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Half Leather to Full Leather, Can It Be Done?

gerard_finn200

gerard_finn200

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Location
Mayo, Ireland
Car
2.2 Accord i-CTDi
Been watching my seats for the last while and noticed how the leather seems to be much more flimsy on my Sport model than it is on the Exec. I don't know if anyone has tried it but, would it be possible to swap my seats for the full leather version? I know they're electric and there is the possibility that handles and the likes wont fit.

Could the electric ones get power from somewhere to make them functional on my Sport? I don't care for heated seats but it would be nice to have full leather seats in the front. The back seats don't bother me either. :) Just I drive quiet a bit each day and it would be nice to have some comfortable yet tough seats. I don't know about others but I almost feel bad sitting on these half leather units because I can see them wearing a bit each day! Or at least it seems that way to me! :rolleyes:

I think it would be a nice change to make and something that would be relatively easy to do, of course, if it can be done!

Any help?
 
Probably easier to get those panels re-upholstered, but I couldn't guess at the cost. In all honesty I'd rather my EX didn't have power seats, because it's a lot of weight and complexity for something I now barely adjust.
 
all need to do is find a positive feed for the electrics which would not be hard. it should be very straight forward.

I love the electric seats. saves a lot of messing around when my other half gets in and moves my driving position.
 
Ahh right - mine won't drive the Accord because its too big for her, so I never have to worry about that :) I don't have seat memory anyway so it kind of negates the point of all the motors I think
 
I wonder will the bolt holes and the rails match up? If all the motors are on the seats it should be straightforward to swap them over and wire in the new seats?
 
Why don't you just strip the full leather trim off a donor seat, the padding and upholstery will come off the frame together, then swap it straight onto your seat frames?? The frames should be the same but worth double checking before buying some. That way you don't have to go to all the trouble of putting in power feeds and connecting motors etc but you still get the look your after.
 
Doc said:
Why don't you just strip the full leather trim off a donor seat, the padding and upholstery will come off the frame together, then swap it straight onto your seat frames?? The frames should be the same but worth double checking before buying some. That way you don't have to go to all the trouble of putting in power feeds and connecting motors etc but you still get the look your after.
Click to expand...
Hadn't thought of that, but if it'll work then its worth a try! :) Just I think the exec. model leather is much tougher! Any truth in this?
 
Well I've just bought a full leather interior with back & front seats plus door cards and the rear side bolsters. It cost just under £90 which included delivery - I thought that was a bargain!

I've swapped the back seats out which took about half an hour and was pretty straight forward. I'm now looking at the front seats which look even more straight forward except I'm not sure what to do about power :blush:
 
800jimbo said:
Well I've just bought a full leather interior with back & front seats plus door cards and the rear side bolsters. It cost just under £90 which included delivery - I thought that was a bargain!

I've swapped the back seats out which took about half an hour and was pretty straight forward. I'm now looking at the front seats which look even more straight forward except I'm not sure what to do about power :blush:
Click to expand...

you can try taking positive feed from the cig lighter socket near the cubby hole,that way you car will have power when you turn the ignition onto auxiliaries,if you have a facelift,then there is a cig light socket on the armrest which you also borrow the positive from. :)
 
I've taken the power feed but now just have to sort out which connections to use - there's a 10 pin connection with a number of earth's and different live's for the different switches / heating element. I tried putting the two passenger seat switches on to a common live & earth but that hasn't fully worked. I need to have a bit more of a think and play with a circuit tester to work out what's what. If anyone has a wiring diagram for the front seats that would be fantastic?
 
Well I finished it off last night. The job on the whole was pretty straight forward.

I took the power from the rear cigarette socket which entailed undoing the centre consol fixings and then feeding a lead under the carpet to the seats (pull the carpet and feed a rigid wire down then pull through your seat wires). I haven't wired in the heaters because I don't have the switches, but I should have made provision for the heaters - see further below.

There isn't a huge difference in weight between the seats but there is some. The bolt holes are exactly the same.

What took the time was messing about trying to sort out what wires in the power seats multi-plug are what:

The drivers seat multi has - 2 x live & earth for heaters, 2 x live & earth for motors, 1 x live & earth for seatbelt warning, so total of 10nr pins.
The passenger is the same but without the seatbelt warning (8nr pins).
Both have separate connection for the airbags.
The sport seats only have airbag connections plus the drivers seat as the seatbelt warning connection.

What I did was to pull all the connectors out of the multi plug and sit there with an old car battery & circuit tester working out which pairs of live & earth were which, and connect to what. Then for each seat using a connector block I wired the two motor live feeds together, and the motor earth,s together, and then connected those to the live & earth from the cig socket feed so the each motor is on one live feed and one earth. The seat belt warning leads from the drivers seat can just connect separately in to the original connector socket.

The heater units need a separate switched live feed, obviously switched from the heater switches, so it would be worth feeding a second live & earth wire to the seats in case you choose to do them at a later date. My worry was possibly overloading the cigarette lighter feed using both heaters - I'm not sure what the fuse is for the heaters but I would suggest that a new fused feed from the battery would be the safest way to go if you want the seat heaters.

If you could get the right multi-plug connector the job would take about an hour. Having to pull the connector apart and joint everything adds the time because it's so fiddly.

And I find the seats are much more comfortable!
 
Well done Jim.
Fantastic job, Could you knock up a DIY for other members as this is a fairly regular question on here and i believe you are the first to complete a leather upgrade.
Well done bud i bet you are well chuffed.
 
800jimbo said:
Well I finished it off last night. The job on the whole was pretty straight forward.

I took the power from the rear cigarette socket which entailed undoing the centre consol fixings and then feeding a lead under the carpet to the seats (pull the carpet and feed a rigid wire down then pull through your seat wires). I haven't wired in the heaters because I don't have the switches, but I should have made provision for the heaters - see further below.

There isn't a huge difference in weight between the seats but there is some. The bolt holes are exactly the same.

What took the time was messing about trying to sort out what wires in the power seats multi-plug are what:

The drivers seat multi has - 2 x live & earth for heaters, 2 x live & earth for motors, 1 x live & earth for seatbelt warning, so total of 10nr pins.
The passenger is the same but without the seatbelt warning (8nr pins).
Both have separate connection for the airbags.
The sport seats only have airbag connections plus the drivers seat as the seatbelt warning connection.

What I did was to pull all the connectors out of the multi plug and sit there with an old car battery & circuit tester working out which pairs of live & earth were which, and connect to what. Then for each seat using a connector block I wired the two motor live feeds together, and the motor earth,s together, and then connected those to the live & earth from the cig socket feed so the each motor is on one live feed and one earth. The seat belt warning leads from the drivers seat can just connect separately in to the original connector socket.

The heater units need a separate switched live feed, obviously switched from the heater switches, so it would be worth feeding a second live & earth wire to the seats in case you choose to do them at a later date. My worry was possibly overloading the cigarette lighter feed using both heaters - I'm not sure what the fuse is for the heaters but I would suggest that a new fused feed from the battery would be the safest way to go if you want the seat heaters.

If you could get the right multi-plug connector the job would take about an hour. Having to pull the connector apart and joint everything adds the time because it's so fiddly.

And I find the seats are much more comfortable!
Click to expand...

That was straightforward? :D

I can just about figure out how to turn the fog lights on and off.
 
Well done! This is on my (long) list of things to do so your explanation will be of great help. Glad you picked up on the issue of the seat heaters and possibly overloading the wiring. If you do wire up the heaters I'd certainly agree with taking a separate fused feed from the battery because electrical heaters of any description can draw large currents for an extended period of time.

Alan
 
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