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First off, my apologies for not taking pics during any of the install for this. When I first started all of this I really wasn't too sure how I was going to proceed. I had asked whether or not this was possible but didn't really get many responses as I'm not sure if anyone else has done this. So, when I started I wasn't really sure what direction I was going to take and how I was going to get to the end result...did I want to try to install the seats as a whole and then sort through the wiring? Did I want to try to code the car to get all of functionality from the seats? Did I want to do something else entirely? Anyway here's how it went.
I will start off by saying I HATE the MBTex seats in the GLK. The material is crap! The driver's side bottom has already torn and bubbled and was looking shabby plus there was a spot that look melted on the right side. Plus I really missed the look, feel and smell of quality leather seats. Also, the barcalounger feel of the originals left a lot to be desired. Since I had researched replacing the bottom cushion and was less than impressed with the options I was finding I decided to go a different route. I figured if I was going to spend a least a couple hundred, if not more, for either a leather "replacement" or another crap MBTex cushion why not go for a full upgrade? I started perusing EBay for options and found that the W212 seats looked almost identical to the GLK seats. The headrests looked the same, the seats looked almost identical and even the side airbags and rear cover were the same. So I took the plunge and purchased a set from a seller. Thankfully there is a place close to me that carries these parts so I went there, took a look, found a set I was happy with and for $800 went home with a new set of front seats.
Now that I had the seats I had to decide what to do. I took a full day to disassemble the seats, consider my options and then decide on a plan. I decided that I wanted to keep the install as painless as possible so I didn't want to chase or solder wiring, do any coding, etc. The plan of attack was now pretty simple...take the seat covers and cushions from the AMG seats and transplant them to the GLK seat frames if I could. And, thankfully that is exactly how it worked out. I guessed there must be some commonality at some level since the seats look so similar and there is...the frames of the seats are identical!
So to get started. The first step was to remove the GLK seats from the car. There are many YouTube videos on this but I'll cover the steps here as well (again, no pics...sorry but it really is quite simple once you know how it all works). To remove the seats there are 4 bolts (2 front and 2 rear) that have to be removed. Undo those and remove the wiring harness from the seat in the front. Now, one of those clips is for the SRS system...I HIGHLY recommend disconnecting the battery before touching anything that has to do with the yellow plug so please do that! Also, before removing the battery power lower the headrest all the way down...it makes it easier to take the seat out and will make things easier when you remove the headrests later.
Once the seat is out of the car take the bottom cushion off. Again YouTube has this covered but there are 2 Torx screws on the underside of the seat. Simply unbolt those and the cushion will slide right out. I have heated seats so you'll have to remove the plug from the harness. This is a pain to get out and I actually broke the retaining plastic piece to get it out on both sides. Don't worry if you do as it doesn't affect anything when it goes back together and they can be zip tied to hold them in place when you put them back. There are two clips that fit together here, the other is for the upper seat heat. You'll see what I mean when you do it. The passenger seat is a little different as there is an extra clip with a sensor attached. This is for the pressure sensor that tells the car if there is anything sitting in that seat. This was another reason I went the route I did as I didn't want to mess with this important safety system. Anyway, just undo the sensor and pull the frame out. Once you have the bottom assembly out just turn it over and you'll see there are several plastic clips that wrap around the metal frame. Just use a flathead screwdriver to undo the clips and the cover is ready to come off with the cushion. On the GLK seat the cushion seemed to be stuck. There are two large plastic clips that hold the cushion in place so just give the cushion a good tug and the clips will release. Remove the clips from the frame as the AMG cushions don't have use these clips. Now you have the bare seat frame...simply place the AMG cushion and cover into the frame, run the wiring for the seat heat through the same hole and then reattach the cushion and cover exactly in the reverse steps by securing the plastic clips to the frame and you're done!
The upper is a little more involved but not any more difficult. Again YouTube videos can come in handy but it's quite simple. First remove the back cover. To do this there are two tabs on the bottom that clip into the seat. Take a flathead screwdriver and press up against the tabs to release them...there is one on each side. Once these are out just pull down and the cover comes off. Next you'll take out the headrest. There's a wire with a yellow clip for the airbag so undo the clip and then pull up on the headrest. To get it all the way out there is a silver metal retaining clip that need to be pushed out of the way. Again just use a flathead screwdriver to move the clip out of the way and the headrest will come out. Now for the cover. The clips are basically just like the ones for the bottom cushion. Just undo the clips and the cover will be ready. On the bottom of the back there are metal pegs/spikes that stick out. The seat cover has slits that slide over these to hold it in place. Use your hands if you can to lift those up and over these to release them. Use a set of wide pliers so you don't tear the fabric if you can't do it with your hands. Might be hard to visualize but once you see what I'm describing I think it'll make sense or again just pull up a video. Once that's done look inside where the airbag sits. You'll see two silver studs with 10MM bolts. Remove the bolts but be careful...if you drops them they can be a pain to find (ask me know I know). Once those are removed the airbag will come out and you simply need to remove the wire and wiring clip holding the airbag. There are a few more plastic clips in there to undo and then the cover and cushion are ready to come off. Now just go to where the headrest went in and being careful not to damage the plastic grommets remove the cover and cushion from the frame.
Next go to the AMG seats. Follow the exact same procedure to get everything off. I ran into a little snag here. There is some fabric that covers the side bolsters under the cushion. I couldn't see how to get this off so I simply used some scissors and cut the fabric. Also, there are some big foam pieces that are on the sides of the AMG frames. Carefully remove those and note where they are located and how they are oriented. They go on the frame to provide filler for the leather so the seats have the proper look and don't sag anywhere. Now, as stated I wasn't planning on using any of the extra functions from the AMG seats so I simply disconnected all of the pneumatic supply lines and removed anything that I didn't need to transfer over. At this point the only thing you need to do is to remove the plastic bolsters. They are held in place by snapping into the metal frame and then there are two small Torx screws that hold them in place. Remove them and transfer them to the GLK frames. At this point begin reassembly by adding the side foam pieces and them reinstall everything in the reverse order. The only problem I ran into at this point was the lumbar lever for the passenger seat. Did I want to cut the AMG leather cover to match the GLK cover and reinstall the plastic plate and lumbar lever, simply cut a small hole so the lumbar stud could stick through and attach the lever, or...? In the end I decided I didn't want to cut the cover at all and simply left the passenger lumbar out of the equation. I never thought it worked that well anyway and had no desire to cut the leather. There is a small bump since the foam from the AMG seats covers the stud but it's hardly noticeable and is something I was willing to live with.
The only other thing I had to do was cut and splice the heater cable to adapt the GLK clip to the AMG wiring since the AMG clip was totally different than the GLK seat heater clip.
I reinstalled everything and checked to make sure it all worked. Another note about the SRS system here. If you reapply power and the SRS system (yellow clip) is not attached it will throw a hard code that will not go away even when the "malfunction" is fixed ie you reconnect the yellow clip. So if you don't have a tool of some sort to clear these codes you will want to make sure the yellow clip is attached BEFORE reapplying power. I have a Carsoft MBII to clear these so I wasn't concerned with this and cleared the codes afterwards. Another note is that the seller said the sensor in the passenger seat bottom may need to be recalibrated after install but I didn't run into this problem.
I think that has everything covered. I'm out of town but can take more pics later if needed. I also used the vented seat back cover from the AMG since I think it looks "cooler".
The seats are such an awesome improvement! They feel fantastic and they look and smell great! I get the nice leather scent now when I open the door and they are fantastic to look at and feel even better. Overall a pretty easy task and well worth the time and effort. Now that I know what I'm doing I could probably do the whole thing in 6 hours tops. Oh and sorry, the seats weren't fully cleaned and conditioned in the pic...
If anyone has questions or comments feel free to hit me up and I'll do what I can to answer.
You’re welcome! I’ve used this forum to look up a lot of great info so figured I’d pay it back if I could when possible.
Yes, the lack of available options seemed frustrating. I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money to replace the MBTex, which I really have always disliked with more of the same nor was I happy with any of the non OEM options.
As folks who have done upgraded steering wheels always mention this is one item well worth the upgrade since you’re always interacting with it…I’ll definitely say the same with the seats! Anytime you’re in the car your obviously in the seat😁 Between the better bolsters, better cushions, better material etc this is definitely one upgrade that changes the whole feel of the car…a real “must do” in my opinion! And since they are OEM they definitely check off all the right boxes for me.
09-11-2022, 04:42 PM
