Seats From A Junkyard...

snidehockey · November 21, 2005

Wanted to get an opinion...

My girlfriend has a 00 Solara with cloth interior...We went to a junkyard yesterday and fond a solara with leather interior same color...

the passenger and back seat were amazingly like new, but the driver side window i guess was smashed out so the driver seat had been rained on. Do you think rain water would cause significant damage\mold?

I got the dude down to 150$ for all 3 seats together...I know for sure if that seat cleans up nicely that's a STEAL. I'm just a little leary of the driver seat having been exposed to the elements....What do ya'll think?

Oh btw the Solara and a 94 ES I saw were both in some wicked head on collisions but both cabins were unscathed...these cars are really well built.

monarch · November 21, 2005

Depends on how long the junkyard seat has been exposed to the rain. If just a matter of days or a few weeks and the seat doesn't smell moldy then it's likely OK. I've had good luck with junkyard seats as long as the car I pulled them from had relatively low odometer mileage.

SKperformance · November 21, 2005

Get all of the seats, and pull the leather off the new seats and put it on your old seat frame as the foam on the junk yard one will be water logged to say the least.

amf1932 · November 21, 2005

Get all of the seats, and pull the leather off the new seats and put it on your old seat frame as the foam on the junk yard one will be water logged to say the least.

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I would think that the foam padding of a car with cloth seats has a different density then a car with leather seats, so before I would go to the hassle of re-upholstering the seats, I would do as 'monarch' suggested, and if that doesn't work out, I'd take it to an auto upholsterer to do the job correctly.

Toysrme · November 21, 2005

Do what both of them said.

Take a good leather cleaner (Lexol, or a water @ woolite solution) to the junkyard & clean the leather. If the leather cleans up acceptably take it off the seat & put it on the new on.

Leather doesn't take any appreciable damage from water, but if the foam stays damp for any amount of time it's going to become a big yellow moldy mess! Smells like !Removed! & bad for you.