How to fix your broken seat belt guides.

[Codeman]

It might be vinyl, looks a lot like leather.

[DaneKane]

Leather on the back? I am not aware of any of the models having that. Do you have any photos of the seats?

..come with "full" leather seats..it's a non-listed component..a nice "touch" in any case.. Z3 Cheers! dk '97 2.8 bg R(broken guides?..just SBS 'em!..cuz it's so easy..delivery to Europe with confirmed Paypal acct..that's a wrap! dk)

[sjames]

My driver's side guide broke the first day I had the car. I got the dealer to replace it under their used car warranty.

[piotres]

Tomorrow moring I'll post photo of mine seats Tomorrow also I want to change mine broken holder maybe ...so any tips will be helpful .

[Vinci]

Tomorrow moring I'll post photo of mine seats Tomorrow also I want to change mine broken holder maybe ...so any tips will be helpful .

I am guessing that the process is the same, even though your back panel is covered in leather. I seriously doubt they changed the design of the seat just because of the leather covering.

[piotres]

That're pics of seat with broken holder, so do You have idea how to change it in this seat ?

Sorry for messy pictures, I'm currently making all fixing work in interior of mine z3 :

[Vinci]

Ah, so it's one skin instead of just covering the back section by itself. Is there a zipper in the back?

[CarlM]

I resolved this Roadster issue by replacing them with coupe seats..
With less seat milage than the originals. less than 30k on the coupe seats over 90k on the roadies...
They are bunderful

[ze3]

This is the same leather type seat that I just replaced my guide on this weekend, so here's the scoop. Sorry, I should have taken pictures but I was learning as I was going.

1. remove the 2 plastic hold downs as shown in Vinci's pictures.
2. Unclip the two clips in the back and pull the leather piece through the seat and the back.
3. The seam down the back is a plastic v groove piece that just pulls apart. Pinch the seam together to release the tension then separate. There is also a similar v type groove at the base of the back that needs to be undone.
4. Once the leather is open there is a plastic backer board that forms the back of the seat that needs to be removed. There is one plastic hold down that hold the backer to the frame and needs to be removed. Once removed pull the plastic backer down. It took some wiggling to get it undone at the head rest but just keep pulling and wiggling it will pull out.
5. With the plastic removed you will see the foam backing of the seat. On each side there is a fiberglass rod that runs vertically that holds the seat shape. The hold downs are different than those shown in Vinci's pics. In the non-M seat there are two metal D looking metal pieces welded to the seat frame. These D braces provide a place to clamp the two fiberglass rods to the seat frame. There is am M looking clamp that secures the fiberglass rod to the D hook. I used a pair of pliers to open up the clamp flanges and release the hold on the rods. Don't destroy the clamps because you will need them to reattach the seat when done.
6. Undo the foam from the front of the seat frame. You can now pull the leather/foam form off of the seat frame. You may have to reach up and manipulate the headrest foam to get it to clear the frame.
7. You now have some access to the guide clip. Because the leather head rest area is stitched you don't have complete and easy access to the clip but they are reachable and repairable with some effort.
8. Just reassemble in reverse order.

It took me about 2.5-3 hours mostly because I was following Vinci's photos for the M seat and the non-M seat is different and I was trying to figure out what I was doing.

Note: Do not try and separate the foam from the leather. It is glued together and prying them apart will most likely destroy the shape of the seat.

Many thanks to Vinci for his detailed photos and write up.

ZE3

[mpire]

Coupe seats have the same holes, but they have short leather patches sewn on them, and they on side facing the inside of the car and not the outside.

Go figure.

[Codeman]

Somewhat related...
Since you basically have to take the top cover off the seat it seems like a great time just to get new covers if yours are worn or just want to change the color.

My question is are the heated portion of the seats part of the padding itself? Does just the leather portion come off 'easily' and everything else is left in place (like the seat heaters).

[gaiser]

(Sorry for digging up an old thread, but...)

Does anyone know what the torque specs are for the seatbelt anchor and the seat frame?

I really don't want to guess when it comes to safety components.

Thanks!

[Vinci]

I don't have the spec in front of me, but I am certain that it is in the Bentley manual. It's a 16mm bolt, so it's not a huge value. You'd almost certainly need a crow's foot or something similar to get a torque wrench on that bolt.

[rollebolle]

Nice write up Vinci. I am on my way to replace my "regular" seats with M-seats and have a question related to the belt holder. The new seats are from a M coupe and dont have any belt holders. Should I try to install belt holders on the new seats in the same way as described here or is it over kill?

Any ideas, suggestions?

BR/R

[Vinci]

It's up to you. You may have to fish for seatbelt behind the seat more often than you'd like, but there is no other reason not to use coupe seats. Several roadster owners have gone that route. You'll just have to decide if not having the seatbelt guide is worth the work to install a guide.

[rollebolle]

I was just thinking if the belt will be in contact with the seat when driving and wear out the leather if I dont have the belt holder.

A other thing I was thinking about is how to make the holes in the leather in a propper way

[Vinci]

I was just thinking if the belt will be in contact with the seat when driving and wear out the leather if I dont have the belt holder.

A other thing I was thinking about is how to make the holes in the leather in a propper way

It's possible that there could be some wear. Regarding the holes, those should be a non-issue. The belt guide holes are much smaller than the guide itself, so even messy holes would be completely invisible.

[myredzed]

I was just thinking if the belt will be in contact with the seat when driving and wear out the leather if I dont have the belt holder.

A other thing I was thinking about is how to make the holes in the leather in a propper way

I did this job recently when I retrofitted coupe seats into my 2.8 z3. One of the coupe seats had holes preformed in the foam on the inside of the leather (both sides of the seat) but the other one didn't Not a problem though as it's straightforward enough to mark them out using the retainer part of the seatbelt guide as a guide for the holes.

More detail in my journal post here: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...7&postcount=15

[rollebolle]

Many thanks for the help. I will give it try as soon I have some time over.

[rillyx]

I'm replacing the seat belt guides on my 2001 Z3 Roadster. This guide has been a great help! I've followed it up to the point of getting the back of the seat unzipped. My seats seem to be different though. It doesn't have the 2 leather straps around the bottom cross brace. This didn't seem to be a problem, as I just pushed the plastic channel through anyway.

The real problem is that there doesn't seem to be any nylon straps on the frame. The leather is definitely being held back along the horizontal seams in front, but I can't figure out how to undo it. There isn't enough slack to just blindly work under the leather and replace the guide backing.

Has anyone run into this?

Thanks,

Chris

[myredzed]

I'm replacing the seat belt guides on my 2001 Z3 Roadster. This guide has been a great help! I've followed it up to the point of getting the back of the seat unzipped. My seats seem to be different though. It doesn't have the 2 leather straps around the bottom cross brace. This didn't seem to be a problem, as I just pushed the plastic channel through anyway.

The real problem is that there doesn't seem to be any nylon straps on the frame. The leather is definitely being held back along the horizontal seams in front, but I can't figure out how to undo it. There isn't enough slack to just blindly work under the leather and replace the guide backing.

Has anyone run into this?

Thanks,

Chris

Non ///M seatbelt guide replacement 'how to' here: http://www.zroadster.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24651

Hope that helps

[Bear Grylls]

Locktite superglue goes a long ways too

[rillyx]

I'm about at the point of going with superglue, but I hate giving up on something this far into it.

I don't know which seats I have, but they are definitely not like the "non-M" seat in the link you provided, myredzed. Mine do have the plastic backing with the zipper under it, but the internals seem to be different.

I've linked some pictures here so you guys can see what I'm talking about.


http://www.jsharpco.com/photos/front.jpg

http://www.jsharpco.com/photos/back.jpg

http://www.jsharpco.com/photos/closeup.jpg

From all I can tell, it seems the best way to do this would be to remove that metal bracket (2 on each side) holding the back braces to the vertical red rod. From there I'd think the whole foam piece would pull forward allowing more give up top to get the leather off. I'm just afraid I'll never be able to get that bracket back on. Heh, I may not even be able to get it off short of using a dremel. Though, I guess I could just use zip ties instead to secure them back together.

Any thoughts?

Sorry for rehashing stuff that you guys have already been through a lot. I spent hours and hours Monday looking for the solution online to no avail. There may be some superglue in my near future!

Chris

[KBH22102]

Those are later model sport seats. I think a forum member posted a DIY on those

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...eat+belt+guide

[rillyx]

I guess I just didn't read that whole guide the first time around since the seats looked different than mine. The same principles worked though.

Thanks!

Chris