Seat base life expectancy

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dag019

Well-Known Member
Posts
5,391
Location
Warwick
I fitted an drivers seat base from exmoor trim two years ago. At the time I was incredibly happy with it and it made a huge difference over the old one. However, I am wondering if it is coming to the end of its life and needs replacing again. Although it is only 2 years old it has done about 50k miles including a very bouncy trip around Morocco, and I am not a small individual (about 115kg). What would people expect the life span of a standard defender seat base to be, 2 years sounds fairly low, but 50k miles may be fairly reasonable when you consider the age of the design!
 
I recon your's has done pretty well given the mileage and how many times you have been in and out of your truck in that time. I think most strain on the seat comes from getting in and out. When I recover mine I now put gorilla tape on the inside of the new covers seams before fitting. Helps them last a bit longer.
 
That sound low even considering your mileage. My genuine seat base is now in its second vehicle, second hand when I first got them 12 years ago, I've done in excess of 100,000 miles on it and still no sign of giving up ( now there's tempting fate!)
 
my genuine seats(what were the delux model at the time) are 116k in now and look great but all the paddings gone.
one would argue if you didnt know what a land rover seat was like when new it would be grand but it needs replacing.
 
50k seems about right l fitted a new seat base at 56k and it was sagging by 110k although it still looked OK
Obviously you can swap it for the passenger one before it wears out completely
They are not expensive to replace.
 
I got some new Exmoor Trim front seats shortly after buying my Land Rover in 2012. I selected black vinyl as the fabric as it was fairly neutral and easy to clean but not as expensive as leather. I've now sat in them for the best part of 100,000 miles. The fabric has started to deteriorate and split, and has worn through where it touches the lever on the side that adjusts the seat back. The metal base and the cushion itself are OK, so I must see if Exmoor do covers for them. They're a different shape than the current generation of Exmoor seats so I'll have to write to them or phone or something. I'm not too unhappy about the life span.
 
Easy job recovering these yesterday. 10 mins. Really needs reupholstering as this used to be driver's seat can see the bolsters gone on the left side but massive improvement over the old duct taped base.
 

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The cover itself is still In perfect condition it is the foam that I feel has deteriorated. It would probably be good for another 50k miles but as they are not that expensive and I remember the difference when fitting it was huge I may speak to exmoor and then decide what to do. I am Probabaly in the same position as @top drive where it is fine if you don’t know any better but compared to what it was like new it is Much worse.
 
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