Are the seatbacks interchangeable passenger/driver?
 

Yesterday as I was detailing the interior, I had the most unpleasant surprise - my finger went right through the leather on the seatback driver side! Obviously it was already cracked in that spot and I should have been more careful. Lesson learned.

Now I'm looking at seats on ebay, and found a reasonable set with the passenger seat in good condition. My question is, are the seat backs interchangeable between driver and passenger?

Any information would be greatly appreciated!

Yes they are.

Here's my experience:

http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/49826-seat-heater-install-seat-leather-swap.html

You can also swap the seat bottoms with a little work.

There is a lever to lean the seat forward. I think it releases the power recline. Also each has the seatbelt loop screwed into it. As long as the recline catch still works I'm pretty sure they are identical.

Lots of boat / car interior repair shops around. I'll bet they could repair that or make new "panels" for both seats cheaper than new seats.

Many thanks for the info guys.

I'll stop by an upholstery shop tomorrow to get a quote, but might still buy the ebay seat covers to keep around just in case.

http://986forum.com/forums/diy-project-guides/50255-boxster-seat-disassembly-procedure-part-1-2-a.html

No problem swapping seat backs but you do have to completely disassemble the seat. Don't know if you saw this write up but hopefull it will help.

I was hoping I would just swap out the seat covers actually. If too big of a job for me, or if it requires special skills, I'd take it to a shop.