Swapping driver and passenger seat upholstery
 

After 100k km there was a small area on the drivers seat that started to look, well, not fully brand new. Just a hint of wear so far. You know the spot where you wear it a little bit extra each time you get in and out of the car. The passenger seat was as brand new so i decided to swap the alcantara, seat and back cushions between the two to get a brand new drivers seat that would last waaay beyond 200k km. If I'd left it as is I would probably run into real wear problems in maybe two-three(?) years time and then a swap would be too late.

So I went about swapping it all yesterday. I was surprised how easy it was even though it took a couple of hours for me being a total imbecile mucking about with cars.

If anyone is interested or has any questions please ask! This is what I did:


Remove the seats from the car
- four bolts
- unclip connector under each seat. On the short end of the connectors there are black plastic locking devices you just pull out to release the connectors

Do NOT turn on ignition when being disconnected. This will (I've been told) generate a fault code that needs to be reset at a shop.

Remove the plastic shroud on the outer side of the seat.
- small screw holding the flip-the-seat-forward-lever.
- three torx holding the plastic shroud

Remove the upholstery
- Remove the whole "bum" seat cushion. All is attached by velcro plus two clips inside a long plastic piece under the seat at the very front of it
- Remove the back cushion, all velcro
- There is a metal wire going round the outside of the whole seat (inside the upholstery) holding all the rest into place. Disconnect this by unhooking it from itself where there is a long spring and hook under the seat at the very front. The whole spring is covered in foam (so not to rattle)
- When the wire is free start removing all the upholstery carefully. It's attached with a lot of velcro
- Pull up the upholstery over the seat and that's that.

The is-someone-sitting-in-the-passenger-seat sensor
Under the passengers bum cushion there is a sensor. Simplest way forward is to keep this cushion on the passenger side. I carefully removed the sensor and glued it back on to the other cushion since I wanted to swap the cushions.

Put everything back in reverse order
- If your seat is at it's lowest height setting at the rear, getting the side plastic shrouds back is a headache. Due to a tight fit between the folding seat wire mechanism and the seat edge lip that you need to get the shroud under. Even though just in one particular spot, slight and careful violence required. If that's not an oxymoron.

Great idea and good write up, ideal for the High milers amongst us.

Out of interest, can you buy new seat covers/upholstery?

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2405122.htm

Great contribution thanks.

This looks like it could be one of those jobs I regret starting 30 mins in (like all my DIY) but I'll give it a go. I'm also going to plastidip the seat backs in black to protect them whilst I'm at it.

I'll report back.

Swapped the seat covers today. The guide is excellent, nothing too difficult. I'd allow three hours so as not to be rushed. Here's the upholstery off the seat.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h...IMG_0211-2.jpg

Things I noted, the foam bolster on the drivers side where you get in and out was starting to deteriorate, nothing too bad but noticeable. Cover went on again over it fine.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h...IMG_0210-2.jpg

Getting all the velcro in exactly the right place was a bit fiddly and reconnecting the wire hook was a little awkward because you need to make sure it is pulled tight all the way round to get enough to re-join. Took a few attempts.

And it is true, there is very little clearance between the side plastic shrouds due to the tight fit between the folding seat wire mechanism and the seat edge lip that you need to get the shroud under. Also took a few attempts.

As the seats were out of the car I took the opportunity to plastidip the backs to protect them. Seemed to work really well, here they are drying :

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h...IMG_0212-2.jpg

And after a few coats. Leaves a great matt finish and hopefully will give a layer of protection to stop them getting scuffed.
Even if never peeled off in the future I think it is a good re-furb solution if there are marks etc.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h...IMG_0213-2.jpg

I also bought some clear-coat to cover the door CSL sill plates to stop them milking...I get the feeling there is no limit to what you can plastidip :)

That looks good was there any marks on the back of the seats before you coated them ?

They were in really good condition, just a few little scuffs. It's was just annoying because you basically can't even touch them without the white undercoat potentially coming through. So now can relax a bit hopefully.

A few coats of plastidip seems to covers any marks, and if you aren't happy you can always peel it off.

Thats looks like a great job, plastidip seems to be very handy from what I have seen of it.

Heard of a guy I know here making a novel mod, now I have not seen them yet but when I do I'll take pics. Basically he has got the recaro bucket BMW performance seats and got the material used in the csl and has got them reupholstered so now he has reclining seats.
They look first class from what I have been told.

Hi, The seatbacks look amazing after applying plastidip!!

For future reference before I decide to do mine..

I take it you used the spray on plastidip as per the link below

http://www.plastidip.co.uk/eStore/in...e&pid=PDL-0090

Does the plastidip fill any scratches on the seat backs or does it just cover imperfections and they are still visible once the plastidip has been applied?

Thanks

That's the stuff. Also got some clearcoat in the same.

You can cover up deeper scratches by just putting more layers on plastidip on. In theory it takes 4 hrs to dry, but I put on several layers with about 25 mins between (checked it wasn't tacky to touch) and it covers up defects to the point where you wouldn't notice. You don't even need to worry to much about masking off, it's not paint and just peels off.

I can't comment on it's durability yet as the seats have only just gone back in the car, but it is relatively cheap, looks really good and must offer more protection than nothing. Plus as I say, you can always peel it off.

They look great Mark - brought the seat backs from near perfect to perfect condition! :-D Next up the rear seat centre section!?

Yes, think I'll do that. Also very prone to scuffs.

I am struggling with the clearcoat though, I can't get a nice finish on the replacement door sill strips I bought and have peeled it off again. Just ends up way too cloudy compared to the shiny natural finish (before they go milky…). So I'd hold fire on that one.

I did mine with armor fend 4 years and still like new :thumbs:

Nice. I'll follow suite, those strips aren't cheap !
Could you link to the exact product ?
Thanks

This is where i get my film but there are companys here in the uk that sell it
http://www.autopaintguard.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Auto-P...0964383?ref=ts

Great job ... curious though as to how close the colour is to the original seat backing paint. I've seen the plasti-dip stuff and have used it in the past to recoat my thinkpad mouse :hahaha: and it seems to me that it is a heck of a lot darker than the original paint colour??

It's really close (assuming my seat backs were original). It was hard to tell where the plastidip was and where it wasn't, texture is more of a giveaway, it's much grippier (worth bearing in mind if you tend to slide into the back seats).

Thanks for the reply - interesting, because the can I have is at least two to three shades darker than the factory seat paint (maybe there were different batches made and they are all slightly different?). Was it just a straight black that you got or one of plastidip's new colours??

Normal Black.

All I can suggest is you try it and if not happy peel it off.
Being better protected and looking unmarked was more important to me than them looking precisely the same as they did when they left the factory.

Did you ever do the back seat center trim ?

No, not yet, ran out of black and found the clear coat left a poor texture. Need to order some more.

It is very grippy (rubber coating basically) so is not so great for sliding over.

Hi There!
Any long-term experience you can share regarding your plasti-dipped seats?
Do they still look so great as in your pics?
I´m thinking of doing the same over the winter. Can you still recommend it?
Cheers!

Mine are starting to get scuff marks on them, probably due to extra rims/tyres for track day on rear seat :whistle:

ChrisCSL.

Seems to be holding up, although the cycling season has finished so I am not putting as much stuff in the back.

I think the main thing to bear in mind is that the texture is very grippy. This means that clothes are more likely to catch on it as you slide in and out. Also, it's harder to clean as cloths tend to grip rather than slide. If you jab the seat with something sharp it will just puncture the plastidip and go through to the seat, but does protect against general scuffs.

It looks neat and provides a level of protection and if you snag it, you can just re-spray over. And of course if you don't like any of it you can just peel it off. It peels off better as one layer if the coating is quite thick, so I'd definitely put several layers on.