Removing fabia seat covers?

[devonutopia]

How the hell do you do it? Got as far as pulling the joining strip/clip apart but there is some crazy spring setup inside the seat that I cannot get apart

Must be easier than I am trying to make it surely? :(

[LexVRS]

isnt there a trim clip at the bottom connected to some wierd looking thing i know there are on some cars if you undo that it just comes off

[devonutopia]

I have undone it, but its the springed mechanism inside which is fooling me at the moment.

[hockeylad72]

Have a look here, near the bottom of the page

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ro&u=http://www.fabia.skodafriends.ro/dyi.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3DKGA420001%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26hs%3Dozm%26sa%3DG&rurl=translate.google.co.uk#Tapiterie

I ended up cutting the covers off.

[weeble]

I took all mine off to wash them . which ones are you struggling with, front or back?

Edited 3 February, 2010 by weeble

[devonutopia]

Just the front passenger seat.

Edit: Although thinking about it, I might well do the rears as well. Just not had the chance to look at those yet.

[weeble]

If its the base of the seat its just matter of unclipping the cover all round the bottom then lifting the cover and cutting the hog rings with side cutters (not the wire moulded into the foam on the seat base.

If its the back of the seat let me know and i'll try and explain it from memory :S

[devonutopia]

I was hoping no actual cutting was involved. :(

The springs, etc are accessed from the back, yes.

[weeble]

are you talking about the base of the seat or the back (upright) bit of the seat? There are no springs on the base.

The rears and the base arent to difficult. takes about 1/2 hour each seat

Edited 3 February, 2010 by weeble

[devonutopia]

Yeah - I've only looked at the upright so far. Hopefully the base won't be awkward.

[LexVRS]

seems very awkward 2 me :p

[weeble]

OK here goes,from memory it went something like this.

First unclip the cover at the bottom. There are two wires which go into the seat frame with grommets over them, remove the grommets then lever the wires out.

Then start to roll the cover up, turning it inside out (the wire in the seat cover at the front will bend with the cover) till you can see the hog rings. Cut the rings (not the wire in the foam) with side cutters.

There are two elasticated straps at the back that just hook onto a bit of wire and onto the cover. Unhook these.

Keep rolling the cover up cutting the hog rings as you find them.

Once you get about 2/3 of the way up roughly at the top of the bolster the wires running up the seat (where the grey / black join) go through the seat to the and clip onto a rod across the back of the frame. unhook the rod and remove the wires.

after you get them off its doddle to do the last top bit

Bearing in mind i'm doing this from memory so I might have forgot something.

You will probably need bout 100 hog rings to do all the seats = £6 ish and a pair of hog ring pliers = £12 ish

[devonutopia]

So in terms of them being washable and able to sell on Ebay / here - not worth doing then?.....

[devonutopia]

So in terms of them being washable and able to sell on Ebay / here - not worth doing then?.....

[weeble]

Well worth doing. mines came up like brand new.

As you wont be refitting them you dont need he hog rings or pliers

Edited 4 February, 2010 by weeble

[devonutopia]

Might have a go tonight then!

[777John]

Hello everyone!

I might have a go at removing my seat covers after reading all of the above. can anyone tell me where to get the hog rings from, are they a Skoda part?

Thanks

[MarkyMark1]

Hello everyone!

I might have a go at removing my seat covers after reading all of the above. can anyone tell me where to get the hog rings from, are they a Skoda part?

Thanks

I didn't need any spare hog rings when I took the back seat (lower) covers off following my daughter throwing up on them - I just used a set of needle nosed pliers, put the closed 'nose' of the pliers inside each hog ring and slowly opened the pliers out. This stretched the hog rings open without any problems. Did take a while but was well worth doing, as they went in the washing machine and came out immaculate. Was worried about the material so put them on a relatively low heat wash (40 I think!). I then used the pliers to close the hog rings once they were on the metal frame.

One day I'll get round to doing the rest of the seats!

Just go easy with the hog rings - they are dangerously sharp once opened up!

[devonutopia]

Good shout on using the pliers. This is now a job for sunday.

[weeble]

Or another alternative to using hog rings is to use small zip ties. Thats what I found on on one of my covers when I removed it.

777John, you get the ring on ebay hog rings

[777John]

Thanks Weeble, I will look out for them if I loose any.

[Mark_vRS]

im gonna have a crack at doing this now, got a hole in drivers bolster and need a new cover. Handy, thanks fellas