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Stan 24v

Front Seat Back Renovation

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Hi all

I have never been happy with my seat backs on the front seats, as they are marked to buggery probably from kids shoes etc with a previous owner. Add to that one of the nets is a bit stretched too. So, I bought myself some black alcantara type cloth off ebay and decided to wrap them.

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In order to remove the seat backs there are two insert clips at the bottom of the seat which need to be removed. They are a pain to remove and will need force to get them out, or just chop the tops off them as they'll need replacing anyway. Once out then the seat should be pulled downwards and out towards you.

Once off you will see that the nets are held on with melted plastic on the back. To remove this I just used a hammer and small chisel ;)

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Next step is to get your material and lay it over the area to gauge the size needed, then cut out a rough square shape.

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Now, spray the seat back with glue and manipulate the material into place being careful not to get glue onto the face of it and also trying not to crease it. The key is patience! The material can be pulled off and on so just take your time. Once on trim the edges so you only have a cm or so and then glue the edges and fold over.

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Now, find the holes where the net sits and pirce the material with a blade and push it through. This makes a nice tight fit but does make it a bit awkward to get the net back on.

Once the net is on you need to hold it tightly in place (two pairs of hands are best here) and then dab some big blobs of glue from a glue gun on the reverse and hold it til it sets. Mine havent held very well so I am going to be looking at alternative methods, probably with some self tappers and washers.

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This is them both covered, one with the net and one without; you dont have to use the nets but I like having them.

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Next step is to go and refit the backs to your seats and sit back and admire your handy work ;)

Cheers

Stan

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Holy thread revival. Stan, do you know the part numbers for the bottom christmass tree type fixings that holds the seat back in place?

Edited by RFP325i
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you dont seem to be able to get them individually. They come as part of a "fixing set" or something. I took mine off to spray them (grey to black) and now I cant fix them back on again lol.

Might see if I can cabletie them just or use some similar fixings.

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Stan that's a hell of a write up and a really nice DIY....I personally like them without the nets...I never use mine there just there for people to catch there feet on when I have rear passengers.....

You should start flogging them on eBay you'd make a mint

N.

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I like that mate! Mine are grey and have seen better days! I'd love to give this a go. Do you remember what you put it in eBay to get the material? How much did you order too?

Thanks

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Good guide, you gave me the idea to cover mine in alcantara. It now looks great with very dark grey alcantara against the red seat leather in mine.

I used contact adhesive and next time I would use a normal adhesive as it was hard to get creases out and rework the fabric.

In case it helps anyone, I found some differences in the fixings on the 'vert seats... The bottom fixings are not christmas trees luckily, they are good ole torx screws, and after removing them seat back needs pulling out from the botton to unlatch some pegs about 1/2 way up the seat. About 10% down from the top of the seat are two plastic clips, you can try to carefully pull the side out in this area, take up the slack in the clips, then use more force to disengage them, or use brute force and pull the seatback off. There is a moulded in peg in the middle at the top of the seat that should pop out when you pull the back off.

One of the clips at the top broke on both seats, I found a door card clip will do the job to replace it - the grey ones without a washer, rather than buying the whole kit from BMW.

Next on the list for interior refurbishment is to plasti-dip various interior plastic parts where the soft touch paint has peel off.

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