How many of you guys actually remove the seats?

B

backwoods_lex

New member
I was wondering how common it is for the pros to remove seats. Although I usually keep the rest of the carpeting pretty clean, I've noticed that my own seats are starting to get a bunch of dirt and stains in the area between the seat and console. A lot of cars have power and heated seats with airbags which would scare me. Do you guys charge more?
 
I would always remove the seats in a minivan. Unless someone is paying you to remove the seats in a conventional/bolt in seat, I don't find the need to do it. If you use an air hose and move the seats back and forth, you shouldn't have any problems.
 
Like David, I remove the seats in minivans, and the far rear seats in the older Expiditions, Suburbans, Tahoes, etc. I very rarely remove seats that are bolted in and I do charge extra.



You might want to pick up a Haynes or Chilton's manual for your car to see if there are any special precautions required to remove your seats.
 
imagine if you will, a paradox of the worse sort.



You detail a car, read the chiltons manual take out and reinstall the seat.



3 weeks later the owners get in an accident and bamn one of the seats break off.



You get in a lawsuit because you over torqued the bolt or under torqued the bolt. Or your torque wrench was not professionaly calibrated,
 
Grouse said:
imagine if you will, a paradox of the worse sort.



You detail a car, read the chiltons manual take out and reinstall the seat.



3 weeks later the owners get in an accident and bamn one of the seats break off.



You get in a lawsuit because you over torqued the bolt or under torqued the bolt. Or your torque wrench was not professionaly calibrated,
Click to expand...



Legal wavers are gold...
 
i dont, unless they pay for it, and if I end up doing it....it costs about 30+ even if its just 8 bolts, its a PITA, and they would have to release me of any liability
 
On top of the bolting\unbolting issues, there is a possibility of gouging the paint, plastic, and door seals while removing the seats. I would be very cautious about such an endeavour.



If you were going to offer such a service, I would seek out a lawyer to draw up some sort of legal waiver and I would most certainly charge extra.
 
I worked as a VW tech for 6 years and hated removing seats. I dont do it as a detailer unless the customer asks for it and I inform him of a waiver. Not only do you have to worry about damaging something or like stated above about accidents, but you also have problems with removing airbag connections and all that goes with that.
 
deadlock32 said:
Legal wavers are gold...
Click to expand...

A legal waiver is not going to save you if you mess up and your messup cause bodily harm or death. A leagal waiver does not give anyone the right to do shady work.
 
David Fermani said:
I would always remove the seats in a minivan. Unless someone is paying you to remove the seats in a conventional/bolt in seat, I don't find the need to do it. If you use an air hose and move the seats back and forth, you shouldn't have any problems.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Plus, some seats are a pita to remove. You can run into rust issues and all of that jazz.
 
been removing seats for many years (part of my 'complete' detail).... never had a problem..... and a few of the vehicles have been in accidents....





guess what??



The seats stayed on !!
 
It is not very common for professional detailers to remove seats that are bolted to the floor. Of course, the latched based seats, such as those found in most mini vans can easily be removed.
 
I'm no pro detailer, but I am a professional automotive entertainment technician - I remove seats on a daily basis (if your own a 2k and up german car, dont even bother asking me to take your seat out - ill laugh and charge you 1000$ to vacume your car) When I can - I show the customer the kind of s^%$ that have under their seat, and tell them they need a pro detailer's help.



Never heard of a seat breaking off in an accident - that is one of those "oh crap he got hit by lightning" situations . . . A seat snapping off would usually mean the failure of a seatbolt stud or a rail spotweld - but If someone has brought it up it has probably happened.



One thing no one here has mentioned about the danger of seat removal (otehr than the minivan type that come out with a breeze) are the AIRBAG sensors that when unpluged, cause the dash indicator to false, costing money to get reset.



I find it good practice to disconnect the negative lead of the battery before removing any dash/trim or interior peices which could have electronic sensors in them. Always be sure to consult the customer beforehand to check if they have custom tuning or computer modifactions which could be adverslyeffected by the disconnection of the battery, ESPECIALLY THE DAM RADIO CODES)



sorry...had to vent.
 
I do it by request, but not if they don't ask or I don't feel I need to. I've gone so far as to remove an entire center console ones (coffee underneath it, uhg), but for the most part minivan = yes, everything else = no.
 
I always take them out if they come out without taking any bolts off- it makes cleaning a lot easier. Minivans can actually be easier to clean than SUV's beacuse you can get all the seats out and you don't have to clean around them.



The only time I've taken bolted seats out is when I'm doing my own car, and then just right after I bought it used. I've tried on some of my other cars, but sometimes you run into problems and just can't do it in a reasonable amount of time. It's hard to tell how much time it would take, so it's not worth it to usually do on a customer's car. If the specifically request it, you could work something out special for them.
 
I only remove the seats in minivans and I make sure to sit in the them and make sure they are 100% locked in place when I am finished. I will not take out seats in cars or other vehicles unless it is absolutly necessary.



Greg
 
I'll remove my seat from my cars, and only on a handful of occasions have I removed the seats for customers. I don't offer- but if they ask... I charge for it.

I really prefer to remove them, it makes the shampoing easier and faster with better results.
 
I was surprised to see how much gunk accumulates under seats when I removed mine for a cleaning. It was a PITA to get them out, and I had to go out and buy a #40 Star Bit, but the cleaning was needed. I also popped up my door sills and found a lot of change and what looked like dried up cola residue.



Of course, I'd never remove the seats in a vehicle I detail. Mine has manual seats and I have vinyl floor so aside from a single connector (probably to sense the driver), it was relatively simple to do.
 
well i lied....today on a van we removed the seats to get the rest of the carpet under it....best thing we did....came out with one simple lever and made the whole interior easier to clean...
 
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