Leather seats – head restraints

[glasgow]

I find it difficult to remove the head restraints from the leather seats of my Caterham to put the tonneau on. The metal bar that holds the restraints is covered by thick grease. The grease started to dry up and now sticky and stiff. I think I need to remove the grease and apply a better quality one.

 

Any suggestion what product I should use to remove the old grease and what is the best grease to reapply? How do I clean the channel the post sits in, please?

 

[tweeky]

Send the tonneau to jill judd (soft bits for seven`s) and she`ll modify it so you dont have to take the head rests off. i found them a pain in the 🙆🏻 too !!!

 

Tweeky

 

to infirmity.................... and beyond

[glasgow]

this might be a good idea... do you mind me asking please how much did this cost?

[Pooh_R]

I've had mine pocketed by Jill too, for exactly the reason you suggest. Its a great improvement I can't remember how much I paid a couple of years ago, have a look at

Soft bits for Sevens website.

 

Pooh

[peterg]

From their website:

 

If you would like to have these added in to your existing tonneau please buy this option and send your tonneau to us.

 

In any case we will need a measurement for the position of the seat. Please measure forward from the centerline of the press stud behind the seat to the back edge of the headrest. (we can put in a standard position which is almost as far back as the seat will go) £58.16 (inc VAT)

---

 

you need to go onto the Products pages and select the tonneau to fit your model and 'Leather seat pockets' is an option

 

 

[glasgow]

Just phoned them.... they stitch the pocket to the tonneau. No strip cover over the stitch. I asked how water tight is this stitch. The guy said there might be some drops of rain escaping but not major.

 

Any experience about using the modified tonneau in wet weather?

 

[tweeky]

Carnt remember but i think aroung the £50 inc sending the bits down,

I marked the centre of the headrest fitting in the seat on the tonneau as both seat ar not in the same position.

 

Its a cheep mod and saves you so much time too.

 

I used some tent waterproofer on the stitched fabsil if my memory`s not playing me up not had any issues with water ingress.

 

Mine are fitted/stiched from inside not stiched on.

 

Tweeky

 

to infirmity.................... and beyond

 

Edited by - tweeky on 6 Sep 2010 12:18:52

 

Edited by - tweeky on 6 Sep 2010 12:20:06

 

Edited by - tweeky on 6 Sep 2010 12:20:47

[CanAm]

Just phoned them.... they stitch the pocket to the tonneau. No strip cover over the stitch. I asked how water tight is this stitch. The guy said there might be some drops of rain escaping but not major.

 

Any experience about using the modified tonneau in wet weather?

---

Never noticed any drips from that area, even in some pretty heavy rain. The pocket tends to be a high point anyway, so any rain would be running away from it, rather than pooling around the headrest.

There's far worse areas to worry about on a standard tonneau.

 

Alan

_{Teenage dreams, so hard to beat.}

[Nick Green]

I've had this mod done to my tonneau too. Does save a lot of faff.

 

The one or two times it has got wet since, more water has run through the hole that the petty strut is meant to go through. Don't worry about it.

 

N.

[Mort]

As an alternative, have a word with a local marine trimmer - you should find them listed in Yellow Pages or Yell.com. They should be able to adapt your tonneau to your requirements and make it waterproof.

 

Don't forget to make sure that the seats are in the right position when you measure up though, or the head rests won't fit in the pockets.

 

BTW, my headrests aren't greased at all, It may be that the old sticky grease is the problem. Why not try removing it with white spirit or meths, and then see how the headrest are then?

 

Nick

 

It's life Jim, but not as WE know it!

[Angus]

I had this problem with stiff head restraints, admittedly on a new build. I got Caterham to 'ease' the tubes and holes and now they are much better. I dont know exactly how they did it, but probably a vice / hammer and a file !

 

I didnt go the modified tonneau route as in my opinion the pockets look baggy and untidy. Also if you need to move the seats around (different drivers etc) the tonneau may no longer fit.

 

Angus

 

Edited by - Angus on 6 Sep 2010 17:32:22

[john milner]

I had a big problem removing/adjusting my headrests. In the end I used WD40 and violent yanks. I think I broke something as they now come out easily but are so loose I have to use cable ties to keep them high enough.

[David aka Blue7]

I had my TC modified with the pockets because I just couldn't and still can't shift the headrests. The mod cost £55 and no ingress of water at all despite being left out in some very heavy Western Isles downpours.

 

Personally speaking I wouldn't go Nick's route with a marine trimmer, I would stick with SB47, they know what they are doing and have the 7 expertise.

 

Blue7

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