How To Fix Misshapen Ear Pads on Headphones

If the ear pads on your headphones are falling apart and misshapen, don’t throw those expensive headphones away. You can fix them!

I first tried to reshape the old ear pads. Got them wet. Tried to reshape them. Coaxed them to cooperate. It worked better in theory than in practice. But I had to try.

That’s when I discovered that for most major brands of headphones, you can find replacement ear pads online.

The replacement ear pads should come with directions and replacing them isn’t hard. I’ll show you how it looks to replace the ear pads on these Bose headphones. It should be similar to yours.

Step 1: Remove the old ear pads

It isn’t hard to remove the old ear pads. After all, they are already falling apart. They’ll probably jump off the headphones if you ask them nicely.

You will need to remove the fabric that is covering the components of the headphones. It’s probably taped on. Just peel the fabric back.

Once the old ear pads are removed, the inside of the headphones will look something like this.

Not as exciting as I thought it would be.

If there is any dust or dirt inside the headphones, now is your time to carefully remove it. Or you can do like we did and just blow hard on them.

Step 2: Secure the new cover for the headphone components

Our headphones happened to be labeled left and right. Did you know it’s tricky to figure out which is supposed to be the left and right side of headphones? Good thing we were taking pictures for a tutorial so we could go back and check.

*shakes head with embarrassment*

Our new fabric covers came with a teeny bit of tape. We’ll see how well it holds but it was easy enough to peel it off and press it into the inside of the headphones. The ear pad is what really holds this fabric cover in place.

Step 3: Snap the new ear pads into place.

Either using your fingernail or the plastic tool provided, you’ll snap the new ear pads into the headphones.

There are probably 8 – 10 places where the ear pads snap into place. With our particular headphones, you could definitely hear an audible click each time the ear pad is secured to the headphones.

If you’re middle-aged, it’s helpful to have a bright light handy so you can see what you’re doing during this step in the process. Ask me how I know.

That’s it!

It took 5 minutes and we had, essentially, a brand new pair of headphones.

Do you know how relieved we were to spend only $30 on new ear pads instead of $200 – $300 on new noise-cancelling headphones?

So. Relieved.

We felt a little victorious, actually.

Have the ear pads on your headphones fallen apart too? Have you fixed or replaced them? I’m curious to know! Please leave a comment on this blog post, email us here, or reach out via Instagram or Facebook.

Happy listening!

If you have the same type of Bose noise-cancelling headphones as us, here’s the link for the replacement ear pads:

Replacement Ear Pads for Bose Quiet Comfort

Thanks for being here today. If you like saving money, here are some other life hacks for you!

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How to Reshape a Flexible Woven Plastic Basket (especially those you get at Target)

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