Hi folks,

Thought this might be useful, as there are very few 'how to' articles of this nature on the web. After having done this on my BMW X5 previously (a lot of blood and swearing!) thought I'd give it a go on the RRS. My car has 47k miles, but the bolster on the outside of the driver seat was going somewhat soft, so time to fit a new cushion before the leather started getting trashed.
New foam base and heater pad came to £97 all in with a bit of discount from my friendly Marshall Land Rover dealer in Peterborough.

Tools required- as below, Torx bit is a T40, 16x 5mm zip ties, or hog rings and pliers if you are feeling brave!



The seat base is held down by 4x T40 Torx bolts- in the pic here I've removed the base and dropped the bolts in the holes so you can see where they are located. A bit of dexterity required to get at the front ones (tilt the front of the seat up as far as it will go), and they are at a slight angle too. Once the bolts are out, carefully lift the base and unclip the cables that are fastened to the metal pan. A trim removal tool is useful for this if you have one.



Before removing the base completely, the green cable for the heater element has to be removed. The green plug here, just squeeze both sides and pull out, there is a latch on the right hand side only.



Seat out and laid on the new living room carpet- no oil involved, so this job can be done inside where it's warm



Now it's time to remove the perimeter clips underneath. Tricky to describe, but push the fabric (leather) away from the metal, then down and they will come away. Start at one side of the rear, and work around towards the other side. There are also the two plastic cable guides that hold the tabs of fabric in place. These are a little tight but pull out too, easier with a trim removal tool.



With the plastic clips on the edge removed, left the metal pan up and remove the long U strip at the back. The metal has sharp edges, so proceed with caution- blood on the carpet is not an option here!



Two parts separated, remove the thin fluffy sheet and put aside for re-assembly later.



Start to separate the foam from the cover.



Here you can just about make out the hog rings holding the cover to the foam. The foam base has four steel rods moulded into it which the rings are fixed to. Easiest way to remove is to cut along the line where they are and pull them out with rings still attached to the cover.



Two halves apart, with hog rings and steel rods attached to the cover. Now it's just a matter of pulling out the rods, then splitting the hog rings and removing. This is where two pairs of pliers come in handy.



Now we're onto the new cushion and new heater pad. The old heater pad was still working fine, but as it's stuck to the cushion with some strong double sided tape type stuff, would have been a pain to clean up and re-use. Best to buy a fresh one!



New heater pad stuck to the cushion. Start at the back where the cable is, then work forward to the front. Finally, stick down the bolster parts at the side. Don't stretch the heater pad, just hold it in place and peel off the backing of the double sided tape and lay the pad down as you go. It should look like your old seat when you're done.



Ok, then it's hog ring or zip tie time! I bought hog ring pliers when I did the BMW seat, but found them an absolute nightmare to get accurate. I felt like I needed 3 hands to use them, and after missing the target with quite a few and putting one through my thumb, gave up and went down the zip tie route! Before any one kicks off saying the zip ties have 'lumps' in which hog rings don't, the lumps on the zip ties will be buried so deep in the cushion, your behind will never actually get anywhere near them, so this isn't an issue. They are also more than strong enough for the job as they are just there to hold the cover to the cushion. When you sit in the seat, you actually relive some of the tension on them, as opposed to putting any more strain on.
Start with the two sets of 3 in the middle of the cushion, thread them loosely as below, then pull taught. Don't yank them tight as they need a small amount of freedom to move. Once taught, snip the tails off with your side cutters.



Once the centre ones are done, move onto the sides and do them same.



When all your hog rings or zip ties are done, pull the cover back over the cushion and place the thin fluffy sheet ( I assume this helps to stop the foam speaking against the metal pan) back on the base of the cushion.



Place the metal pan back on the cushion and push/pull the foam into place around the edges. Then put the plastic clips back in place. As the new cushion is slightly firmer than the old one, this was a bit more awkward than removal! Again, start with one at the front and work back on each side from there. Finally, hook the U-strip back into place at the back. Again, mind the sharp edges on the metal pan!



Et, voila, base looking (and feeling) good as new. Fit back into the car, plugging in the heater element first and fitting the cables under the seat back into their clips before bolting down. Don't forget to bin all the old parts and bits from the living room carpet, and give it a quick once over with your choice of vacuum cleaner



Last edited by Slim444 on Sat Mar 05 2016 11:45am. Edited 2 times in total

I need to get into mine as the heater element isn't working, can you just remove the seat base or does the whole seat have to come out' I'm a little concerned about the airbags in the seat deploying when I start dismantling. Nanocom Evo

No messing with airbags or the explosive seat belt tensioner etc, just the four bolts to undo, then unplug the heater element and lift out the base. 4th picture down is all that needs to be removed from the car. So much easier than the X5 where I had to remove the entire seat!

Great 'how to' fancy doing this myself!
Spot on  2015 RRS AB SDV6, Fuji White, Ivory
2012 RRS HSE SDV6, Sumatra Black and Ivory
Audi A5, 3.0 TDI, Gone
Audi TT, 3.2 V6, Gone
BMW 5 series tourer, Gone

Great how to, think ill order a seat element and give it a go, I'm only assuming it's the element as it's the only seat that doesn't warm up and the switch lights up ok Nanocom Evo

I'd get a new foam if I were you too- when you pull off the old heater pad, chances are you pull bit of foam off with it, especially on the bolsters! You don't want to be pulling the seat apart twice

This is true, do you have the part numbers at all ? Nanocom Evo

The cushion for mine is LRLR021399 and the heater element LRLR016246

However, I'd give the supplier your registration number and they will match exactly from that. My seats are leather/alcantara and the base looks slightly different to the all leather ones. Same size, but the stitching is different from what I remember...

Ah just noticed yours is 2011 so I'll double check cheers for the info Nanocom Evo

I was going to do this a few weeks ago. I got scared by the hog rings and ended up getting my indie to do it. Only cost £40 labour in the end so not too bad. I had thought about zip ties but feared they would cause problems. Should have used them! Live and learn.  2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

Finally got round to doing mine thanks to your write up it was simple, picture shows why my heated seat wasn't working
Replaced foam at same time which has made the seat a lot more comfortable and no sag in the bolster, used hog rings to reattach with the help of swmbo, about an hour from start to finish  Nanocom Evo

Fantastic, glad to be of service!

That's a messy old heater pad you had there, seen some serious abuse by the looks

Yes burnt a big hole in the bolster and the inner cover of the leather Nanocom Evo

Nice write up, my drivers side bolster is sagging so may well do this myself!

Where did you buy the foam for the 2007 RRS?Can it be ordered from a webshop somewere?