Honda Type R Recaro Seat Bolster Repair Guide

http://www.alexbentley.co.uk/car/recaro/recaro-intro.html

A common problem with Honda's Integra and Civic Type R models is that the Recaro

seat bolsters start to lose their shape due to the driver and passenger sitting on them

while getting in and out of the vehicle.

As well as looking tatty, a collapsed bolster doesn't grip the occupant as well which

can be felt during high-speed cornering or circuit driving.

Luckily it's possible to carry out a DIY replacement of the bolster foam with a few

tools and about half a day's time. This guide, based on my EK9 Civic Type R, will

show you how, with plenty of photos and tips along the way!

Before you start, you'll need the following:

• Replacement bolster foam - available from Capital Seating

• 10mm & 12mm sockets and spanners

• Small needle nose pliers

• Small hammer

• Cross-head and flat-head screwdrivers

Start by folding the seat forward so you can access the rear bolts securing the seat.

The inward bolt is covered by a small plastic cover. Carefully but firmly prise it

upwards using a flat blade screwdriver.

Use a 12mm socket to remove the bolts.

Note the inboard bolt is thicker and was secured with thread lock. It s the only one of

the 4 like this.

Slide the seat back to reveal the front bolts. Remove them with the 12mm socket.

With the seat unbolted, tilt it inwards towards the centre of the car to reveal the

seatbelt warning light connector underneath. Push the indicated part of the vehicle

end connector to disconnect it, and push through the retaining clip by pinching the

top with pliers to squeeze it sufficiently.

With the seat still folded forward, carefully lift the seat from the car, starting with the

base and checking the sill doesn t get scratched. The top of the headrest will just

squeeze out.

Here you can see the bolster in it s current state, not the worst but it could do with

replacement.

Assuming the right-hand bolster of the driver s seat is being replaced, the next step is

to lay the seat on it s left-hand side to reveal 3 10mm bolts securing the sliding

mechanism to the right-hand side seat base.

You will also need to disconnect the wire that connects the 2 sliders once the slider

mechanism is unbolted and free from the seat itself.

The right-hand side slider can now be placed to one side.

Next, remove the cover of the recliner mechanism. This is held in place by 3 plastic

pegs. 2 can be pushed out from underneath easily with a screwdriver or needle nose

pliers, but the third one is very difficult to get at. It is possible however, I managed to

get at it from the bottom (right-hand side in the photo), so just take your time and

you ll avoid breaking the cover.

Once the cover is removed, you ll need to remove the large cross-head screw on the

recliner catch and also the circlip securing the hinge.

Now the right-hand side seat base can be separated from the seat back by lifting the

recliner plate over the peg previously secured by the circlip. At first there didn t seem

to be enough flex to do this, but it pops off after a minute or 2 of experimentation!

Also remove the plastic plate held by the cross-head screw.

Turning your attention to the seat base, remove the 5 wire hooks from the edge of

the seat. I found it relatively easy to do this by pulling the base sheet towards the

seat edge while using a flat blade screwdriver to pry the hooks out. The middle one is

a little tricky as it s harder to create the slack.

PLEASE NOTE: It may not be necessary to carry out this step, although it certainly

creates more working space for the next step. However, if you can do without

removing the hooks, that s great because they are VERY difficult to get back in

place!!!

The actual bolster cover is held in place by a wire running through a stitched hem

and anchored in place by 5 metal tabs on the seat base frame. To separate them,

first pry the metal tabs apart slightly to create the gap for the wire, and then by pulling

down on the bolster fabric to create slack, slide the wire out from under the tabs. This

was probably the most difficult part of the job so far, and you ll find the rear-most one

very difficult to remove as the recliner hinge and catch prevent the bolster fabric

moving enough to create slack, so we ll address that next.

(Note that the wire is already free from the rear clip in the next few pictures, just

because I d worked out how to remove it and then went back to take the photos)

Running across the rear of the seat base is the plastic trim which secures the seat

base fabric to the frame. Pull it up and away from the frame as shown.

This will expose the edges of the alcantara covering the bolster. It s stuck to the

frame but can be peeled off quite easily.

Work round to the rear of the seat base and continue unpeeling. This should create

enough slack in the alcantara at this end to remove the last section of wire from the

clip on the seat frame.

Repeat this on the front of the seat base, and you will then be able to fold the bolster

fabric up and over the foam so that it can be removed.

Here s a shot of the old foam showing the disintegration starting to take place.

Fit the new bolster in place, it will probably be a tighter fit but should go in quite

easily.

Next pull the alcantara back over the new bolster. This took about 10 minutes of

pulling, pushing and cursing but it is the aim of this exercise after all! Make sure the

seam is in the same place as on the other bolster, and that the front edge is pulled

down enough – you can use the marks where the alcantara was glued to the seat

frame to gauge when it s in position. I didn t bother re-gluing the flaps of material as

they seemed to be held in position pretty well by the seat base trim.

Use needle nose pliers to replace the wire in the bolster hem under the metal clips.

Before you start, make sure the wire is central in the hem, as it may well have moved

when you were wrestling with the material in the previous step. I started with the rear

clips and worked forward. If you end up with the hem positioned so it s over one of

the clips (you can see this in the clip second from the right in the photo below), I

found it easier to grab the wire with the pliers immediately to the right of the hem and

by pulling down and to the left, created enough space to re-insert the wire properly.

If you removed the 5 hooks from the seat base, now re-attach them. It may be easier

to have an assistant pull up the rubber material to help create slack, but in any case

this is a difficult job - avoid removing these hooks if possible!

Final steps are to replace the seat rail (I loosely replaced the rear bolt first to allow

the rail to pivot down, making re-fitting the wire easier), and re-fitting the hinge and

hinge cover.

The result of all this work is shown here:

Finally replace the seat in the car, not forgetting to re-connect the seat belt switch

before starting on the bolts!

Initial impressions are that this is extremely worthwhile from an appearance and

function point of view. Apart from a few crease marks on the bolster where it had

deformed, it obviously looks far better, and the increased grip from the seat is really

noticeable.

Copyright 2008 Alex Bentley

mail@alexbentley.co.uk