mkiv_tdi

Hey all, about this biggest interior "defect" in my car is this 'protrusion' poking into the leather seat bottom on the passenger seat.

Rubbing my finger over it, there's definitely some "spring" out of place and over time (years?) I'm sure it'll wear through the leather.

So, how can I remove this seat cover and see WTF is out of place? I can do a DIY tomorrow if you guys give me a rough idea of what to expect. I haven't taken a look yet.





I don't want the classic "spring sticking out the mattress" happening in my E55. lol.

Papieye

First of all, remove the whole seat out of the vehicle, 4 bolts to the floor and all the connections below the seat has to come out. Put the seat on a workbench and remove the plastic trim around the seat and then unclip the leather from underneith. Pull the leather upwards in a corner untill it slides over the foam. I could take some more and better pictures tomorrow.

mkiv_tdi

Oh wow, that's a great picture.
Unfortunately it's been pouring all day today so I wasn't able to do much. I did start to take it apart though (sort of) inside the car.

I removed the two E-Torx (short fat silver screws) under the seat that hold the cushion onto the bar on the bottom of the frame. Then I removed the two small black torx on the side of the storage compartment to remove the side covers of it.

Then I removed the 4 e-torx on frame rails on to detach the seat from the car floor.


My questions: How the fu**ck do I remove the black storage box? Mine looks like it has 3 rivets holding it in along the top, and 2 underneath.

I'm 95% the seat has been removed once already, because some of the plastic trim which covers the ends of the seat rails are broken/cracked.

Any idea what might be poking into my leather? If you can provide a pic that would be fantastic!!

Papieye

Yes those poprivets needs to be drilled out. I used 3.2mm drillbit but 4mm would be better. If it still wont move use a knife and hammer chop the remaining metal of the rivet off the frame.

Papieye

I'll snap some photos tomorrow. I believe its a steel wire thats running along side of the foam to keep the leather tight. There are no springs in the seat. The base is a metal bowl, second layer is standard foam, third layer is some type of spring fabric silicone cushion i dont know, forth layer is the seat occupancy sensor, fifth layer is foam again and at last you have the leather on top

das eighty

If you happen to have the ventilated seats, let us know if you come across decent shots/angles of the fans in the seat base. I believe a few people have contemplated upgrading the fans, but have yet to tackle the lower ones. Good luck with this, seems like an interesting project.

Papieye

Here are some shots of the foam and fans. I'll just post the pictures and you ask the questions



This is probably whats sticking out under the leather





Same wire

Papieye

I think theres just too much material between the fans and your a$$. I will make a DIY about swapping the occupancy sensor for our E55 seats cuz i couldnt find any good instructions online

mkiv_tdi

Papieye, that's definitely the one. I was able to peel some of the seat cover back and I was suprised to find that piece was sort of sandwiched in between the leather and whatever plastic/rubber backing they have on the back of the leather.

Long story short, i was able to push it back towards the seat back so that it lays flat along the length of the seat bottom, rather than close to the seat lip (and thus giving me that pressure against the leather as the leather wrapped down and around the front lip of the seat bottom).

Those pics are pretty awesome though, and I'm sure tons of people will reference them somehow.


What did you do to reattach the storage box to the seat bottom? Did you re-rivet it? Or something else...


Thanks again!

Papieye

Yeah thats way I did it. Just snap new rivets through the old holes to secure it tightly.

Elhonaz

awesome! It would be great if you could do a very detailed DIY about the sensor, that would basicly get us to the fans too. This is great info about this subject! Thanks!

marroquin38

Does the driver's side seat also have some sort of sensor as well?

Rocman8

no. only the passenger side.

mkiv_tdi

Since we've got some people with seat experience here...

I've got a seat "wobble" that I could use some help with!!
I noticed whenever my brother gets into the pass. seat, the backrest gives a bit too much for my liking, so I had to investigate...

When I grab the seat by the headrest and shake it back and forth, the seat back certainly seems a bit more loose than it should, with an almost side to side rocking present (side to side laterally, not towards the front/rear of the car).

It's definitely not the 4 big torx on the seat rails on the bottom. And somebody has taken this seat apart once before (in my opinion) by the presence of cracked/broken seat rail covers...

So what should I look towards? Or is this slop/play normal???

BagMan

I could be wrong, but I thought I read that the bushings at the hinges (where you circled) can wear out and develop play.

BagMan

Sorry to quote all these pics, but....Do you think the fans can be swapped out through the cushion? If not, how would you go about it?

Also, any chance you can measure the bottom fans?

Thanks!