Justin Thomas
Member
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2019
- Messages
- 37
- Reaction score
- 22
- Points
- 8
- Age
- 41
- Location
- New Zealand Waikato
- Members Ride
- VF Calais V 6.0
Hi guys, thought I'd briefly describe my seat foam swap and add a few pictures.
Reasoning was I removed drivers seat foam months ago to have upholstery company fix the side lumbers on the upright and base as at 80,000km that had flattened off with less support.
2014 Calais V seat base/foam swap
The problem then turned into the driver seat base rhs outer base lumber was to firm and manipulated my leg to throttle alignment also putting pressure on my thigh ultimately making the seat less comfortable despite it fixing the crushed foam issue.
I figured the passenger seat base foam was in better condition and the inner side lumber next to the trans didn't really make any impression on drivers or passengers side so I swapped the foam over passenger seat base and leather into drivers seat frame.
Brief description as follows basically.
I'm a qualified technician with trim experience but with the right tools and a slow methodical approach it's relatively easy taking your time I'd allow 3-4 hours max. I probably took 2hours total but I have had the seat foam out before to have the grey/foam section added. The part that's now to firm.
1. Position both seats so as to get the torque bolts out x2 on each side behind the seat. The front of the seat hooks into the floor (not bolted).
2. Tilt seats back and remove headrests to allow easy removal out the door and shift seats forward slightly also.
3. Disconnect battery in boot. Tilt seats forward from rear seat hinged at front and remove floor cover and disconnect electrics plug on floor each side.
4. Remove seats from car carefully not to scratch door jam or anything.
5.Pop plastic plug out of electric switch cover at rear and unscrew x2 torque screws holding switches on seat base.
Unhook plastic clip ons and hooks holding leather on. They roll over the frame tucking the trim and foam down. Pretty simple to reverse roll them off.
6. You can also lift the seat foam out from under the backrest and unplug any heated seat plugs at rear. Unclip the leather from the plastic c clips carefully so as not to rip the c clips out of the foam. They clip in the grooves and keep the leather attached and pulled down.
7. The Calais V has heated seats and the passengers seat had an extra element under the heating blanket on the foam. The foam base is otherwise identical... so I simply and carefully seperated the section of electric heating element up slowly off the foam separating a small section from the foam, later to glue back down with spray glue, only a small section is glued down so not major.
8. Carefully place the small element onto the other foam section from opposite side seat and start installing in reverse procedure.
Don't forget to plug in the seat elements at the back, the switches for seat adjustment and the floor switch for all seat and airbag control before connecting the battery!
This worked perfectly as expected both seats are now comfortable as the inner lumber less used is now the outer lumber...The drivers seat then became the better more comfortable seat base with my wife not recognising the inner lumber on her side was firmer and we have a problem solved.
Ultimately the same job could 've done simply to refresh the drivers seat base from a less used passenger seat as the outer lumber rolls always crush and collapses first but swapping sides transfers the wear to the inside and it's less noticeable or not at all like in my case.
9.connect everything up again, bolt down seats and connect battery, reset date and time on display.
View attachment 209454 View attachment 209454 View attachment 209456 View attachment 209456 
Reasoning was I removed drivers seat foam months ago to have upholstery company fix the side lumbers on the upright and base as at 80,000km that had flattened off with less support.
2014 Calais V seat base/foam swap
The problem then turned into the driver seat base rhs outer base lumber was to firm and manipulated my leg to throttle alignment also putting pressure on my thigh ultimately making the seat less comfortable despite it fixing the crushed foam issue.
I figured the passenger seat base foam was in better condition and the inner side lumber next to the trans didn't really make any impression on drivers or passengers side so I swapped the foam over passenger seat base and leather into drivers seat frame.
Brief description as follows basically.
I'm a qualified technician with trim experience but with the right tools and a slow methodical approach it's relatively easy taking your time I'd allow 3-4 hours max. I probably took 2hours total but I have had the seat foam out before to have the grey/foam section added. The part that's now to firm.
1. Position both seats so as to get the torque bolts out x2 on each side behind the seat. The front of the seat hooks into the floor (not bolted).
2. Tilt seats back and remove headrests to allow easy removal out the door and shift seats forward slightly also.
3. Disconnect battery in boot. Tilt seats forward from rear seat hinged at front and remove floor cover and disconnect electrics plug on floor each side.
4. Remove seats from car carefully not to scratch door jam or anything.
5.Pop plastic plug out of electric switch cover at rear and unscrew x2 torque screws holding switches on seat base.
Unhook plastic clip ons and hooks holding leather on. They roll over the frame tucking the trim and foam down. Pretty simple to reverse roll them off.
6. You can also lift the seat foam out from under the backrest and unplug any heated seat plugs at rear. Unclip the leather from the plastic c clips carefully so as not to rip the c clips out of the foam. They clip in the grooves and keep the leather attached and pulled down.
7. The Calais V has heated seats and the passengers seat had an extra element under the heating blanket on the foam. The foam base is otherwise identical... so I simply and carefully seperated the section of electric heating element up slowly off the foam separating a small section from the foam, later to glue back down with spray glue, only a small section is glued down so not major.
8. Carefully place the small element onto the other foam section from opposite side seat and start installing in reverse procedure.
Don't forget to plug in the seat elements at the back, the switches for seat adjustment and the floor switch for all seat and airbag control before connecting the battery!
This worked perfectly as expected both seats are now comfortable as the inner lumber less used is now the outer lumber...The drivers seat then became the better more comfortable seat base with my wife not recognising the inner lumber on her side was firmer and we have a problem solved.
Ultimately the same job could 've done simply to refresh the drivers seat base from a less used passenger seat as the outer lumber rolls always crush and collapses first but swapping sides transfers the wear to the inside and it's less noticeable or not at all like in my case.
9.connect everything up again, bolt down seats and connect battery, reset date and time on display.
View attachment 209454 View attachment 209454 View attachment 209456 View attachment 209456 Attachments
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