In as much that Dan the Man & myself have agreed to swap his leather seats for my vRS ones, somewhere on a wind swept motorway carpark, between Blackpool & Oswestry, herein lies the problem.

In preparation for the proposed swap, I thought I would do a dry run, to see what was involved. So armed with my trusty RAF toolkit, replete with Whitworth & AF spanners, I attempted to remove the front seats. First problem. The seats are held in place by Torx set screws (whatever they are?) Not having the required Torx bits off I goes to Halfords to buy some - best part of 20 quid!

On the drivers side, 3 screws removed no problem, but one would not budge. Soaked it in WD40, left it for half an hour, had another go. Still would not budge. End result - the screw head is all chewed up, & the Torx bit just spins round with no grip. I mention the problem to an engineering savvy mate of mine, who says I will have to remove it with some screw extractors. Off I goes to Screwfix for the said screw extractors & some titanium coated drill bits (another 30 quid!). Commences to drill a hole in the the Torx screw, starting off with a 2.5mm drill bit, which promptly snaps.Similar story with a 3mm & 4mm drill bit. I end up drilling with a 5mm drill bit, without the drill bit snapping. Then I insert the screw extractor, & turn the square end with my adjustable spanner. Still will not budge!!!

I'm now left with a screw extractor stuck in the Torx screw. To make matters worse (if at all possible), the square end on the screw extractor is now rounded off, so I can't get a grip on that now. HELP, - anybody?

Problem number 2. Front passenger seat removed no problem, but there is an electrical cable that comes up out of the floor & disappears into the bowels of the seat. The seats aren't electric or heated, so what is the cable for? Completely nonplussed!!. But it raises the question am I going to run into compatibility problems with swapping my seats for Dan's? Is it something to do with the airbags, maybe? And if so will that cause problems with the CANBUS if the seats are swapped.

PROBLEMS, PROBLEMS, PROBLEMS. Why is nothing in life so simple?

Answers please on a postcard

If you're using Torx bits then that's your problem. They are spline bolts (m10 iirc). You can get a set of the proper bits off eBay for under a tenner. Replacement bolts are about 80/90p each from the dealer. Not sure how you can get the knackered bolt out now, maybe dremel/hacksaw a slot in it and use a decent screwdriver maybe? Could try giving it a few whacks with the hammer too to break the Loc - tite seal?

The cable under the seat would be either side airbags or for the seatbelt I'd guess. What colour is the connector underneath?

If you're using Torx bits then that's your problem. They are spline bolts (m10 iirc). You can get a set of the proper bits off eBay for under a tenner. Replacement bolts are about 80/90p each from the dealer. Not sure how you can get the knackered bolt out now, maybe dremel/hacksaw a slot in it and use a decent screwdriver maybe? Could try giving it a few whacks with the hammer too to break the Loc - tite seal?

The cable under the seat would be either side airbags or for the seatbelt I'd guess. What colour is the connector underneath?

 Thanks for the prompt, helpful reply. That is the reason for the bolt getting chewed up then. I just assumed they were Torx, In fact didn't know the other ones (spline bolts existed)

The problem now is, the screw extractor (which is stuck fast in the bolt)  is hardened carbon steel. A hacksaw wont even touch it, & because of the access issues (as you know the bolt sits in a u shaped channel), there is isn't room to get any sort of power tool in, at least not without doing damage to the u shaped channel. It has been suggested that an airtool impact wrench might get it out, so that is what I'm hoping my local garage can sort out.

Regarding the cable, the passenger seat is back in now & i can't remember the colour. Not gonna risk taking it out again, unless I manage to get hold of the correct splinebolt bit.

Spline bits are a pain Tbh. Seem to be a vag favourite unfortunately. Upload a pic or two of the bolt if you can. See if any of us can figure out how to remove it (if the garage cant). It's quite ironic though because if you had just left them in and sorted it with Dan, I dare say you'd have had no trouble as he has the right bits (lol cheeky) to remove the bolts. Not that that helps you now though.

You may still be able to see the connector underneath if you poke your head from behind the seat. If you have side airbags in the seats, you should be able to feel some hard bit if you push on the side of the seat, and it might have it stitched in the seat somewhere. Airbags or seatbelt wire, it's no biggy really.

have you tried hammering a smaller socket on to the bolt head a bit like how you remove damaged locking wheel nuts

have you tried hammering a smaller socket on to the bolt head a bit like how you remove damaged locking wheel nuts

It's not a bolt head as such i e not hexagonal. Externally it's perfectly round, & because it's recessed into a 'U' channel, can't be gripped with molegrips or stillsons. I was told by Halfords (their guy came out to the car & looked) it was a Torx bolt & then sold me a set of sockets (wrong word really) to fit it. Turns out they are not Torx but spline. The Torx bit did successfully remove 3 out of the 4 bolts, but on the remaining one only managed to chew the profile of the bolt up. Hence me resorting to screw extractors, which has got stuck & can't be removed.

 

Anyway it's booked into local garage on Monday to see what they can do.

 

Just shows you if you don't know what you're doing, you're better off doing nothing

Oh dear.

 

The best way by far is welding a nut onto the top of the bolt, but when doing it inside a car it depends how close your carpet/seat material/foam is to the bolt?

It's not a bolt head as such i e not hexagonal. Externally it's perfectly round, & because it's recessed into a 'U' channel, can't be gripped with molegrips or stillsons. I was told by Halfords (their guy came out to the car & looked) it was a Torx bolt & then sold me a set of sockets (wrong word really) to fit it. Turns out they are not Torx but spline. The Torx bit did successfully remove 3 out of the 4 bolts, but on the remaining one only managed to chew the profile of the bolt up. Hence me resorting to screw extractors, which has got stuck & can't be removed.

 

Anyway it's booked into local garage on Monday to see what they can do.

 

Just shows you if you don't know what you're doing, you're better off doing nothing

 

its not ENTIRELY your fault, so dont blame yourself, you asked someone that you'd think would know what tool it was that you needed to use, and they told you the completr wrong thing and sold you a whole set (probably because they dont sell spline bits)

 

The garage will have it out within 5 minutes.

its not ENTIRELY your fault, so dont blame yourself, you asked someone that you'd think would know what tool it was that you needed to use, and they told you the completr wrong thing and sold you a whole set (probably because they dont sell spline bits)

 

The garage will have it out within 5 minutes.

Thanks for that. Hope you're right. Garage labour £200 per hour. 5 minutes should only be £16.66 then.

I should be so lucky!

Thanks for that. Hope you're right. Garage labour £200 per hour. 5 minutes should only be £16.66 then.

I should be so lucky!

I wouldn't want to pay any more than £20.00 to have a bolt like that removed. As said earlier, they will weld a nut to it and simply undo it.

Hopefully it won't cost you the earth. Good luck.

Ps... Wish I was having your mk2 seats. Haha

Let me know how it goes on Monday Derek, good luck and hope it doesn't turn out to expensive.

Ask them to leave that bolt out of the seat for now, will be easier come removal time.

I have all the correct tools etc for the job

Woah!!!!

Slow down mate. There is seriously no need to pay someone to do this.

For those that remember I had a similar problem top when a lighter got lodged into one of my passenger seat runners.

You need a deep socket and a hammer. The socket will fit on the bolt then hammer it over the head.

And if you want to come to mine (Manchester) I have a spare bolt you can have for nowt.

I also have a M10 spline bit should you want to remove all other bolts whilst you were here.

Woah!!!!

Slow down mate. There is seriously no need to pay someone to do this.

For those that remember I had a similar problem top when a lighter got lodged into one of my passenger seat runners.

You need a deep socket and a hammer. The socket will fit on the bolt then hammer it over the head.

It would have to be a deep socket! Don't forget I've now got approx 3" of screw extractor sticking up out of the bolt! It's hardened carbon steel & a hack saw wont even scratch it. I've already bought replacement bolts, ready to replace. Thanks for the offer though.

That's what this forum is & should be about. Fellow members offering each other advice & help & cameraderie when needed. I appreciate it.

Let me know how it goes on Monday Derek, good luck and hope it doesn't turn out to expensive.

Ask them to leave that bolt out of the seat for now, will be easier come removal time.

I have all the correct tools etc for the job

Will do Dan. Cheers.

It would have to be a deep socket! Don't forget I've now got approx 3" of screw extractor sticking up out of the bolt! It's hardened carbon steel & a hack saw wont even scratch it. I've already bought replacement bolts, ready to replace. Thanks for the offer though.

That's what this forum is & should be about. Fellow members offering each other advice & help & cameraderie when needed. I appreciate it.

Sorry I missed the bit about the extraction tool. It's not often I have tools or knowledge to help people on here as I am still learning myself. But when I do I'd always offer my help to those who need it.

Any joy selling these yet Dan? I thought they would've been long gone by now... :-\

Not yet Alex, had a few PMs though, seems that good condition mk1 VRS seats are hard to come by!

These have now sold.

To me! Cheers Dan

I've got some mint gti mk5 seats if anyone wants to swap I ain't got time to make them fit