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I have a 96 ford explorer and my drivers seat on the front left side has gotten so worn that the metal is sticking out and is begin to wear my slacks that I am wearing. Have ruined 2 pairs from the metal rubbing a hole in them.

What is a quick/cheap solution to repair this?

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Probably the easiest cheap solution is to replace either just the drivers seat or the full interior with one from a scrapped Explorer. I wouldn't expect the seats to be particularly expensive or hard to come by. You could even potentially upgrade to leather interior.

As an alternative, buy some bondaweb and a small amount of fabric, cut to a size that's larger than the hole and use a hot iron to attach the bondaweb and fabric over the hole.

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  • How difficult is it to replace a seat? I am somewhat savvy when it comes to repairs, just never taken on replacing a seat. – BellHopByDayAmetuerCoderByNigh Sep 28 '16 at 18:42
  • My model vehcile has the electronic forward, backward, up, down. And a second switch to add the "wings" to the side of the seat. Is it difficult to re-wire that if I went the replace seat route? – BellHopByDayAmetuerCoderByNigh Sep 28 '16 at 19:07
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    It is typically 4 bolts and an electrical connector or two. – CharlieRB Sep 28 '16 at 20:07
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The easiest, and likely cheapest solution would be to buy an aftermarket seat cover. Most department stores (Fred Meyer, Walmart, etc) carry a variety in their automotive section. To keep the metal from wearing through that as well, I'd cover it in some scrap fabric and duct tape.

If you're looking for a more permanent solution, then I'd follow Steve's advice and replace the seat with one from the scrap yard.

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You could get some foam padding larger than the hole and shove it in the hole to pad the metal. It will compress a lot so be generous. Then take some spare vinyl/leather/fake leather material, again larger than the hole and stick it in the hole to cover up the foam padding. Finally, get some fabric glue and glue the edges of the old material to the new material to keep it together.

Or just replace the material and padding using stuff from the junk yard. It isn't that difficult to pull apart the seat.

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  • Does it matter what type of foam padding I use? Or is it essentially all the same? – BellHopByDayAmetuerCoderByNigh Sep 28 '16 at 17:54
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    @BellHopByDayAmetuerCoderByNigh Whatever your butt likes or whatever you have lying around. You want it to be fairly dense so it provides some cushion. I would get some out of a junk yard seat if you don't have any. – Mobius Sep 28 '16 at 18:12

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