Seat Bolts Rounded Off Help!

[matty205xs 1 1 Cars]

I recently tried to take out the seats from my 205 so I can take out the carpet and replace it along with the seats, I managed to get all the bolts out except for 2 of them (the same bolt on either side) , the previous owner had already tried to take them out and had rounded them off so I tried to drill them out but iv discovered that they seem to be impossible to drill out, is there another way of getting them out?

thanks matt.

[welshpug 1,656]

a sharp drill bit low speed and a bit of lube, take care to only drill the heads off.

 

 

 

I'm sure the inner rear pair are exposed under the car, hence the difficulty in removal sometimes, so you can then grab the rusty end from underneath and wind them out the other way.

[matty205xs 1 1 Cars]

right ok thanks didn't think of trying from the underneath, ill give it a go.

[Slo 283 1 Cars]

Are they the original torx type bolts?

[matty205xs 1 1 Cars]

yes they are slo

[Slo 283 1 Cars]

Bugger, only time ive had difficulty removing those bolts was when they had been crossthreaded though they can be very hard to turn being exposed underneath near the handbrake.

 

They wont be easy to drill out you might be better off with a small angle grinder and new disk to get in the seat rail. Just get in enough to nick the heads off.

 

If you are lucky you may be able to pop a new nut on whatevers left and weld the top on to have another go as unscrewing it as they wont have any tension on them after chopping the heads off

 

Or even underneath weld a nut on the end and screw it completely out

Edited February 4, 2015 by Slo

[matty205xs 1 1 Cars]

ok thanks for the suggestions ill try and give them a go tomorrow and with any luck I might be able to get them out crossed fingers.

[allye 530 3 Cars]

This is why I always cooper slip these, silly design having them hanging out. could try cutting a screw driver slot in the top.

[sp_en_ny 17 1 Cars]

That explains why when I tired undoing the two rear inside bolts on my seats they would not budge at all, the others all came out without any effort. If you grind the head off, remove the seat and then cannot get the remainder of the threaded section out what then ?is the only alternative to drill it out ? by doing this will you still be able to screw another bolt in ?

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

If you really can't get them out from the top here is what I would do.

 

Go under car, wire brush the exposed threads and spray with release oil

Then thread 2 nuts on the exposed thread and lock them together

Use the locked nuts to wind the bolt up into the car

Once you have it moving you should be able to unlock the nuts and wind it out from the top

[scbond 15 1 Cars]

One of mine has done this so I used a Dremel to cut a slot into the head. I didn't get it out as I fixed the issue that meant removing the seat without doing so. However, you can get in with a Dremel and carefully cut the head so you can grip it with something.

[2-Pugs 57]

One thing to be careful of if you use a grinder is to protect your carpet from sparks. I ended up with a small burnt area on the carpet of one of my previous GTIs where I had to cut one of those bolts off. It sounds obvious stating it now but at the time I didn't even think about it until I'd done it.

[lagonda 42]

Cut a slot as suggested, then try an impact driver.

[matty205xs 1 1 Cars]

that's all right 2-pug its not a gti its just a standard 1.8 xld so interiors being changed anyway plus the main reason the seats and carpet are going because of a mouse infestation as its burrowed underneath the carpet, urinated all over it and its also covered in mouse poo and the seats have been nibbled from the underneath, didn't realise this when buying the car stupid as it sounds but the passenger door didn't open so couldn't get in from there and the drivers side door was dodgy and it was a non runner so I new it needed work anyway so wasn't really too bothered about interior as I planned on stripping it out, I could smell something abit off in the car but just assumed it was musty because the previous owner had it sat up for about 2 years. so im might end up cutting the carpet out then try grinding the bolts out that way to prevent it catching fire.

thanks matt.

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

Mine were rounded but still a tiny bit of head left, I used a impact driver got them both out first go.

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

Think if it was me i'd drill a bit of it suitable for an easy out, then give the bolt shaft a good roasting from below, and try easy out it.

 

Two man job though and keep a bucket of water handy if you try the above.

 

I done the above with one of mine that Charles Atlas couldn't loosen, and it came out easy albeit the head was fine.

[Slo 283 1 Cars]

You could probably drill them all day and acheive just a shiny circle on the top or as soon as you start to get somewhere snap the drill off in the hole rendering it undrillable (if thats a word) then.

 

Remember these bolts are super tough and designed to take the full brunt of a collision with your weight pulling on them too.

[matty205xs 1 1 Cars]

ye that's exactly whats happened slo they have turned to a shiny circle in the middle so hopefully on sunday ill try and weld on a nut or bolt head on the top and try again from there.

[scbond 15 1 Cars]

Also, easy-outs/extractors are crap at the best of times on cheap studs...will break in seconds on these.

[brian j 32]

This happened to me and they were so solid I could not get them to move with anything.

 

I ended up drilling the head off carefully to remove the seat and then cutting the bolt off flush under the car and drilling out the remnants starting with a 2mm drill and working up with plenty of lubricant.

 

I killed 3 drill bits and it took hours. :-(

 

Worked though.

 

If I had a welder I'd have cut the captive nuts off underneath and wedded new ones on...