A mini guide to stop your leather seats squeaking.

Ever since I got my leather seats I have noticed how the leather on the base squeaks against the plastic trim making quite a lot of noise.

I could tell it was the plastic end covers on the inside of each seat rubbing against the leather. I decided to trim the covers down, I was going to take them off but they do hide a lot of gubbins from view.

What You Need
1. 6mm allen key or socket to remove the seats
2. philips screw driver
3. small flat head screw driver to prise off the retaining washer
4. Whatever you want to cut the plastic with Saw/Dremel/File/Sand Paper etc...

Step 1
First you will have to take either the centre console out or each seat out to get access to the cover. I would recomend taking the seat out of the car.

- To remove the seat
If your car has a passenger or side airbag first disconnect your battery and wait at least one hour before starting work.

Slide it all the way back unlicp the heated seats if you have any and undo the front two blots. Then slide it all the way forward, make sure the seat locks in position otherwise your rails could end up uneven. Remove the rear two bolts and lift the seat out. Be carefull not to press the seat slide bar or your seat rails will go uneaven.

Step 2
Remove the inside cover. At the front is one philips screw. At the back hidden under a cover is a retaining washer. like this;
209-retainingwasher.jpg
Prise the whasher cover off (the most difficult part) then carefully prise the fin's of the washer upwards to free it. I found this easy but the metal is thin if you go in all guns blazing the fins will snap.

Step 3
Mark out how much material you want to cut off and chop it off, at the widest point I cut 9mm off. I used a small cheap dremel to make the first cut then cut through all the way with a hack saw blade. I tidied the cut up with a small file and then some fine sand paper.
seat-fix-01.jpg

Step 4
Refit the plastic cover, the retaining pin should just push back on and you can press the fins down a little.

- To Refit your seats
Put the seat back in position and you should have to put the back two bolts in first, the rails should be sitting straight. Now slide the seat all the way back and make sure it clicks into the rails, then fit the front two blots. Refit your seat wires if any. Done

seat-fix-02.jpg
This worked really well for me the squeak has gone and I dont have to worry about the plastic cover rubbing through my leather, which it would have done eventually. The outer plastic covers do not make any noise for me.