Removing Front Seats

[MiniGibbo 142]

This sounds such a simple task, normally its slide the seat forward undo two bolts then slide back and undo another two bolts..

 

Tried to remove my 205's seats just now to be stumped how to get the seats out completly :S

 

Am i missing something simple or where they built in the car lol..

[Tom Fenton 1,536]

If yours is the car I think, it has some non standard seats in it. Therefore you are going to have to figure out how they have been fitted. I am sure it will be nothing that splendidly obscure so a good look and crawl about should make it obvious what to undo.

[MiniGibbo 142]

Yer it has recaros but ones bolted to a 205 subframe which i thaught would come out easy but not apparently.. dont even get me started on the drivers thats jsut bolted to the floor

 

Does the seat slide off the rails then unbolt the rails seperate? i cant remember the last time something so simple has confused me so much, friday or not lol

 

EDIT: had my head under each seat for a good five minutes a time btw.. very confused

Edited September 23, 2011 by MiniGibbo

[Strictly_Derv 34]

Well I got 405 seats bolted to 205 frames and I had it slide forward and lift the seat up as if you where getting into the back. The front bolts were fiddly due to having the incorrect tools

Hope this helps

[Anthony 1,002]

Difficult to say exactly, as when aftermarket seats have been installed you don't know how they've been done.

 

For what it's worth, with the pair of Recaro's that I recently fitted using the genuine Recaro adapter rails, they use 205 5dr seat runners (3dr without the tilt mechanism) and as such come out the same way as the original 205 seats - slide the seat fully forward to its stops to access the rear 2/3 bolts (depending if both have been fitted on the exhaust tunnel side) and then slide fully back to get to the front two bolts. If the seat doesn't retain the standard tilting subframe where the whole seat lifts upwards and forwards, then access to the front bolts is fiddly and needs a low-profile T40 torx bit and something (rachet spanner or similar) to drive it.

 

The subframe and seat come out as one as standard and on the Recaro's that I fitted, but as said, it's impossible to know how the previous owner has fitted yours.

 

What I would say is that if the seats have been fitted for any length of time (and arguably even if they haven't) I would get underneath the car and clean up the exposed seat belt threads with a wire brush and give them a generous squirt of WD40 or similar. The torx heads are quite easy to round off if the bolts are seized or you use incorrect/poor tools, and then the job becomes a right faff trying to get access to remove the remains of the bolt.