Well not really springs, but the wire support under the cushion. Apparently it's just not designed to last 475,000 miles, even if you weigh in under 200.

Anyone know if a local dealer is likely to have this in stock? Any guesses as to what type of wire this is? Bends pretty easy with the fingers, but seems stiffer than would be expected for regular wire. Piano wire or such maybe?

I'd prefer not to mail order since I'd like to fix it over the weekend. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Drove over a bump and heard what sounded like a metal spring or wire snap in two. Then I was sitting in a hole. My guess is some were broken before and the bump finally caused several to snap at once.

 

Piano wire would be close enough, I'm sure. You might want to make some sort of a jig to bend them so they end up pretty close to the same length, The wires are some sort of high carbon alloy, and probably heat treated. They sure are pretty tough for their size.

 

Suggestions on where to get Piano wire in a small town on the weekend?

 

I've noticed it at Ace/True Value type hardware stores. I'm pretty sure I saw it at the Ace on Denton Tap Rd. in Coppell, if you're anywhere near NW Dallas County. I don't know if the big box stores carry it or not. Of course every small town has a piano store, no?

 

The town near me is over 1,000 people now, so I'm sure they've gone all digital with no piano wire to be found.

There's a small chance the local auto parts/hardware store might have some though, so I'll check there first tomorrow.

 

Honestly, the way its made on the base, you could prob get a scrap piece of chain link fence and make it work. It definitely will hold the weight and tension.

 

Try a farm and ranch store, all the ones near me have a large selection of wire and drawn steel rod.

That looks like bailing wire in my Iphone.

 

Safety wire. Do you have any small airports nearby? I fixed an old Mustang seat that way once. You could use .040 and twist them together using safety wire pliers.

 

Piano wire for a seat? Is that like an audible air freshener to counter offending sounds in that vicinity?

It's probably spring steel - very tough to bend or flex. Most other metals (like bailing wire or piano wire) will stretch and sag. Remember, piano wire and bailing wire are straight with tension... not on their own. That 1/2 twist at the end is not much of a grab - the wire is doing it on it's own.

 

Much smaller diameter than baling wire. I don't think a Farm & Ranch store will have something like this, but I'll add that to my stops today.

I've got some 17 ga. electric fence wire and this stuff is smaller than that. And as Tugly said, it will likely stretch.

 

how about an upholstery shop ?

 

Piano wire should have plenty of tensile strength to resist stretching. When I was doing auto upholstery, if someone brought that in I would probably have replaced all those wires with nylon webbing with a loop sewn on each end.

 

Any idea if an auto upholstery shop would be open on Saturday? I'm not opposed to the nylon webbing idea, especially if they can do it today.

 

It's very difficult to find a shop that can do things on a walk in basis like that. If you have a sewing machine in the house and you're anywhere near Fort Worth, I can send you the name of a supplier off 121 and Minnis that's open on Saturdays until 2 pm (I believe).

 

I'm not too far from Ft Worth, but don't have a sewing machine and don't really feel like trying to sew it by hand. I drove around for 3 hours looking for something I could use. Looks like it will be plan B. Going to cut up some of those 1" straps and use some self tapping screws to fasten it into the seat frame.