Good to know....

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canyncarvr

canyncarvr

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...and it only cost me $400 to find out.

I ordered front seat covers and foam. After a good bit of poking around the forum, I chose Legendary. Some nine months after ordering, the parts showed up. I took the seats/covers/foam to a local shop that's been around for a good 30 years. There are always cool cars sitting around; Nomads, Baccarudas, SS 454 Chevelles, GTOs, Model T&As, too.

The gentleman said they used Legendary seat covers all the time...that they are good stuff. The foam? Not so much. He said my almost 50 year old foam would probably be a better choice 'cuz the 'new' stuff was not UP to snuff. The foam doesn't fit to start with, he said, besides being of poor quality.

I figured (wrongly) that a known good quality seat cover source would also have good quality foam. You know, something nicely reinforced for strength like...say...OEM seats.

Nope.


A big disappointment.
 
canyncarvr said:
...and it only cost me $400 to find out.

I ordered front seat covers and foam. After a good bit of poking around the forum, I chose Legendary. Some nine months after ordering, the parts showed up. I took the seats/covers/foam to a local shop that's been around for a good 30 years. There are always cool cars sitting around; Nomads, Baccarudas, SS 454 Chevelles, GTOs, Model T&As, too.

The gentleman said they used Legendary seat covers all the time...that they are good stuff. The foam? Not so much. He said my almost 50 year old foam would probably be a better choice 'cuz the 'new' stuff was not UP to snuff. The foam doesn't fit to start with, he said, besides being of poor quality.

I figured (wrongly) that a known good quality seat cover source would also have good quality foam. You know, something nicely reinforced for strength like...say...OEM seats.

Nope.

Sure, putting a hand on a pile of foam is not like sitting your arse on it (unless your backside is 6sq.in. or so), but it took very little 'push' to squeeze the seat foam flat as a pancake when it was sitting on the bench.

A big disappointment.
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Just askin here, but did you actually inspect the foam yourself? I wonder if it;s possible maybe your interior guy got hold of some foam from a bad batch? It does happen. I haven't seen anybody else say anything about this. ...not that that means a darn thing.
 
Just askin here, but did you actually inspect the foam yourself? I wonder if it;s possible maybe your interior guy got hold of some foam from a bad batch? It does happen.
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I ordered it, it was sent to my address, I had it all out of the box(es) to at least get an idea that I got the right parts. I wouldn't say I 'inspected' it, but looked it over a good bit. I didn't want to haul it to be done to find out the foam fits a seat with a headrest....or something.

**edit** I did the OP. I didn't have the OEM foam off the frame, so making any comment on how easily the new foam squished (compared to nothing) didn't mean anything.
 
He might be trying to raise the installation cost by wanting to use his foam, custom making it.
 
my 2 cents.... i tried getting my dash pad restored by a reputable shop and they informed me that he cant get the good quality foam that he normally uses and would not use the sub-quality **** foam thats flooded the industry... Rich
 
I used the Legendary seat covers and foam as well. Bought the rallye seat upgrade. My upholsterer , who has been in the trade for 45 years told me the foam was perfect! Now, I did buy the upholstery back in 2017 so maybe Covid has had an impact on who supplies the foam and the quality.
4 years, 5000 miles and the seats look as fresh as the day I installed them!
 
One of my jobs as a younger man was carpet installation, there are many types of foam ,some dense and some more "air" pockets. the lighter airy stuff will flatten out pretty quickly but it is cheaper. Its the same with cheap sofas, the cushions flatten out and you ware a seat into them. It may not be an issue depending on how often you actually drive your car. a recommendation would be to "supplement" possibly with carpet foam, Im sure we all know an installer or could go to the carpet store and see what they have, I have done this with my sofa cushions when they flatten out, I just restuff a layer or two of dense carpet pad into the cushions.
I do believe though with regard to the subject of this thread that the current cheap item is the thick seat foam for the bench seat, I believe the seat backs are a different material, more a burlap and filler type situation, so like said i think a possible situation is to do the seats with the foam that is offered, if it flattens out in say 3 years , open the seat back up and stuff come dense carpet pad into it and reclose .just to get the wrinkles out.
 
Most foam needs to be cut to fit even if it says it is for a specific style. The guy who makes dash pads and arm rests has been out of foam for a year now, it is all Chinese and is sitting in container ships outside LA...
 
I suppose you could buy rear bench or 2 from a parts yard at a reasonable price. Rob the foam and have your upholstery guy cut it to fit.
Our classic seats have springs like household furniture. That relieves some of the pressure on the foam and make them more comfortable. New seats are just dense foam over steel frames, no springs. They shape contours into them along with adjustable to make them more comfortable.
I too bought skins and foams from Legendary, 67 B'cuda buckets, but it was 8 or 12 years ago, I forget. I dont like raised side bolsters so didn't add them. I'm happy with them. I can't imagine I'll drive it enough to wear out the seat foam.
 
To the OP, you have one person's opinion. I suggest you inspect the foam yourself, there are tests for measuring foam density and weight. You could ask you source to show you what they mean in difference.

Off shore doesn't mean poor quality, Companies who choose profit over quality are the problem. Factories are like Jack in the Box, they don't make it until you order it.
 
There is a LOT more to a seat foam than having it flatten out over time or leaving a cheek impression in it. I've ridden motorcycles for a long time; dirt, street, 'adventure' ... and a good seat can be the difference between a PITA in 20 minutes or riding 4-500 miles a day (or maybe 50 in the dirt) and still being able to walk.

True. A motorcycle seat is considerably more a part of an interactive driver/machine function than is a passenger car seat. Still, there is a lot more to it than simply being a spot to park your buttocks.
 
I would say if the foam is honestly not good, reach out to Legendary. They have good customer service and may replace it. They caint do anything if they don't know about it.
 
canyncarvr said:
There is a LOT more to a seat foam than having it flatten out over time or leaving a cheek impression in it. I've ridden motorcycles for a long time; dirt, street, 'adventure' ... and a good seat can be the difference between a PITA in 20 minutes or riding 4-500 miles a day (or maybe 50 in the dirt) and still being able to walk.

True. A motorcycle seat is considerably more a part of an interactive driver/machine function than is a passenger car seat. Still, there is a lot more to it than simply being a spot to park your buttocks.
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there is truth to this, with a car seat say a bucket seat and driving long distance a comfortable posture is key. i remember old jalopies I grew up with where you "leaned" while sitting behind the wheel because of worn out seat issues. I'm older now proper posture is a necessity
 
dano said:
Off shore doesn't mean poor quality, Companies who choose profit over quality are the problem
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Well said. If the company having an off shore manufacturer make a product don't do their own quality tests, and SPEC the product correctly and fully, they will get crap. Not the manufacturers fault.

I know this from first hand experiance working with Chinese contract manufacturers.

I will say that the most frustrating part was i would spec A, I would get B. I would point out that the spec was A and get somewhere between A and B. I would go through this 2 to 3 more times till they actually sent what i specked.

Then i would have a run made and i would do destructive testing on it to be sure it was what i specked and to the quality i expected.

From there random quality tests and inspection of all lots kept everything on track.
 
dano said:
To the OP, you have one person's opinion. I suggest you inspect the foam yourself, there are tests for measuring foam density and weight. You could ask you source to show you what they mean in difference.

Off shore doesn't mean poor quality, Companies who choose profit over quality are the problem. Factories are like Jack in the Box, they don't make it until you order it.
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This is exactly correct! If offshore meant bad quality, then we'd be seeing a lot and I mean a LOT more problems than we are. The amount of offshore products is staggering and the amount of bad products is but a small percentage.

That said, I'm still not a fan of offshore products as they don't do anything to help American workers.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I would say if the foam is honestly not good, reach out to Legendary. They have good customer service and may replace it. They caint do anything if they don't know about it.
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You are correct.

It does come down to opinion, though, and that is my point in this post. A decades-long worker in the field said the new foam isn't worth much. Does he have an axe to grind? Possibly. I will, though, wait for a person to prove themselves to be off-center in the opinion category to discern such a thing for myself.

What is far more likely is the change of times. Things that used to be a certain way are no longer like that. Used to be one could join a dozen NPT fittings together and expect zero leaks. 'These days', it's only with the use of pipe dope, thread wrap, and thread sealant that you can hope for such a thing. Why? 'Cuz tapered pipe threads are no longer 'like that'...and the joints using such 'standard' fittings are commonly problematic.

Legendary is likely doing the best they can with what they have to work with. That doesn't mean or even imply that the end product is anywhere close in quality to what it once was. Plus, the bane of ANY product is to be, 'New and Improved!'

It's a curse of living past fingers-on-one-hand decades of time. Not only can you see the swirl, you see the drain and the tailpiece fitting of the effluent passage.
 
canyncarvr said:
You are correct.

It does come down to opinion, though, and that is my point in this post. A decades-long worker in the field said the new foam isn't worth much. Does he have an axe to grind? Possibly. I will, though, wait for a person to prove themselves to be off-center in the opinion category to discern such a thing for myself.

What is far more likely is the change of times. Things that used to be a certain way are no longer like that. Used to be one could join a dozen NPT fittings together and expect zero leaks. 'These days', it's only with the use of pipe dope, thread wrap, and thread sealant that you can hope for such a thing. Why? 'Cuz tapered pipe threads are no longer 'like that'...and the joints using such 'standard' fittings are commonly problematic.

Legendary is likely doing the best they can with what they have to work with. That doesn't mean or even imply that the end product is anywhere close in quality to what it once was. Plus, the bane of ANY product is to be, 'New and Improved!'

It's a curse of living past fingers-on-one-hand decades of time. Not only can you see the swirl, you see the drain and the tailpiece fitting of the effluent passage.
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He's probably and unfortunately right. That's why I say to give Legendary a holler. It caint hurt.
 
RustyRatRod said:
He's probably and unfortunately right. That's why I say to give Legendary a holler. It caint hurt.
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Rusty's right. Marty Beckenbach is a very intense and detail oriented guy. He wouldn't be happy to know his product's quality reputation is taking a hit.
 
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Not following the subject of the thread too well, but some pics of the first seat done (RH). No attempt to frame the shots very well...such as the seat not sitting level/straight and such, so it's not as crooked as it looks...but it isn't straight, either.

The top 'fer instance: The welt in the back does not look straight, but the seam at the bottom is dead-on to the seat frame. Nope. I have no idea how that can be, OR if that welt looked straight to start with. The old cover (off the seat) welt looks symmetrical/straight to me.

I don't sit in the back seat looking at the front seats.

It's quite comfy 'fer sure. None of the, 'I'm sitting on the floor!' aspect the original seat had.

Anyway, having brought up the subject of seat parts, I figured I should show the end result.

SOME of the new foam was used, but not all of it as a complete 'set'.

**edit** Looking to make the photos thumbnails, ended up with multiples of multiples for some reason. **sigh**
 
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When I dropped the seat off, I told him to use what he saw fit as he saw fit. When I picked it up, he said he used some of the new, not all, added some of his own. I didn't follow the specifics real well about exactly what went where but the back of the upper is clearly different from what I took in...I can feel it. About then some other folks walked end and our conversation ended.

I expected perfection. Didn't get it, I think. Seeing as the shop has been doing this for decades and it looks like it does, I can't imagine the botch job it would have been if it had been my first upholstery job.
 
I have two sets of Legendary foam waiting for my new covers to arrive, but I have been working on my son's '67 Dart buckets lately. He bought the "cheap" foam instead of the Legendary. I have had to cut them for the interior rods on the covers (a minor PITA). Seats are coming along and look good. Not perfect, but good. Barracuda will be next using Legendary foam. Their foam looks good in the box...The cheap foam for my son's seats is pretty dense and seems to have a lot of support.
 
Yeah that's a somewhat shoddy job on the seat back. You can see by the bottom of it that they didn't get it on quite straight. But honestly it's something you'll probably never notice again once they're installed.

Try giving the job a shot yourself sometime. It's much easier than it seems. Literally just requires laying the foam in place, turning the upholstery inside out and folding it over the foam and frame and then hog ringing the same way the old one hog ringed in. Plus if you don't think it straight enough, you can always just take it off and work it until you're happy.
 
Its like bodywork, if not happy easy too redo, but that gets expensive!!!
Used to be, a good upholstry guy could re do your foam as needed, do a perfect job installing the Legendary covers for cheap. Nothing is cheap anymore/
Go to the guy now and want custom whatever,,,, take out a bank loan!
 
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