Owners say the seats can give a lot of grief, that they all seem to need different techniques, that the front nearside one is hard to get to or see, and that the inside rear one needs a long shaft. It is a simple job if you can unscrew and screw things, as long as you have the right tools, and some people take the seats out in under 15 minutes.
Seats come out for several other jobs: see fuel pump replacement, fitting a Pro Alloy fuel tank and rear clam removal. A 2006 seat removal guide is said to sit inside a how-to on fitting a harness bar, since you have to take the seats out to do that. We haven't seen it.
Tools
- Allen bits for sockets, and a few extension bars, plus a spanner for the front driver's side bolts.
- The front passenger bolt is the worst. Many people use a cut-down Allen key. A set of ratchet spanners with Allen adaptors is really handy instead. A ratchet mechanism is crucial, and with the tool this bolt is "pretty easy" to unscrew.
- 13 mm socket for the front driver's seat, preferably with a magnetic end.
- A couple of long extensions for the rear bolts, again with magnetic ends to hold the bolts.
What size is that front passenger bolt?
This was confusing in the thread. One owner tried an Allen key in it and thought it was 5.5 mm, because 5 was too loose and 6 too big. Another was 90% sure it was 5 mm, and a third said his was definitely a 6 mm bit. It was later confirmed that it is a 6 mm bit, and that the cheap bits the first owner had been using, which were way undersize, were the problem. Don't force it: one owner recently rounded his off.
Tips
- Use a ratchet spanner set for the tough front passenger bolt, as above.
- A 13 mm socket for the front driver's bolts, preferably with magnetic ends.
- A couple of long extensions for the rear bolts, with magnetic ends.
- Mark with a pencil which holes you took the bolts out of, so you know where they go when you put the seat back in.
- On the driver's side, look out for the T-shaped piece under each of the rear bolts. See below.
- Put a towel over the sills and the gear surround, to stop the seat runners scratching the car when you move or lift the seats.
- When refitting, put small towels around the holes to catch an escaping bolt. There is nothing worse than seeing the last bolt roll under the seat.
The little black bits with holes (driver's seat)
One owner had two little black pieces with holes fall away from the back of the driver's seat. He assumed they were there to raise the seat, put them between the floor and the seat, and then found the seat sat too high and rubbed on the headrest parts. The reply was that they fit under the bolt, above the runner, not below. He swapped them round and says it was much better. These are presumably the T-shaped pieces mentioned in the tips, though nobody says so.
Torque
The thread doesn't give a torque. The torque values list has 25 Nm for the seat to floor, but its source isn't known.