I am adding rear seat heaters, and am somewhat stumped as to how I should get the cover off the upright seat-back portion. There seems to be a solid plastic (?) backing with grey trunk felt over it covering on the back of the upright portion of the seat. This fits tightly over all of the leather in such a way as I cannot get to any portion to take off. I don't want to pry the back off and end up breaking it. I'm wondering if the back is screwed on.

Do I need to remove the grey covering? It appears to be glued onto the plastic backing. There could be screws under there, but then I suspect the grey felt would be ruined if I tried to rip it off. Maybe heat it?

If anyone has done this I would appreciate some pointers.

The model is a 2006 VDP.

 

Attached is the extract from the tech manual for the rear seat bolster removal. I am only assuming you have the fold down rear seats. If the assumption is wrong let me know and i can send a different diagram.

 

Hi avern1, I was away, so I a apologize for not checking.

I am beyond this portion of removal. I am trying to figure out the seats themselves. I want to remove the leather and put the seat heaters on, and then replace the leather. I can do this for the bottom, but cannot figure out how to get the leather off the upper portion--short of strong-arming it and possibly (probably) breaking something.

Thanks for your offer of help. If you have a diagram to remove the back portion of the seat itself (which covers all the leather trim endings), that would be greatly appreciated.

 

I too had this problem when I fitted rear seat heaters. (Most popular mod I've done!)

It's a bit brutal, but the grey felt stays put and the seat cover has to be levered up and away from it and over the edge of the seat squab. I seem to remember using a broad bladed screwdriver in the end as the only tool I had that was strong enough to get the first section lifted. The first corner is the hardest part. Difficult not to cause a little bit of damage, but if it's at the bottom edge, it won't be seen. It's good fun putting it back too!

Hope the photo helps!

 

OK. I guess here goes! Thanks for the tip, and the photo. I have a variety of removal tools, hopefully I can get a corner to cooperate.

Thanks so much.

 

Had to wait to have enough time to take out seats and pull off the leather. Your tip worked great! Other than some sore fingers, I have the pads on and am putting things back. Did you find a good place to electrically tap into in the back, or did you run the power line to the front? I have a good place for ground right in the back.

I have a 10amp fuse inline that came connected with each kit (L, R). I notice that some people tap into the electric window circuit, but that seems to be a 5 amp circuit on the x-type. There is a 30 amp unused fuse slot for the rear window wiper on the wagon x-type, but I don't know if that is even connected up.

I will move this question to another post, I mostly wanted to thank you for the tip. It worked out fine.