I want to pull my Competition Seats out to add more foam to the seat bottom, it's just too hard for my bony ****. I see the 4 nuts that hold down the brackets, and the main large wiring harness that plugs in under the seat.

* Should I disconnect the battery?
* Do I have to worry about the side airbags deploying?
* Is the lower seat belt latch connected to the seat, or does it stay bolted to the floor?

Any tips or advice is appreciated!
Thanks in advance,
Dan B

 

Its just the 4 nuts, wiring harness and a torx T50 for the seat belt. I've never disconnected the battery or set off the airbag but if it makes you feel more comfortable, it only adds 5 mins to the job.

The harness has a pinch point to release it. It's a pita to do until you get the hang of it, rest is easy peasy. I pop out the top and use a yoga mat to not scratch the sill.

 

Thanks Snowblind2.0! Just what I wanted to hear from someone who has done it.
DB

 

Manufacturers generally recommend disconnecting the battery for any work near the airbags. As snowblind says, it only adds 5 minutes to the job and gives you some extra piece of mind.

 

If the C8 is like previous generations you can pull the airbag fuse, wait one minute for the charge to dissipate and not have to worry about disconnecting the battery. One of the problems when disconnecting the battery is you remove power from the power seat track and you may find you need to move the seat back and forth to get all of the nuts removed or to get the wiring harness disconnected from the seat.

Bill

 

How do you remove the seat wiring harness? I'm having some trouble.

 

With your thumb press on the corner that has been slotted (as shown) and slide the whole gray case up towards you. It will separate the harness from the seat.

 

I think the yoga mat is a good idea... I would also get some cardboard, and tape it over the B-piller trim... like they said, a couple of minutes, but well worth the time.... and definately take the roof off... it helps.

If you can bribe a buddy to come over and help, it would be good... these seats are pretty heavy, but the big problem is you are in a very disadvantageous position... lots of strain on the back, and the seat-rails are very sharp... easy to scratch the trim if it isn't protected... having someone help lift the passenger side is worth a 6-pack, and having to listen to his stupid jokes again... but it's not hard.

 

How are you going to add more foam? What foam are you going to use?

 

I haven't had a chance yet to pull my seats and covering, but I was planning on using this polyester fill that breathes and should let the cooling and ventilation pass through. Got it at Walmart. Bed & Bath, Amazon, Wayfair have it too. Plan "B" is to just buy a black cushion and sit on it!


Dan B

 

Has anyone removed the electric seat movement system to gain a little more head room?
If the motors are removed Will the computer send me a “mean” message?

 

U could get some thin me foam and use contact cement to bond it to factory seat bun. Just be careful u don't add to thick and can't get covers back in place. Rehabbed many older seat buns in this manner and makes on old one like new.

 

Thank you for posting, took me a while to figure out but I got it because of your post.

 

It took me a bit to figure out that the grey portion of the connector slides to release the connector. How do you remove the plastic side panel that has all the electric seat adjustment controls on my GT1 seats with the LT2 interior? I am replacing the bottom seat covering and need to know the steps in order to do that. Any help on that?

 

There's a torx screw in the front and rear of the plastic trim. Then it's clipped in the middle plus it has to lift off and over a tab on the top portion. It's pretty flexible so it shouldn't break.

 

Thank you for your help Mortelec. I'm going to need some more advice as I move along on this project. I got the trim piece off without any damage. Any tips on removing the cover? I think the foam will have to be removed with the cover to deal with the fastenings that are deeply embedded in the foam. There are some small wiring harnesses that go through the seat cover to the seat. that I disconnected as well. Can the replacement be installed as well with the seat back in place? I realize that there are several pieces that slide in and others that clip on. The black one at the bottom edge appears to just clip on the edge of the steel frame.

 

I haven't had a C8 seat cover off but have done several katzkin leathers on other vehicles. You will need to remove the back of the seat. You are right that the plastic clips on the metal frame. I recently did a 21 Cummins seats and it had hog rings and clips. It looks like you cover is the same. The yellow strips are held on into the foam with metal hog rings. You can do them with a needle nose pliers but it's a lot easier with the correct tool.

 

For the bottom, the C5 and C6 seats both had hog rings either directly through the leather to the seat frame or around a thin dowel rod that went through the seat. They are a huge pain without the proper tool. I’d pry them apart a little with a flat blade then rotate them in unscrewing manner and direction and they will come out. Or use a strong cutter and replace with zip ties.

Also in those the bottom was separate from the back. There may have been some hog rings just along the bottom of the back but otherwise you could take the bottom off without removing the back.

No clue how much of this applies to c8.

 

Thanks to all who provided help in this post. While I looked at some videos as well, most were not pertinent to new cars. Here is a description of the procedure I followed.

I was able to remove the seat cover and the foam backing from the seat frame without doing anything with the seat back. I moved the seat up and froward and tilted the seat back forward so I could get at the connector and the 4 seat bolts. After disconnecting the battery and unplugging the main seat connector (See Snowblind2.0's post above for how), I unbolted the seat and rested the seat back on the door sill and under the steering wheel. I used a rug and pillows to support the seat and the headrest. I did everything without actually removing the seat from the car or detaching the seat belt harness.
First unhook the string that is used to hold the seat and foam to the frame. This is a drawstring that goes around three sides of the seat cover, Pay attention to where the string goes through the frame, so you know how to run the replacement string. I removed the plastic trim piece by removing two Torx screws at the front and back as explained by Mortelec above. Unhook the connectors from the seat controls and the seat belt base. Now you should be able to roll back the front of the seat cover over the foam to release any tension on the cover. At the back of the seat there are a couple of pieces of fabric and plastic that wrap around the back of the seat and attach using Velcro. Unhook these and remove the long black plastic clip that hooks the seat cover onto the edge of the steel frame. Unplug the seat heater and cooling fan connections (left side for the drivers seat bottom). Now remove the seat cover and foam from the frame. On the C8 there are no hog rings. All the attachment points use plastic clips. I used a small side cutter to remove the white clips from the black bar on the seat cover since the replacement cover came with new clips positioned for attaching to the wire in the foam. I used the cutters to remove the old clips from the wire. The yellow bars are attached to orange clips embedded into the foam. It's important to put pressure on the orange clips when removing the yellow bar which can be removed by sliding it out to the end of the bar or prying the clip and rolling the bar out of the clip.

Putting the new cover on, I started at the back by hooking the long black clip to the edge of the steel frame. From there I moved to the next attachment points. There are finger holes in the back of the foam to put pressure on the wire while attaching the white clips on the replacement cover. The yellow bars attach fairly easily by snapping them into the orange clips or sliding them in from the end. Always support the clip from underneath to keep them from pulling out of the foam when snapping them in. Once the seat is fully attached to the foam, it is just a matter of reversing the removal procedure. While the dealers did not stock the seat cover, I was able to order it through Gmpartsdirect.com. I did get the part # from the dealer (85563542) and it was verified by GM Parts Direct when I ordered it for $181.06 plus shipping.

 

And thanks to you for the excellent addition to the knowledge base.