Repairing broken seat bolsters
#1
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Repairing broken seat bolsters
The Scenario -
S2000 lower outside seat bolsters fall away and lead to a lack of support for your legs. My car being an MY00 it had got pretty bad.
The Drivers Seat
The Passengers Seat
The Plan -
Take apart the seats, remove the leather cover, re-inforce the side of the seat with duck tape, stuff the seat with broken up sponge and then seal with duck tape. Then swap the seat bottoms over so the weaker bolsters are on the inside next to the transmission tunnel.
Tools and parts needed -
Socket set with 12MM and 14MM sockets
Philips head Screwdriver
Circlip plyers
Cable Ties
2 Halfords Value Sponges
The work -
Remove the seats. 2x14MM bolts at the front, 2x16MM bolts at the rear.
Take the top off the seats. This is 1 14MM nut and then 2 16MM bolts. However to get at the 2 16MM bolts you have to remove the plastic covers. This is done by undoing 2 Philips screws and then moving the plastic side cover off. To do this you also have to slide off the grab handle which adjusts the seats. After this, undo the seat rails (2 14MM nuts), you now have the seat base.
The leather cover is held on by several metal rings. Use the circlip plyers to pull these off. Then gently pull off the leather seat cover and assess the damage.
This is my drivers seat, and was really rather bad. Firstly, I put a line of duck tape down the side to hold the side together.
Break up the sponge into small bits and stuff the seat with them ...
bit by bit add more tape to hold the seat together, eventually you have something that looks like this.
Put the seat cover back on, and use cable ties to replace the metal clips.
Put the passenger seat base on the driver side rails, and driver side seat base on the passenger side seat rails. You now reattach the tops of the seats and put the seats back in the car... Jobs a goodun !
The Result -
Drivers Seat
Passenger Seat
Cost -
This cost me a reel of duct tape and 2 car sponges. So all in all about
S2000 lower outside seat bolsters fall away and lead to a lack of support for your legs. My car being an MY00 it had got pretty bad.
The Drivers Seat
The Passengers Seat
The Plan -
Take apart the seats, remove the leather cover, re-inforce the side of the seat with duck tape, stuff the seat with broken up sponge and then seal with duck tape. Then swap the seat bottoms over so the weaker bolsters are on the inside next to the transmission tunnel.
Tools and parts needed -
Socket set with 12MM and 14MM sockets
Philips head Screwdriver
Circlip plyers
Cable Ties
2 Halfords Value Sponges
The work -
Remove the seats. 2x14MM bolts at the front, 2x16MM bolts at the rear.
Take the top off the seats. This is 1 14MM nut and then 2 16MM bolts. However to get at the 2 16MM bolts you have to remove the plastic covers. This is done by undoing 2 Philips screws and then moving the plastic side cover off. To do this you also have to slide off the grab handle which adjusts the seats. After this, undo the seat rails (2 14MM nuts), you now have the seat base.
The leather cover is held on by several metal rings. Use the circlip plyers to pull these off. Then gently pull off the leather seat cover and assess the damage.
This is my drivers seat, and was really rather bad. Firstly, I put a line of duck tape down the side to hold the side together.
Break up the sponge into small bits and stuff the seat with them ...
bit by bit add more tape to hold the seat together, eventually you have something that looks like this.
Put the seat cover back on, and use cable ties to replace the metal clips.
Put the passenger seat base on the driver side rails, and driver side seat base on the passenger side seat rails. You now reattach the tops of the seats and put the seats back in the car... Jobs a goodun !
The Result -
Drivers Seat
Passenger Seat
Cost -
This cost me a reel of duct tape and 2 car sponges. So all in all about
#2
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One side of me is saying "what have you done thats very home depot", the other however "good work, very simple and creative". Good work overall, they final result looks great.
#7
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Looks good, but note that there is a metal brace only in the outboard seat bolsters. That metal brace has now been switched to the inboard side by swapping seat cushions, so you're likely to have a more rapid deterioration of the unsupported bolster that is now on the outboard side.
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#8
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Fair point that I hadn't thought too much about. I guess the fact it took 9 years to get this bad means by the time it gives way again I'll accept this and get new seats or new bases. I'd imagine worst case I've bought myself a few years more for