Seat belt removal

Spriteracer

Spriteracer

Member
 West Wales
Morning all. I took the passenger seat out of my E86 so I can remove the carpet to dry it. I have so far vacuumed over 3 litres of water out via the cuts in the carpet behind the seat, but it is still very wet and water is being trapped in the foam and the various folds in the floor pan. I have already had a dehumidifier running for 3 days, but it made virtually no progress due to the cold temps. I added a fan heater to help but that cut out due to the small volume of the car leading to it overheating. Taking the carpet out seems to be the only option to dry it properly. I hit a snag in that I can't take the seatbelt bolt out of the seat - it jams on the side trim on the seat, and I don't want to risk cracking the plastic. A possible option is to trim the bolt but how do people who change seats in 20 mins do it ?? I don't want to have to dismantle the seat as well if I don't have to. Many thanks for any advice. seat belt bolt.JPG
 
I think you should have access if you raise the profile of the seat up

Simple if they are manual

No so if electric…
 
Many thanks - I should have thought of that ! Seat is electric but back in the car loosely and connected so I'll give it a try.
 
I ended up taking the trims out the footwell and door jam to lift the carpet up, wedged a couple of plastic tubs underneath the carpet to lift up into air and then had the dehumidifer running on the driver's side with a fan on passenger side blowing air under the carpet. Seemed to work well, took a couple of days to dry it (my carpet sounds like it was as wet as yours.)
 
Towels under the carpets and old batteries on top are a good way to squeeze it out of the foam
 
Yes. Pretty much what I was trying to do. Unfortunately the Duux compressor type dehumidifier I have and which works very well in the house, is hopeless at low temperatures. I'm thinking I will have to move the carpet to a warmer environment to make much progress. I had standing water behind the seat. The front was dry so I didn't spot it until the front screen misted up and I went looking.
 
Not on my Z4, but I had a heater pipe leak into the footwell on my E30 (similar construction of carpet, albeit the foam is thinner on the Z4), and it took a few days of drying the carpet in the summer sun for it to be fully dry - I'd fully recommend removing the carpet and keeping it by a radiator or something if you're able to.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom