190E manual seat base swapping
 

How to swap seat bottoms of the front seats.

This is a very easy DIYer job. If you are quick, no more than an hours worth of time.

Tools needed:

10mm, 13mm, 14mm sockets and ratchet
Large Phillips screw drive


I. Remove each front seat-

1. Seats are held in by 10mm bolts, two in the front and two in the rear. I use a long extension to make reaching the bolts easier, but a standard socket and ratchet or even a wrench will work.

2.Disconnect any seat sensor wires

3.Slide each seat either as far forward as it will go, to get to the rear bolts and then as far backward as possible to get to the front bolts.

4.Originally, the seat tracks at the front came from the factory with plastic covers. I found the best way to remove these is to pull slightly forward and lift the front, then gently lifting the backs. If they get damaged, they are not expensive to replace.

5.Before you can remove each seat do two things:

a.Adjust the back rest as far forward is it will go

b.Move the whole seat forward in the car until the inner seatbelt anchor track has cleared its attachment to the seat base.

6.Remove the seats SLOWLY. The base anchor points are sharp and will easily rip and puncture your interior and doors if you are not careful. The manual seats are not as heavy as the electrically adjustable seats, but if in doubt, have someone help you lift them out.


II. Take the seats apart-

1.Before you can unbolt the seat base and seat backs you will need to gain access to the two bolts on the sides of each seat. To do this you must remove the plastic hinge covers.

a.On one side on each seat the backrest adjuster knob must be removed. The knob simply pops off from its white plastic mounting base by pulling on it. Beneath you will find a large Phillips head screw. Hold the while circular mounting base while removing the screw, then remove it. Now you can remove this and the other hinge cover.

b.Hold the Word of caution: The hinge covers will remove easily if you see how they can constructed and how they attach, but they will break easily if forced in the wrong way. I found that pulling the bottom of the hinge covers out and down a little helps. The cover that also covers the seatbelt can be very perplexing untl you see that GENTLY twisting it to align with the seatbelt will facilitate its removal.

2.The seat back and the seat frame are attached to the seat base by four bolts, two on each side. Additionally, the base is held to the frame by two large Philips screws in the front on each track.

a.Remove the two bolts on each side holding the seatback, frame and seat bottom together.

b.One 13mm bolt has a 14mm nut that needs to be held to keep from turning found inside of the seat bottom, the other does not.

c.Remove the Philips screws

d.The seatback will separate from the seat bottom and seat frame.

III. Take the other seat apart the same way.

IV. Now a good time to do the following:

1.Brush and vacuum the seat tracks to remove dirt and debris.

2.Lube the tracks:

(a)Both the height adjusting and forward and aft tracks.

(b)Be careful not to get the lube all over everything. I use a heavy silicone past or you can use a heavy-duty silicone spray. Suggest using a rag to catch the lube that leaks out of the tracks.

3.Vacuum the seat surface and especially between the pleats.

4.This is a great time to clean the seats. Be sure to use a good cleaner and apply something that protects them afterwards.

5.If the net behind the seatback is sagging, you can remove the panel it is attached to by

(a)Unscrewing the two long Phillips head screws and pulling the panel down and off the seat.

(b)Once the panel is in-hand, you will see the six short and small Phillips head screws that hold the net frame on. If your frame isn’t cracked or broken, you can replace the worn-out/stretched elastic cord. The old elastic cord is held in place by metal clamps, but if the replacement cord is large enough a knot at each end will suffice. I got my replacement cord from a camping supply store (REI) that sells the cord by the foot. It is best to have a bit of tension on the cord.

(c)If the net frame is broken, the replacement (net and all) runs about $50-$60 I am told. The combination of Super glue and JB Weld (inside/hidden area) can do wonders to repair the frame.

6.Check the seat-
(a)Cushion and make sure all the edges are properly seated (holds the cover onto the seat bottom.

(b)The springs. Often they break. Almost never can be repaired, but there are some ways to do it.

(c)If the padding, either the “horse hair” or high density foam is shot, change it now.

IV. Reassembly

1.Assembling the seats is easy. I suggest making sure all the bolts are snug, you don’t want to do it again if you don’t have to.

2.Remember:
a.Which seat bottom goes with which seat back and frame? It is easy to get confused.

b.The driver’s seatback has to stay on the left seat for the fold-up armrest.

3.Follow the instructions in the reverse order.

Haasman

been there done that, great DIY :)

xp

Thanks Haasman, did my seat swap today. You need to increase the time estimate to include cleaning out all the "stuff" under our seats. I found oak leaves and McDonalds french fries (nicely preserved, but I didn't try them) from NJ and $0.45.

Another interesting find . . . the OEM Mercedes seats were made by Recaro.

I here you on what is found under seats. This is what was left by the PO:

What appears in these pictures is AFTER the car had been vacuumed several times and gone through several car washes.

We found three expired credit cards, tons of pencils and pens, several vials of perfume samples, countless coins, a few fries and a lot of drink spills.

To clean all the fluid spills took four five-gallon buckets of dirty water. It was only then that the carpet began to start looking clean. McGuires interior and carpet cleaner works well along with multiple rags and a good shop vac.

YUCK!

Haasman

I have been considering swapping the front seats in my '90 190E Sportline so I did a search and this thread came up looking the most appropriate. The padding (foam) is still OK on each but being leather the driver's side shows more wear.

I have had the seats out once before when I purchased the car to thoroughly clean them and the carpets, and to repair a broken adjuster on the driver's seat (the right hand one in my car) which prevented the fore/aft adjustment from working. Beyond this I have not attempted any further disassembly of the seats.

I have a few questions since I realise there are differences between the W201 seats from different years.
1. My seats are manual (not electric) so this thread should apply in this regard.
2. My seats are Sportline so do they only differ in the shape of the cushions and backrests?
3. Mine have the knob on the outsides of the bases to allow adjustment of the support under the thighs (which I believe earlier models do not). Does this prevent swapping the bases given that each is a mirror image of the other or is this part of the seat base and independent to the cushion?
4. Mine do not have an armrest so will this allow me to also swap backrests or does the backrest adjustment (mirror imaged) prevent this?

Thanks in advance,
Greg

Because this thread is for the non-powered seats, it should apply to your Sportline. The thigh bolster adjustment is more likely to be built into the base, not the seat pad, but have a look at one once it's out of the car.

Thanks MTI,

In addition to the seat cushions, I would also like to swap the backrests. Does anyone know if this is possible? Mine does not have an armrest so the backrest adjusters may be the only issue here. Being Sportline seats, the large side bolsters have worn piping on the outside edge of each front seat. The leather of the driver's seat backrest, like the cushion, shows more wear than the passenger's seat.

Greg

Can't speak to the Sportline seats, but the OEM seats can't swap the seatbacks because of the tiltback adjuster for the seatback requires the frame be on one side.