Swapping Seat Backs - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

rexcramer · 01-26-2020, 04:20 PM

The drivers seat backrest leather is wearing as you might expect for a 23 year old car. The leather is in fair condition. But, the color is a worn. I have some grey shoe polish I put on it periodically. I am trying to avoid a full leather dye project. And the leather will eventually rip anyway.

What I am proposing to do is swap the backrests only. The worn area would then be on the inside of the passenger seat. Subject to much less wear and tear. (My wife hasn't been in the Box since we bought the Macan in August

) The passenger seat is pristine by comparison.

These are the base seats. They have the electric tilt feature only. I just looked through the PET catalog. The seat bases are right and left due to the manual slide mechanism location next to the tunnel. I couldn't find a difference on the backrests. They look to be identical. Does anybody have any experience they can share before I get started?

Thanks in advance and safe travels.

piper6909 · 01-26-2020, 04:43 PM

What a great idea! I don't see why it couldn't be done. The parts catalog does not specify Left or Right for the seatback parts, including the cover, frame, etc. So they must be interchangeable. In fact, the only parts the spec R/L are the "control button" and "rosette" which are on both sides of each seat. So I assume that R/L designation refers to the left or right of the seat, not the car.

I'm going to do it on mine when I get the chance. The best part is that by swapping them, those same areas will not suffer the same wear and tear because they'll be in the center of the car!

KevinH1990 · 01-26-2020, 06:36 PM

I think your plan will work. Check out this this thread for links to information about Porsche seats that I compiled while working on seat upgrades: Upgrading Two-Way Power Seats

Rob175 · 01-27-2020, 05:39 AM

FYI......There are specialist vehicle leather re-finishers out there that can make your seats look like new without even removing them from the car. I fly as a p/t charter pilot and at least every 2 years the 4 different corporate jets I fly get a "refresh" which always include the leather seats. They fix everything from faded leather to repairing cuts and cracks (you wouldn't believe how some high rollers treat the interiors of these planes) ....... the bottom line is that they work miracles. I would strongly suggest you check those types of professionals out. If you have trouble locating someone, I suggest you call a charter company at your closest airport and speak to their maintenance department and find out who they use locally.......just an FYI.

tommy583 · 01-27-2020, 05:57 AM

It will work. I gave a friend my passenger seat back, he used it on his drivers side.

Tailwind · 01-27-2020, 06:27 AM

The PO of my car sold it because he couldn't fit in it anymore (no judgements!).
The driver side outer side bolster had a big hole in it that was spewing foam. I swapped the covers and repaired the hole.

m332is · 01-27-2020, 06:49 AM

What about trying something like Leatherique Home Page | Leatherique Restoration Products and trying to restore that area? I've never used the re-dying/repair stuff, but I have used the cleaning/restore products and I'm always amazed at how well they work.

Starter986 · 01-27-2020, 07:50 AM

Someday I'd like to have the seatbacks leather changed to match the red interior. Just the seatbacks.

Can anyone share how to remove the seatbacks? I've seen some posts somewhere... but it appears tugging, sliding, and pulling are involved and I didn't want to muck things up.

Thanks!

rexcramer · 01-27-2020, 10:16 AM

Thank-you everybody for your help with this. There are professional leather options locally which I will search out eventually. I have leather products and gray shoe polish that I currently use with decent results. I am trying to buy some time and prevent it from tearing before I spend money. I need to spend money on brakes, oil change, horns and the OEM 6 disc cd changer, that recently stopped working, first.

I will post pictures as I go. Safe travels....

MrBen · 01-27-2020, 07:37 PM

The guy that installed my new top noticed I had a worn side bolster I think he called it. He had a book he could order the individual seat panels for the boxster they came already died in my case Savannah biege. I think he quoted me$300 to replace that panel

rexcramer · 06-24-2020, 03:24 PM

I finally got around to removing the driver's seat to explore the swap. The farther I got into it, the less it seemed to make sense. So I reinstalled the seat and waited for a better solution. Then KJC2050 posted before/after pictures of his seats a couple of weeks ago. He used a company, https://www.fibrenew.com/ with what looked to be amazing results. There is a local rep who worked on my seat this morning with the same results. I pulled the seat out and had it on a bench for the tech in my garage. +/- 2 hours and $300 later the seat looks great. The work has 1 year warranty.

Before and after pics;

KevinH1990 · 06-24-2020, 07:14 PM

Looks like a new seat. I think your $300 was well spent. Sometimes it’s better to pay a pro and get first-class results.

BFeller · 08-19-2020, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinH1990

Looks like a new seat. I think your $300 was well spent. Sometimes it’s better to pay a pro and get first-class results.

I used a different franchise of the same company. They did my drivers seat about 2 months ago. I just drove the car for the first time. Every bit of color they applied peeled of in sheets.

rexcramer · 08-19-2020, 01:57 PM

That sucks. Warranty issue? The guy who did mine gave me a 1 year warranty. And I know where he lives. I had mine done the end of June. So far, so good. I will report back, if I have any issues.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BFeller

I used a different franchise of the same company. They did my drivers seat about 2 months ago. I just drove the car for the first time. Every bit of color they applied peeled of in sheets.

outsidetheboxster · 08-19-2021, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starter986

Someday I'd like to have the seatbacks leather changed to match the red interior. Just the seatbacks.

Can anyone share how to remove the seatbacks? I've seen some posts somewhere... but it appears tugging, sliding, and pulling are involved and I didn't want to muck things up.

Thanks!

Did you find a way to remove the seat back that you can share? I need to replace the recline motor in my 01 S. Sourced one off eBay but not sure how to crack the seat open and don't want to go further than necessary.

PLP · 08-20-2021, 03:28 AM

I understand the cover was only cleaned and "stained", right?

It is not replacement of the leather part?

KevinH1990 · 08-20-2021, 03:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by outsidetheboxster

Did you find a way to remove the seat back that you can share? I need to replace the recline motor in my 01 S. Sourced one off eBay but not sure how to crack the seat open and don't want to go further than necessary.

Boxster Seat Disassembly Procedure Part 1 of 2

There is some information about removing and reinstalling the seat-back motor in a pdf that I posted here:
https://rennlist.com/forums/boxster-and-boxster-s-986-forum/915206-upgrading-two-way-power-seats.html#post12956868

The pdf is too large to upload on this site.

outsidetheboxster · 08-20-2021, 03:37 PM

Thank you so much! I know what I'm doing this weekend. Maybe anyway. Fall is coming on fast and I have a lot left to do before the rains come back.

KevinH1990 · 08-21-2021, 07:52 AM

It has been several years since I removed and reinstalled the seat back motor. I remember that there are several fasteners and spacers. You may want to take photos as you disassemble the seat back. It will help you remember how the parts fit together. I also remember searching for a piece that popped off and fell on the floor.

Good luck.