Removing leather cover off seat bottom
 

Does anyone know who has worked on the seats before... Is it possible to remove the leather cover on the drivers seat by just removing the side control panel and then unhooking the leather? Or do I have to disconnect the battery, disconnect every connection under the seat, then unbolt the seat bottom and remove it in order to remove the leather? The reason I'm doing this is to stick a heating element to the seat foam so I need the leather off or at least peeled back. I have very limited free time so I'm trying to ballpark how big of a job this is. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

I just did mine last weekend. You unfortunately really need to pull the while seat out. Your old seat heater is sewed into the old leather too btw. Wear gloves as the seat pan is thin sheet metal and sharp as hell. You will need female star sockets to remove seat and there is only one plug from seat to chassis. I put new leather on mine and cut the old heater out and glued it to the new cover. It took me about 2 hrs but I was in no hurry.

Tim

The previous owner changed the leather but did not transfer the heating element. So right now I have a great condition leather seat with no heater under it. That's why I was wondering if it's possible to peel the leather back or slide the heating element under without removing the seat. Does that sound impossible? If I do have to pull the whole seat, can just the bottom cushion come out or is it only the entire chair? Did you disconnect your battery when pulling it out? There is only 1 connector I need to disconnect? Thanks for your help!

Also I don't have any torx sockets so I'll have to buy it, any idea the size needed to remove the seats?

I don't think you can do it without removing the seat. The covers are made to put front on 1st then stretch to the rear and I don't think you can get enough space from the rear to do a good job. Its really easy to pull the seat anyway, then you can clean between seat and console.

Front seat torx are E21 and the rear are E16. I purchased a whole set on amazon as I read the rears could be E14.

I did not disconnect battery, never crossed my mind. One connector on the rear outer side. Mine has the monitors in the rear of headrest so I also had to disconnect that which was a pain.

Tim

Try regular sockets before you buy external torx ones..... while external torx are proper generally regular sockets will fit them well enough. I have the seats out of my GMC right now for a major interior overhaul and found that regular sockets fit them tight and worked fine and they are the exact same types of bolts. Going to be a while before I get to it but I bought all new Katzkin leather covers for my GMC and I'll have to transfer the factory heaters over. Once I have my GMC done I'll be driving it daily and will be pulling my H2 into the bay for a couple of months to redo some of the interior on it. I'll be replacing the bottom drivers seat leather, pulling the headliner and redoing it, fix the sunroof while I have the headliner out, a bit of wiring (remote start and add a backup camera), and re-painting some of the plastics.

OK. I was mainly worried about causing any air bag issues by removing the seat with the battery connected

thanks...I'll try regular sockets and see what happens

Let us know how you like the Katzkin cover, I hear they are really nice.

They are top notch. They are really not "seat covers" but replacement seat upholstery. You have to fully remove the original upholstery to install them. Many GM stealerships offer custom leather interiors, they get them from Katzkin, and when done through a stealership they even get covered by the full factory vehicle warranty. I've had some before and the fit is every bit as good as the originals and the quality exceeds the originals. They have all of the exact same factory attaching points and methods. These are the ones I got for my GMC... not installed yet, just sitting loose. Factory graphite outers with perforated chocolate suede inserts with contrast chocolate stitching. :)
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