I'm catching up on some deferred repairs on my 2004 LS430 CL and the most annoying thing I have found is the worn seat cushion. It only takes 30 minutes of driving before I get sore - it feels like sitting on concrete. My car only has about 96k miles on it but the seat cushion was flat worn out.

I debated making my own versus paying $200 for a new Lexus foam bottom. I decided to go with the Lexus foam as it already has the air channels for the Climate seats molded in.

The difference between the new foam and the worn foam is obvious. I spent 6 hours driving my LS yesterday after finishing the job. Before, I would start to get sore and fatigued after 30 minutes of driving. Yesterday I spent the entire 6 hours in the driver's seat without any discomfort.

As far as automotive upholstery goes this was a pretty easy job. The Lexus seats are well made and easy to work on. I took my time and from start to finish (excluding waiting for the new foam) it took me about 90 minutes.

Details are located here.

 

Nice write up and pics,i changed mine a couple of years ago and i am still a happy camper.

 

Sweet!

Not sure I need to replace mine comfort wise but the airflow on mine sure isn't that good. Thanks for the writeup...

 

Where did you get the replacement cushion? I need to order a few things and may add this to the list. Thanks for the nice write-up and pictures.

 

Great write up. Sticky nomination?

 

+1 I had no idea how to take the seat apart

 

I got it from LexusPartsNow.com.

 

I got mine from www.mylparts.com They are a forum sponsor and give a 10% discount.Free shipping over $150. Use CL5 at checkout.

 

Very nice write-up. Thank you.

 

Hi-

Great write up.
I have a question about the hog rings. Do the new rings come with the new seat cushion?
When you put the leather back on the seat. Does is look as good as it does rom the factory or can you tell it was removed?

Thanks again.

Ken

 

Ken,
The new cushion did not come with hog rings. I used . If you don't have hog ring pliers, . Or save yourself some money and .
You can not tell that the cover was removed. I'll try to take a picture this weekend but it looks exactly the same as it did before.

 

Awesome! Do you think this is a DIY job, for someone who has no experience with upholstery? I always look at it, if I am learning on the vehicle, and something does not work out, does this mean I cannot drive the car....and this happens to fall into that category. Worse case, put it all back together and drive to a shop without the seat cover?

p.s. this was done to my 1998 Maxima brand new because they cut the seat upon delivery, and for 19 years I put up with it being off....(cover just not right)

 

Hey John,
You're right - worse case scenario is you put the foam back on the base, throw it all back together, and drive it to an upholstery shop.

I don't like answering questions with questions, but (1) is this your only means of transport, and (2) if you run into a problem when you're working on cars, do you tend to freak out? If yes, then I might let the professionals handle it. If not, then I say dive in. I have the luxury of the LS being an "extra" car for me so I can afford to work on it at my own pace.

Either way you decide to go - good luck and have fun!

 

haha those are great questions and the answers might be embarrassing. No, the LS430 is not the only car, I have a spare. But, I have to admit, I think I do freak out when something goes awry.

On my BMW all I had to do was to change the H8 bulb that lights up the angel eyes (rings around the lights), watched the YouTube. There is almost no access for your hand. The one problem that wasn't mentioned, is, if there's no access, try screwing a new bulb back in--you don't know from what position to start it. Eventually, I dropped it into the light housing and it's like the LS, adaptive xenon. I freaked out as if the sky were falling! lol

To my defense, I took out the ABS module, shipped it out for repair, reinstalled it, and bled the brakes normally, and also with BMW software. This disables the vehicle, but I did it out of necessity--the cost at the dealer made it such that it wouldn't even be possible, so I had to DIY.

These things go 2 ways I guess.....one you do something for the first time, and feel extremely happy that you learned something new, or two, you don't even try and pay someone else....decisions decisions...but you are so right, as long as you're having fun it's all good!

 

Thanks Windcity.

I appreciate the help and guidance.

The seat removal and disassembly seems pretty straight forward. Removing the leather from the seat makes me a little nervous. How hard would you rate this piece?

Thanks-

Ken