My 940 seats

[827Roverman]

Following on from my last post, showing my car after I'd buffed and polished it, I said then all I had to do was clean the inside, well a few days ago I got around to doing it, got the Henri out to vac the floors and fag ash off the back seats, I've known since I bought the car that the cloth seat to L/H rear was a little baggy, but just put down to old age, but whilst using the vac I kept getting a brown powder like substance coming up, the more I vac the worse it got, I know a local trimmer, so after letting him look at it, it turns out that the thin layer of foam that's bonded to the back of the cloth is breaking up due to age and not really excessive use, the car has only done 47,600 miles, Has anyone else had this problem ?, I was quoted £500 to £700 to have all the seats stripped, unpicked, new foam and resitched back together, So I either dig deep, live with it or find replacement seats, if I do that I may as well try and find a dark grey leather set, you see many for estates for sale but not for saloons, although I'm in no rush it does spoil what is a nice clean car.
On another note, the MOT is due on Wednesday (fingers crossed). David

[Laird Scooby]

Good luck for the MoT David, doubt you'll need luck though!

As for the seats, it isn't a set of covers on the original seats is it? If it is the original covers that are disintegrating then the best bet is a secondhand set, either in cloth or as you suggest, leather - would be a nice upgrade to fit leather ones.

You could of course just buy a set of covers :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Qu...MZglHBAr7EhtKQ

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bloomsbury...gAAOSw3ydV1fCl

If you really want leather instead of leather-look, there's a set of 960 saloon seats on the bay :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volvo-960-...EAAOSwc-tY5-VE

I'm fairly sure the 960 saloon seats will fit your 940 saloon but hopefully someone else can confirm it.

There's a few options there, the seller of the new covers has a few different ebay IDs, i've dealt with them many times and always been good. Only time i ever had a (very minor) problem was a new member of staff left two bulbs out of an order - an email to them via ebay got an immense apology, the promise the bulbs would be put in the post that day and the bulbs arrived the next day with a short note further apologising and a complimentary bottle of screenwash as a gesture of goodwill.

Thinking back, maybe i got the screenwash by mistake and someone else had ordered it............

[827Roverman]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Good luck for the MoT David, doubt you'll need luck though!

As for the seats, it isn't a set of covers on the original seats is it? If it is the original covers that are disintegrating then the best bet is a secondhand set, either in cloth or as you suggest, leather - would be a nice upgrade to fit leather ones.

You could of course just buy a set of covers :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Qu...MZglHBAr7EhtKQ

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bloomsbury...gAAOSw3ydV1fCl

If you really want leather instead of leather-look, there's a set of 960 saloon seats on the bay :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volvo-960-...EAAOSwc-tY5-VE

I'm fairly sure the 960 saloon seats will fit your 940 saloon but hopefully someone else can confirm it.

There's a few options there, the seller of the new covers has a few different ebay IDs, i've dealt with them many times and always been good. Only time i ever had a (very minor) problem was a new member of staff left two bulbs out of an order - an email to them via ebay got an immense apology, the promise the bulbs would be put in the post that day and the bulbs arrived the next day with a short note further apologising and a complimentary bottle of screenwash as a gesture of goodwill.

Thinking back, maybe i got the screenwash by mistake and someone else had ordered it............

Hi Dave, I've looked at loads of covers and none really appeal to me, there some very nice PU leather ones, but when you see the back of them they have plastic clips like those on a rucksack which look naf, I have seen that set for a 960 on evilbay, I'm a little tempted, but its a very light grey which of course could be easily recoloured, but if I spend on the seats the other things we've talked about will have to wait, David.

[Laird Scooby]

The light grey would probably give a nice "lift" to the inside of the car - i know mine is a bit oppressive being all black on the interior.

Another option would be grey fabric OE seats, think i spotted a set of those for a 940 while i was trawling through or maybe just a cloth seat cover for the back seat.

Nope, got it wrong, they're 740 saloon seats in grey cloth :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volvo-740-...AAAOSwgv5ZSUT-

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/fOAAAO...T-/s-l1600.jpg

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/x30AAO...UD/s-l1600.jpg

Again i'm only fairly sure they'd fit yours but a big difference in cost between those and the leather ones. Main problem with either set would be getting them from Lockerbie to you!

Not sure what to suggest for the best really, i think i'd sit on it (no pun intended) until something a bit more local comes along, quite possibly at a better price as well.
Meanwhile go for your other intended projects and see what pans out.

[Rversteeg]

I do not know if your 940 is of the last model years, but these have little airbags hidden in the side of the backrest. When they go off, they rip the cloth. I can imagine this does not works well with an aftermarket cover.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Rversteeg

I do not know if your 940 is of the last model years, but these have little airbags hidden in the side of the backrest. When they go off, they rip the cloth. I can imagine this does not works well with an aftermarket cover.

If memory serves correctly his car is a P registration which makes it 96/97, whether that makes it late enough to have side airbags i don't know.

Personally i hate airbags and think they do more harm than good, one of my favourite example of why is a colleague was involved in a very slow head-on accident about 10 years ago. Very little damage to either vehicle but he (and i believe the other driver too) had a red face for about 4 days after and hearing loss for about a week.

What made it slightly comical is he wears glasses and they protected some of his face so he had a pale white stripe in an otherwise very red face from where the airbag hit him when it deployed!

[volvo always]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

If memory serves correctly his car is a P registration which makes it 96/97, whether that makes it late enough to have side airbags i don't know.

Personally i hate airbags and think they do more harm than good, one of my favourite example of why is a colleague was involved in a very slow head-on accident about 10 years ago. Very little damage to either vehicle but he (and i believe the other driver too) had a red face for about 4 days after and hearing loss for about a week.

What made it slightly comical is he wears glasses and they protected some of his face so he had a pale white stripe in an otherwise very red face from where the airbag hit him when it deployed!

I would say find some good seats from someone breaking a 940.

My 940 is a 1996 on a P reg and no side seat airbag, just a drivers airbag. The seats with an airbag has the smaller seat pocket at the side of the seat.


James

[Rversteeg]

A bit off topic, but I have to say I do not agree with Laird Scooby about the airbags. Sure they are big nuisance when working on anything related to them such as the steering wheel, but having one in the past would have saved me over a year of fully getting back to work after a serious accident. Although I was wearing a seat belt my head banged the steering wheel quite hard, fracturing my forehead. I am sure that with an airbag I would have walked away with nothing more than just a broken collar bone.
An airbag isn't very big, so the red face of your colleague shows that his head must have been fairly close to the steering wheel...

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Rversteeg

An airbag isn't very big, so the red face of your colleague shows that his head must have been fairly close to the steering wheel...

Not quite as close as yours apparently!

He was (i suppose still is) fairly tall and had his seat back as far as it would go so he wasn't sitting "hunched up" over the steering wheel.
I've heard of people being blinded by airbags deploying, broken noses and all kinds of other injuries from airbags, usually when the circumstances of the accident don't really warrant the airbag deploying in the first place.

Granted they may reduce injuries in a high speed impact but let's face it, if you're involved in a high speed impact you won't be so worried about a red face or similar!

[Rversteeg]

I am 6' 8"....