Replacing Upper Seat Leather

Post by **renns** » 15 Apr 2011, 17:36

The driver's seat bolster in my V70 is ripping badly. I've found a guy online selling the leather upper as removed from a scrapped vehicle. How involved is the seat dis-assembly and leather swap procedure? Are there concerns regarding SRS/airbags? Any thoughts would be great. My car's interior is great otherwise, so I'd like to get that driver's seat sorted out to match the quality of the rest of the car.

Allen in Hemet · Post by **Allen in Hemet** » 15 Apr 2011, 20:12

I just replaced the seat back and seat cushion leather "skins" in my 2000 V70XC. I got my skins from several 850's and a '98 V70 from 2 Pick-a-Parts and one Ecology wrecking yard near the San Diego area. They were all grouped together.

Since you are just doing the seat back rests. I wouldn't worry too much about the side airbag, unless you decide to take the whole seat out, which isn't necessary. If you do decide to take the seat out, center the seat in the fore/aft rrack, then disconnect the battery. Then, remove the pwr seat switch, locate the orange safety that goes over the side impact sensor on the front lower outboard "post" that held the pwr seat switch housing. I wish, some one had done that on the v70 that i got passenger seat skin from, I'm pretty sure the driver side would have been good shape as well, but the airbag was deployed in the wrecking yard.

Instead of Hog Rings, I used 8" zip ties.

Look up "how to replace seat covers 1998 volvo s70" in your favorite search engine, ie. Yahoo.com, google.com....
Also look up "How ro remove head rests volvo s70"
R/ Allen

Post by **renns** » 15 Apr 2011, 20:43

Thanks for the info. I did some further searching, and found some good info. One remaining question - I wonder if it's possible to adapt the passenger side upper leather to the driver's side seat? The hole for lumbar adjustment would be an issue, but perhaps could be filled with a black plastic trim cap of some type? Due to reduced usage and wear on opposite bolster, the chances of finding a good used upper would be better for passenger's side than drivers.

To add some further info to this thread, here's a couple useful links:

Replacement leather cover supplier
Removal/Installation Instructions

Allen in Hemet · Post by **Allen in Hemet** » 15 Apr 2011, 21:19

I cut a circular patch from the old seat covers and glued them over the holes. Yep, both of my front seats are are power seats, and both of the replacement seat covers were from passenger seats that were not power seats. Needed to cover the holes where the manual recline knob was. Should have just grabbed the knobs, as the shaft is there in my seats, threaded, and has a nut on the end of it, same as the manual recline seats.
Allen

Post by **renns** » 16 Apr 2011, 06:20

Thanks Allen - good info! I'll give this a go.