My kid's 940 was owned by a guy who took good care of everything in the car EXCEPT the driver's seat. No leather treatments, ever, so it was cracked at the surface, with dye failure and looked very bad. The side fabric at the frame edge was also torn, so the seat was beginning to sag. We finally decided to pull the seat and completely rebuild it, using the Leatherique prep/dye/treatment kit (www.leatherique.com) and a new piece of Volvo OEM seat foam. I wasn't sure it needed the foam, but figured that I would do this task exactly once in my life.

We pulled the seat, using Paul Seminara's tips from his 240 experience along with the green manual procedures. Peter and I pulled off the leather cover, took it to an upholstery shop and had them stitch reinforcing canvas at the fabric side panels where they were torn. As it happened, the seat didn't need the new foam (the old foam will be posted for sale shortly!) I can't believe how robust the Volvo seat foam is. We then reassembled it with the new foam and applied the Leatherique treatment. After sanding and re-coating the surface cracks and blemishes with the kit, we prepped and re-dyed it. Spectacular results: looks like a brand new seat. Total cost was not cheap: $120 for the foam from Verrigni plus $120 for the Leatherique kit (sufficient for two full cars, by the way.)

I adapted Paul's procedure for the 700/900 cars and post it below and added it to the new FAQ version due out soon:

Front Seat Bottom Foam Replacement (Editor: this has been edited for 700/900 cars, which have different seat construction from 240 series.) [Tips from Paul Seminara]

1) Remove seat from car by unscrewing the four bolts securing each corner of the tracks. The front outboard bolt is covered by a plastic molding which is unscrewed. The rear screws are covered with a plastic surround; pry outwards gently on the sides and pull them out. Unplug the seat heater and power

seat connections at the front corner. Unscrew the side of the plastic pocket. Remove the seat belt at

the side seat frame.

Pull the entire seat assembly, including tracks, back as far as it will go. Lever up the rear tracks over

the metal detent if they catch at the back. Then move the entire assembly forward five millimeters to

locate the locking keys with the removal holes. Pull upwards to unlock the seat. This may take some

rocking and moving. Each track has a locking pin in the middle of the track, securing it to the body

structure.

2) Study/memorize seat covering at front and back, seat springs, wire grid, wiring, foam and upholstery

for ease of reassembly, damage and possibly for need of more parts than you have on hand. Study the seat heater wiring and unplug the underseat connections to the heaters. Do one seat at a time so you have the other at hand as a model.

3) The 700/900 front bottom cushion is held on to the frame by two spring steel bars inserted into the covering flaps at front and back, and two wire clips in the front. The bars are inserted into the end of the

covering material, fit into holes in the side frames, and are clipped to the seat bars with round spring clips. To remove them, first pull off the round clips, then bend the bars until they pop out of the seat frames at the sides. Pull the bars out of the material (if they will come easily) and push the rear material forward under the seat back. The wire clips are clipped from the side frames into the second-from-the-front hog ring positions under the seat foam. Use needle nose pliers to pull these out from the cushion bar. The bottom cushion then pulls away from the frame. Watch out for the seat heater wiring: don't yank it out when pulling off the cushion.

4) You will see two hog rings beneath at the back, holding the rear of the seat heater in position to the bottom wire grid. Remove these.

5) At minimum you will need new foam. (You may find good used foam in a wrecker. Good luck. It may stink. ) Get the best VCOA discount you can from a Volvo dealer or go to a reseller (IPD, RPR, Borton, Verrigni. Editor's note: around $150 for the bottom cushion from Volvo with VCOA discount). Study the foam and the side stiffener rods. The covering material is secured to the foam with hog rings at each side, tied into stiffening rods molded into the bottom of the foam.

6) You may be missing springs. Some of the well stocked hardware stores sell almost perfect matches (in some cases better springs).

7) You may need a new wire support grid, which you can buy from RPR or Borton's. You may also need a seat heater, but don’t buy one until you open the seat up. It may be repairable. Mine was - the connector to the thermostat was broken - I soldered the wire to a new spade connector and the thing works great.

8) Remove the five hog rings on each side that hold the seat covering to the cushion. They make special pliers for these but an assortment of wire cutters/pliers/vise grips/super grabbers will work. [Tip from Jake Fournier:] I pushed the end of a closed needle-nose pliers into the ring and opened the pliers to force open the hogrings; wear eye protection - one of those sharp little buggers nearly got me!

9) Remove the spring steel slide bar through front upholstery holder strip. (A thin piece of steel about the thickness and width of a hack saw blade). It pops right out and slides out of the fabric/leather.

10) Now peel back the front of the upholstery carefully to expose the foam.

11) You will see two hog rings holding the seat heater to the front of the foam cushion. Remove these rings.

12) Now the fabric/leather should peel all the way back to expose the seat heater grid. And the foam should come out of the covering.

13) Your seat heater is held to the middle of the foam by two hog rings in the slot in the middle. Remove these rings. If your seat heater wasn’t working replace it/ trouble shoot it now.

14) Clean all the dirt and foam bits out of the seat frame and power seat mechanism with rags and compressed air. Clean the fabric upholstery cover at this time: laundry or dry clean.

15) Clean and lubricate the seat tracks and the power mechanisms. Examine the side metal frames at the top where the hidden fabric part of the cover rests: if there are any burrs, remove them with a file and cover the edges with electrical tape to keep from cutting the fabric.

17) If the grid is shot or you are missing springs time to attack that now. I simply cut the center wires

out of the grid, since I had to replace it anyway. (No need to stretch the springs to remove a bad grid!!).

You may need help stretching the springs back, the last couple require some arm/wrist strength.

18) If the side felt upholstery is torn above the securing holes, take it to an upholstery shop and have them stitch in a reinforcing canvas strip so that it can be re-used.

19) Position the seat heater. Secure it with two hog rings at the front, two in the middle slot (tied to the wire stiffener), and two at the back underneath (tied to the bottom wire grid.) The electrical connection wires hang free.

20) Re-attach the seat cover at each fabric hole to the side seat foam stiffener. Don't bother with hog rings: use a heavy-duty tie wrap (not the cheapie kind) per hole. Pull them tight while pulling the fabric

covering down over the foam, and push the square lock inward into the foam so it does not rest on the seat frame. These ties/rings hold the covering on the foam. There are five to each side.

21) Place the covered cushion back on the frame. Pull the back fabric flap through (beneath the back cushion), insert the spring bar, wrap around the rear seat frame bar, and insert the sides of the spring bar into the holes in the side frames. Insert the rear round clip into the carpet spring bar and then clip it onto the rear seat frame bar to secure both the cover rear flap and the carpet.

22) Insert the wire clips into the seat cushion stiffener rods at hog ring position two from the front. Using needle nose pliers, pull these so they are reinserted into the side frames of the seat.

23) Insert the spring bar into the front flap, wrap around the front bar, and insert the bar ends into the holes at the seat frame sides. This holds the front of the cushion onto the frame and tensions the covering. Add the round spring clips to secure the bar.

24) Clean and treat leather with Lexol.

25) Plug the seat heater connections back together.

26) Reinstall the seat in the car and plug the seat heater in. Re-torque the seat bolts and the seat belt to 35 ft-lbs.

27) Adjust the seat and enjoy!!!!