M-Sport seats; refurb

[bigwinn]

Hi all

I picked up a set of M-Sport seats in need of a bit of TLC. As I saw a few guides where pics had gone missing I thought I'd pop a new post up.

Will be in different parts.

The seats in question were Nappa Champagne from an 07 coupe. Electric but no heating.



I decided to retrofit heating pads, repair the leather (which wasn't too bad), look at the foam and recolour.

Part one is how to get into the backrest:

Remove the plastic side covers from the lower part of the backrest to reveal two silver T30 bolts- undo and the backrest will separate from the seat base.

I needed to get the leather away from the foam base. Tools needed here are either a set of needle nose pliers OR good snipping pliers to cut the hog rings.

When you have the backrest face down you will see at the base of the seat there are two hog rings that secure the leather to the foam- snip them off



Working from the base, start to free the seam from the seat, its rubber/plastic beading that will pry away using either a screwdriver or trim tool, if you compress the foam this will help too but be careful not to damage the leather



Better view of that hog ring



Work around the edge of the seat working the bead free



Once the beading is free you can separate the back rest (a shell outer and a polystyrene inner) and the leather faced foam.

 

[bigwinn]

once those are separated its on to taking the hog rings out that hold the leather to the foam. make sure to not damage the leather!

 

[bigwinn]

Now both backrests are done I am going to repair the foam from the drivers side and swap the foam passenger to driver and vice versa. Adding heated elements, I managed to source a set of bolster heating elements and used generic pads for the backrest and base.

 

[IRD]

Makes an interesting read Stuart. Nothing much phases you does it? Looking forward to seeing the finished seats.

 

[bigwinn]

Finishing the backrest off- I installed the bolster heating, then the central element. Refitting the leather is the opposite using the hog ties and the hog tie pliers

 

[bigwinn]

once the two backrests were done and ready to be re installed to the plastic of the seat, I did use some 1/2" firm foam cut into a shape to follow the bolster

Refitting the plastic seam to the seat is just trial and error and make sure its pressed well into place.

 

[bigwinn]

The bases

I had to remove the plastic around and of the memory controls- fiddly but logical- with a few screws and bolts



Then all other plastic trim- again evident where its bolted/clipped



Then unseat the leather which is held in place by 3 seam runners clipped onto the seat base

 

[bigwinn]

Now the leather can be lifted to see those lovely hog ties again

You'll find some at the rear corners again before getting into the inlaid seat ones



Seat occupancy sensor



And element laid



Reassemble in opposite order-

 

[Zulu4]

Nice job Stuart.
Where did you source the bolster heated pads from ?

 

[IRD]

I saw these seats yesterday as they move towards completion. They look absolutely stunning. They look almost like new. If I was looking for some in this colour I would be trying to persuade Stuart to sell.

 

[JPCanta]

Fantastic job. I Did the same, but unfortunately only after install in the car I notice that the heating was not working. Thab after 3/4 weeks of research l, I found out that this Msport seats has a center heat pads.

Do you have some pictures of the wiring connections that you made?

Another question: can you send me the reference if the generic heater that you bought? Is the thermic sensor work properly for the Z4 E85?

Thank you so much!