Gro Harlem
Ready to race!
- Location
- Gambrills, MD
So I was FINALLY able to source of Clark Plaids from a 2017 GTI Sport this past Friday and I immediately installed them. I figured I'd share my experience with the installation and such on a Sportwagen which is a bit unique to the Golf/GTI's in that the rear seatbacks on the Sportwagen/Alltrack has a spring-loaded seatback and remote cable release as well as a completely different cargo floor which makes removing the rear seatbacks a total PITA. I should've snapped photos while installing but I'll describe it below instead for anyone who is curious.
Front Seat Notes:
My understanding is you want to find a set of seats that are equivalent to what you currently have. For example, the Golf S & SE (and my limited) have manual sliders, height adjustment and power seatbacks with heated elements (some Golf S's won't have the heated). GTI S, Sport & SE have the same but GTI S & Sport are cloth Plaid while SE is nicer leather than the Golf. Golf/Sportwagen/Alltrack SEL's have different seat cushions w/power height/sliding/seatbacks and heat and no underseat bins. I believe the GTI Autobahn and Golf R's also have these same seats & power options so they would swap with each other.
If you try to swap say...GTI Autobahn seats into a Golf SE it would pose a challenge since there are additional plugs for the power sliding/height (i think 2 more plugs). The S & SE seats use 3 plugs total.
One thing to note that other threads mention. When I installed my seats I immediately got an airbag light and noticed I had to buckle the passenger side seat for the seatbelt light to go away. It turns out the passenger seat "occupancy module" needs to be reprogrammed if you swap seats. I would suggest BEFORE starting your car after swapping the seats to simply undo your original seat module (its the black box on the underside of the passnenger seat) and swap it to the new seat. I'm not 100% sure that would work but I don't see why it wouldn't. Luckily I have a VAG-COM cable and was able to re-initialize & re-program the 2017 GTI seat's module to my 2016 GSW without an issue and no more light!!
Another obvious thing to mention: move the seatback all the way forward for easier removal out of the front. Also, to get the rear bolts you need to jack the seat height all the way up and slide it all the way forward to get the 10mm triple-square bolts loosened & out.
LASTLY: the GTI Seats have less thigh support than my old Golf seats. I had 4 washers shimmying my front seats front bolts on my old seat but this wasn't enough on my Plaids. I'm going to shimmy it by 1" but need more washers b/c it has NO thigh support and is already posing uncomfortable in that regard. The GTI seats have ridiculously tight lateral support on both the seat cushion & seatback which is one big reason I wanted them. bigger people (over 250lbs) might find them to be too tight in this regard.
Rear Seat Notes (regarding Sportwagen & Alltrack):
So removing the rear cushion is easy enough, you undo the 4 child seat cover thingys and push down on them to slide them through the C shape indents that hold them in place. After that you need to pull up on the end of the cushion to pop out two hooks securing it down. Pulling it forward won't work initially, there are some clips holding it in the reverse way you are pulling it. You want to push the cushion towards the seatbacks (from each side of each door), then lift up then pull forward (towards front seat) and it'll pop out of the buckles easily.
The rear seats are held in with a single 30torx bit screw which holds a cap onto the middle hinge of both seats. Very odd design but it functions just fine. Problem is, on the Sportwagen this bolt is impossible to remove without removing the plastic cargo floor thingy that sits immediately behind the seatbacks. Easier said than done! You have to pull SUPER HARD straight up on the cloth-covered cover (its L shaped) to expose the plastic housing beneath (it is 2 peices). That part is held in with 3 15-torx screws and it pulls straight out (by pulling it towards the rear) at which point you can remove the 30-torx bolt and bracket. Once that is removed you can slide the seatbacks out of the pivots BUT on the Sportwagen/Alltrack you have remote release cables!!!! Luckily VW has little plastic access panels on the sides of the seatbacks which expose the cable. You can pry out the cable so it gets loose and then CAREFULLY fish the cable out of the silver button thing at which point you can slide the entire cable out of the seatback. I tucked my cables against the seat belt buckle brackets when putting the GTI Plaid cushion back in. So no more spring-forward action or remote release OH WELL. The good news is the GTI Plaids sit FLUSH AS FOCK with the floor unlike the stock Golf seats which were more like 15 degrees upwards. NICEEEE
PICTURES:
Front Seat Notes:
My understanding is you want to find a set of seats that are equivalent to what you currently have. For example, the Golf S & SE (and my limited) have manual sliders, height adjustment and power seatbacks with heated elements (some Golf S's won't have the heated). GTI S, Sport & SE have the same but GTI S & Sport are cloth Plaid while SE is nicer leather than the Golf. Golf/Sportwagen/Alltrack SEL's have different seat cushions w/power height/sliding/seatbacks and heat and no underseat bins. I believe the GTI Autobahn and Golf R's also have these same seats & power options so they would swap with each other.
If you try to swap say...GTI Autobahn seats into a Golf SE it would pose a challenge since there are additional plugs for the power sliding/height (i think 2 more plugs). The S & SE seats use 3 plugs total.
One thing to note that other threads mention. When I installed my seats I immediately got an airbag light and noticed I had to buckle the passenger side seat for the seatbelt light to go away. It turns out the passenger seat "occupancy module" needs to be reprogrammed if you swap seats. I would suggest BEFORE starting your car after swapping the seats to simply undo your original seat module (its the black box on the underside of the passnenger seat) and swap it to the new seat. I'm not 100% sure that would work but I don't see why it wouldn't. Luckily I have a VAG-COM cable and was able to re-initialize & re-program the 2017 GTI seat's module to my 2016 GSW without an issue and no more light!!
Another obvious thing to mention: move the seatback all the way forward for easier removal out of the front. Also, to get the rear bolts you need to jack the seat height all the way up and slide it all the way forward to get the 10mm triple-square bolts loosened & out.
LASTLY: the GTI Seats have less thigh support than my old Golf seats. I had 4 washers shimmying my front seats front bolts on my old seat but this wasn't enough on my Plaids. I'm going to shimmy it by 1" but need more washers b/c it has NO thigh support and is already posing uncomfortable in that regard. The GTI seats have ridiculously tight lateral support on both the seat cushion & seatback which is one big reason I wanted them. bigger people (over 250lbs) might find them to be too tight in this regard.
Rear Seat Notes (regarding Sportwagen & Alltrack):
So removing the rear cushion is easy enough, you undo the 4 child seat cover thingys and push down on them to slide them through the C shape indents that hold them in place. After that you need to pull up on the end of the cushion to pop out two hooks securing it down. Pulling it forward won't work initially, there are some clips holding it in the reverse way you are pulling it. You want to push the cushion towards the seatbacks (from each side of each door), then lift up then pull forward (towards front seat) and it'll pop out of the buckles easily.
The rear seats are held in with a single 30torx bit screw which holds a cap onto the middle hinge of both seats. Very odd design but it functions just fine. Problem is, on the Sportwagen this bolt is impossible to remove without removing the plastic cargo floor thingy that sits immediately behind the seatbacks. Easier said than done! You have to pull SUPER HARD straight up on the cloth-covered cover (its L shaped) to expose the plastic housing beneath (it is 2 peices). That part is held in with 3 15-torx screws and it pulls straight out (by pulling it towards the rear) at which point you can remove the 30-torx bolt and bracket. Once that is removed you can slide the seatbacks out of the pivots BUT on the Sportwagen/Alltrack you have remote release cables!!!! Luckily VW has little plastic access panels on the sides of the seatbacks which expose the cable. You can pry out the cable so it gets loose and then CAREFULLY fish the cable out of the silver button thing at which point you can slide the entire cable out of the seatback. I tucked my cables against the seat belt buckle brackets when putting the GTI Plaid cushion back in. So no more spring-forward action or remote release OH WELL. The good news is the GTI Plaids sit FLUSH AS FOCK with the floor unlike the stock Golf seats which were more like 15 degrees upwards. NICEEEE
PICTURES:
