the seat springs where most of the weight is.  This limited the travel of each spring and really firmed up the seat bottom.   You can experiment with the seats out of the car until you find the right amount of "cush", then hog ring them in place.   They are no longer "springy".

Those wires are holding up 275 pounds, quite an accomplishment. 

[Mr Lee]

I recovered my seats and used new foam, but still felt like I was sitting in a hole.  This is my fix. 

I used two pieces of clothes hanger wire, cut to about 13" and bent each end into a loop.  I then hog ringed them across the four rows of the seat springs where most of the weight is.  This limited the travel of each spring and really firmed up the seat bottom.   You can experiment with the seats out of the car until you find the right amount of "cush", then hog ring them in place.   They are no longer "springy".

Those wires are holding up 275 pounds, quite an accomplishment.

Cool.  I wonder if I can add some wires in from underneath, without removing the seat cover.  Hmmm [emoji848]


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[smallblocksrock]

You do not need to remove the seat cover.  It is all done underneath the seat.