rear folding seats -project starts again (ish)

[swisstony]

Talking about the backrest, if I do this cutting and then manage to get the tubes out and then want to either sell the backest or stick with it but colour change it, can I buy these backs pretty easily ? Assume it will be one whole piece or two ? A link or part number would be fab. Thanks

 

[NM07]

Thanks everyone, small update. Even though I have several attempts at this hook tool and no joy, given the cost difference between the backrest and the tubes, I will be this weekend going down the cutting the insopection hatch route . So thanks Rob that sounds like a plan and and I will report back.

In other news when I did the front seats swap I full expected to have to clear the airbag light as I guessed tinkering with the seats would cause the code to come up. So when all fitted I got out my handy OBD eleven and cleared the code. Did it work, nope, no matter how many times I tried it. So then got out my vagcom this morning before work and tried that. Yes cleared it, and immediately came back !! Thinking something must be wrong for it to be as stubborn as that.

So got on my hands and knees and took all the plugs out , spray of contact cleaner, reset it again with VCDS and all is well with the world. Must have just been a dodgy conenction.
Talking about plugs, the seats I received have extra plugs , assuming this is heated seats but as my car does not have that I guess unless I go down the route of swapping out the climate control unit plus buying one of those looms I shall just have to have a cold bottom on cold days

Really pleased to hear you're going to swap the backs over Tony, I know the cutting seems a bit barbaric but it will save you losing your sanity with that tool! I reckon you'll have the job done in less than 30 minutes. I'm not convinced those tools are any good anyway if I'm honest. Just make sure you have a hoover handy as the foam bits get everywhere, it's not a tidy process!

 

[NM07]

Talking about the backrest, if I do this cutting and then manage to get the tubes out and then want to either sell the backest or stick with it but colour change it, can I buy these backs pretty easily ? Assume it will be one whole piece or two ? A link or part number would be fab. Thanks

I'm not sure if you saw my above 3 replies from today? I linked one for you on eBay, £58 for both the base and the back in Special Edition black/silver.

 

[swisstony]

I'm not sure if you saw my above replies from today? I linked one for you on eBay, £58 for both the base and the back.

well then I am a blind old git because I didnt .... * goes and has another look after giving myself a good telling off *

 

[NM07]

Hahaha easily done mate, my first reply might help you with your slicing adventure The back seat link is just under that reply.

 

[swisstony]

Really pleased to hear you're going to swap the backs over Tony, I know the cutting seems a bit barbaric but it will save you losing your sanity with that tool! I reckon you'll have the job done in less than 30 minutes. I'm not convinced those tools are any good anyway if I'm honest. Just make sure you have a hoover handy as the foam bits get everywhere, it's not a tidy process!

The thing is, my options as I see it, remove the backs, look at the holes and see if they are there to do the folding conversion . If they are not then its two options left. Be a real cheap *** and just rest the backs and somehow tie them down or option 3 ( I have lost count on these options ), remove the backrest and get them colour changed so they match the interior. Yes I will have a different leather to the bench and front seats but only a small outlay.

 

[NM07]

The thing is, my options as I see it, remove the backs, look at the holes and see if they are there to do the folding conversion . If they are not then its two options left. Be a real cheap *** and just rest the backs and somehow tie them down or option 3 ( I have lost count on these options ), remove the backrest and get them colour changed so they match the interior. Yes I will have a different leather to the bench and front seats but only a small outlay.

Ah apologies chap I've got a bit muddled up, I forgot about the folding rears. Definitely possible to recolour, it's something you could even attempt yourself. Furniture Clinic do an awesome kit that comes with the dye/colourant, a can of propellant and a mini spray gun. Let me see if I can find it for you.

 

[NM07]

Here you go, I've always wanted to try it, heard nothing but good things about it.

Leather Colourant Kit

A complete kit designed for anyone to be able to change the colour of leather or restore all worn and faded leather items with no previous experience or technical ability. Perfect for repairing damage caused by colour loss or wear and tear Contains everything you need for a DIY Professional...

www.furnitureclinic.co.uk

 

[NM07]

You will find that if you recolour it, the dye/colourant will actually help remove some of the Milano texture as it will pool in the gaps of the grain, making it look closer to the Valcona. You can also get flexible leather filler if you want to get the grain even closer to the Valcona, Furniture Clinic do that too, so you could actually fill the grain somewhat with this filler before colouring it!

I promise I don't work for them lol, just had great success with their products in the past.

 

[NM07]

Here's the filler!

Leather Flexifil

Extremely flexible filler used to fix heavy cracking Our most flexible filler Used for repairing large areas of cracking Dries clear so is easily coloured over Dries in just a few minutes

www.furnitureclinic.co.uk

 

[swisstony]

Here you go, I've always wanted to try it, heard nothing but good things about it.

Leather Colourant Kit

A complete kit designed for anyone to be able to change the colour of leather or restore all worn and faded leather items with no previous experience or technical ability. Perfect for repairing damage caused by colour loss or wear and tear Contains everything you need for a DIY Professional...

www.furnitureclinic.co.uk

brilliant, I have used Furniture clinic in the past ( for my sofa) and its pretty good stuff. I actually have a compressor so could always go down that route as well.

On the subject of the backs ( via your link thanks ) I have ordered them as assume I am just needing it for the backs which I will be cutting and destroying in the process ( the grey section you can see from the boot )

 

[NM07]

Just checking, as I think I got mixed up with what I thought you were trying to achieve earlier, you do realise the ones I linked are the standard fixed seat backs? Not the folding ones?

The reason I suggested that was in case you wanted to resell your current interior as a full set, in which case that would have been a like-for-like replacement for what you have already.

 

[swisstony]

Just checking, as I think I got mixed up with what I thought you were trying to achieve earlier, you do realise the ones I linked are the standard fixed seat backs? Not the folding ones?

ok maybe we are getting confused then. When you were talking about cutting an inspection hatch to see the bottom of the tubes, you were talking about the back of the seats not the front ? As in come in from the boot side ? Obviously all I am trying to do is to remove the backrest to a) see what is behind in terms of fixings or b) take it out so I can recolour them in the garage . Obviously trying to recolour in the car is not ideal. Hence my need to remove the tubes.

if that is the case and you were telling me to cut in from the front ( i.e through the leather) and get that replacement set from ebay then I got the wrong end of the stick and should cancel that order .....

 

[NM07]

I had forgotten you were trying to do the split folding conversion, and thought you just wanted to swap out your current Special Edition Milano interior for the Valcona like I did.

My suggestion was to cut the inspection hatches on the front of the seat back through the leather (not from the boot), that gets you access to the tubes for easy removal, but will ultimately destroy your current rear seat back. The benefit of that being you're destroying a £60 seat back, rather than £300+ in tubes just to get the seat back out.

I linked you to that eBay listing in case you wanted to sell your current Special Edition Milano interior, as you will get more money for a full set. The item in that listing is a fixed back rear seat which is what you have already in your car I think.

Given what you've just mentioned I think you will probably want to cancel the order as it won't help you achieve your goal. Sorry to have caused confusion, hope that makes things a bit clearer!

 

[swisstony]

ah ******, we did get our wires crossed. cancelling the order . cheers anyway, much appreciated

 

[NM07]

Apologies chap, I fear my contribution may have caused more harm than good. Glad we caught it in time and you were able to cancel.

 

[swisstony]

Apologies chap, I fear my contribution may have caused more harm than good. Glad we caught it in time and you were able to cancel.

its ok, got a call saying order is cancelled so no harm done. I actually thought your photo with the square in red was meaning cut here but from the back ( as you didnt have a photo handy from the boot ) but now I realise you meant cut the leather ..eek !!
Its ok, I now realise that the carpet backing boot side is obviously just the covering of the plate that is there so no chance of cutting that. So back to the option ( now smaller ) is to get these ****** tubes out somehow so I can get the backrest off to recolour it or to investigate the fixings.
I may have to just admit defeat on this whole project and recolour it in situ...ah well some you win, some you lose

 

[Charlie Farley]

Maybe just abort it chap, you know it makes sense.

 

[swisstony]

Maybe just abort it chap, you know it makes sense.

I have last thing to try.. after that I will gracefully take my toys that have been thrown and put them back in the pram

 

[Charlie Farley]

I'll give you 10/10 for sheer persistence chap

 

[northpole]

I wouldn't give up.... nothing worse than buying a tool for a specific job only to find out you aren't capable to use it for the job... I think I'd keep going until i broke the tool,but that's just me... Cars are just big puzzles skill level can be high on some parts other parts are so simple everyone can do it.