Let's replace the sport seat thigh bolster

[1and1]

Ahhhhhhhhhh
Sport seats. Pretty darn comfy son of a guns!

Then the thigh support suddenly just stops locking in place, full extension is all that's available! Well poo!

So, I'm tall, and the drivers seat thigh bolster lived the fully extended life on my drivers seat, but The Wife, well, she's not tall... Like at all....

So, here we are making The Wife happy

First, go order this part number from the least expensive place that doesn't scare your credit card: 52107161311
(when I ordered, ECS had em for $86.60)




Remove the old busted stuff:


-SHORT VERSION: What you're looking at: This is the BOTTOM of the drivers side (US/Left) thigh bolster. You want to move that hook and then push the bolster forward off the guide rails:






-Leave the seat in the car, but if you can't locate the release clip plan on disconnecting the air bag connector and pulling the seat out of the car so you can get a better angle on what you're doing


-release the thigh bolster to it's full extended position


-locate the release tab, push it up and pull the bolster forward to the service notch






-pop the release handle off of the retention mechanism you need to reach over the handle to access the retention hook, it'll just pop off the pins






-using a suitable hook tool reach in over the handle into the gap between the release handle and the bolster itself, and with pressure against the hook pop the thigh bolster forward/off with your other hand









((Alas, no more pics from here, but if you've made it this far you're overqualified for the rest :P ))


-disconnect the seat heater plug if you have one


-remove the seating surface, is mostly just plastic guides tucked into very small metal tabs around the outside edge of the bolster and the flap from the seat over to the bolster


-move the cover, padding & heating element over to the new replacement frame


-reinstall all the bits










.
below are just the attached photos so they don't get lost hopefully

[WrathOTM]

How hard is it to get the leather and padding on the new piece?

[1and1]

Disturbingly easy actually
Remember that you have everything in your hands, you can see how the cover clips in!
There is a plastic edge attached to the leather and it just pulls out, and just pushes back in for reassembly.

Everything is just a snap in plastic piece aside from the bolster edge closest to the seat bottom. That short stretch is the last to reassemble and has a wire through the leather that clips into the base.

Honestly, typing this out is way so much more complex sounding than it really is!!