Seats with airbags

Fantom · 25 Mar 2007 at 20:42

Hi

I have a 306 HDi with airbag'd seats...great, trouble is they are grey

now ive looked into replacing them with the GTi6 Leather/Alacantra (SP?) but this would mean sacrificing the airbags... and I actually want them.

Now im starting to think about re-upolstering them with black and red leather, but i dont know how the seat airbags work and if by re-upolstering it would stop them from working

also how hard is upolstering seats?

timbob · 25 Mar 2007 at 20:54

Not necessarily hard for a pro, but not doable for a beginner. Problem is you'll be looking at about £1000 to pay someone to do a proper job of it

Muncher · 25 Mar 2007 at 20:58

It will be cheaper to sell the car and buy one with the seats you want I imagine.

Fantom · 25 Mar 2007 at 20:59

Im thinking from a "noob" point of view here but if I took say the passenger seat to bits ie cut all the thread from the fabric wouldnt I be able to cut the peices of leather the same size and sew them together?

Damn there should be a sewing section of OcUK

timbob · 25 Mar 2007 at 21:06

L337 LooX said:
Im thinking from a "noob" point of view here but if I took say the passenger seat to bits ie cut all the thread from the fabric wouldnt I be able to cut the peices of leather the same size and sew them together?

Damn there should be a sewing section of OcUK

Possible, but it will not fit right, guaranteed. It'll end up looking stupid, with baggy bits all over the seat. You need a professional upholsterer person. And as their skills are so hard to perfect, you need to pay good money for them unfortunately!

Akira · 25 Mar 2007 at 21:08

Like timbob said, any old tom dick or harry can upholster a seat. The problem is, it will look like any old tom, dick or harry did it.

Fantom · 25 Mar 2007 at 21:18

hmm yeah I spose thats probably right

but if i decide to go crazy and try it ill use this thread... most likely ill try to butcher the airbag part into the GTI6 Leather seats and sew them back up

timbob · 25 Mar 2007 at 21:20

If they're anything like the 106 seats, I found the non-airbag seats in my GTi more comfortable than the airbag seats in the face lift 106. People have been fine without airbags in their seats for decades, so just stick in the leathers out of a GTi6. I'd imagine it's going to be expensive though - good condition leather interiors out of 106s would sell for £500+ on ebay.

Fantom · 25 Mar 2007 at 21:39

Yeah, the only thing im worried about is if the value of my car goes down when i remove the airbag seats

timbob · 25 Mar 2007 at 21:42

L337 LooX said:
Yeah, the only thing im worried about is if the value of my car goes down when i remove the airbag seats

Well, keep them in the loft, and put them back in if you ever want to sell it!

Sone · 25 Mar 2007 at 22:20

i now have airbag seats but been told they are pretty useless. Something about not having enough time to inflate then deflate if the accidents at any speed

Firestar_3x · 25 Mar 2007 at 22:22

Sone said:
Something about not having enough time to inflate then deflate if the accidents at any speed

What a load of tosh, watch some videos of them in action.

TripleT · 25 Mar 2007 at 22:23

L337 LooX said:
Hi

I have a 306 HDi with airbag'd seats...great, trouble is they are grey

now ive looked into replacing them with the GTi6 Leather/Alacantra (SP?) but this would mean sacrificing the airbags... and I actually want them.

Now im starting to think about re-upolstering them with black and red leather, but i dont know how the seat airbags work and if by re-upolstering it would stop them from working

also how hard is upolstering seats?

GTi6 leather/alacantra seats also had airbags in them

(Although like your HDi it depends on the phase). Phase3 GTi6's definately have airbags in them (mine do anyway

) so just look for them and it should be a straight swap