Bucket Seat Air Leak Repair

[nij]

Has anybody successfully repaired the air leaks in the bolsters and lumber support in the bucket seats?

I am acquiring two RS bucket seats, but both are suffering from air leak in the upper half.
I have read posts regarding the cost of repair by Audi , but surely it can’t be too hard to do (time consuming may be). The symptoms are: - the bolsters and lumber support inflates, but start leaking straight away. So, it must be leaking from a valve or the bags itself.

Any suggestions or diagram of the seats with part number would be most appreciated.

[DazN]

The stitching needs "looking at" on one of mine, I had a quote at £150 to repair completely, which involved them taking it apart and then restitching the whole thing. I would imagine that when it's apart it would be quite easy to spot the leak and then you could repair with a patch of some kind?

Suppose it depends what material the part is that inflates, a bike tyre puncture kit is different from a paddling pool for example. You can get glueless patches for bike tyres, peel the backing off and stick straight on.

Other thing is you'd have to make sure you got it right 1st time because getting back to the patch would be impossible if it failed again.

[adsgreen]

Iirc it's the valves that go so you need to replace the part. They will probably fail again too.

[nij]

Thanks guys, It looked as though I'll have to take it apart and see whats what.

Have anyone got a parts diagram for the bucket seats?

How many members out there have leaking bucket seats? There must be quite a few!

[bluenosewrx]

As said before it's the valves.

Expensive fix AFAIK.

Mac

[ArthurPE]

find the leak first, if it's the bag use fix-a-flat

[JZARS]

i recently had one of mine repaired by Audi for the sum of just £420 ( ).....needless to say I soon complained as bought the car through their approved thang less than 6 months before.

If thats any help. Its niggles away at you when these things dont work, but feels great when it does do as it was intended.

[Jules]

I bet alot of peoples arent working as they should,do you not have buckets already Nigel ?

[nij]

I bet alot of peoples arent working as they should,do you not have buckets already Nigel ?

No, I've wanted the comfort seats when I got mine, as I was using it as a family car (easier to get in and out, and extra leg room at the back plus all the electric comforts.

Since I've bought my daughter a mini a year ago, I've started to modify my car the way I wanted it to be. For the first three years, it was all standard. As you can see from my signature, I've done a few modifications and I do have Recaro CS Sportsters in my car at the moment, but since seeing your car, I fancy doing something simular.

[Jules]

Nice,the comforts are a great hard wearing seat they just dont have the look of the buckets.
So your going to move the cs's on and get rs4 buckets i take it,the cs's will always sell well and fetch a good price,i can
ask about when your selling if you want as i run a vag club so have a more mixtured audieance.

PM sent earlier aswell

[nij]

Thanks for the offer Jules, but I'm not sure which seats I'll be putting in until I have the leaks sorted. Then might be a interior retrim?

[P_G]

Why are you selling the CS's nij, I thought they were great seats and far more comfy and supportive than the standard RS buckets.

[lugars4]

Had both my front seats repaired at Audi under warranty last year. Drivers upper bolsters are now leaking again.

They replaced the valves i believe. Repair lasted about 5 months.

Be careful removing the trims that are in the two holes near the headrest part (seatbeld holes). They break their tabs off inside easily and wont re-seat.

[nij]

Why are you selling the CS's nij, I thought they were great seats and far more comfy and supportive than the standard RS buckets.

I'm not selling the CS's just yet as I'm toying with the idea of a lighter interior retrim. The CS's are a lot lighter and do offer better rear leg room.
I am getting my hands on a pair of buckets, but both seats are leaking. First, I'm going to try and get them fixed myself, as it would cost a fortune for Audi to fix it. Then I'll fit them and try them out before I decide which front seat will be retrimmed.

Be careful removing the trims that are in the two holes near the headrest part (seatbeld holes). They break their tabs off inside easily and wont re-seat.

Thanks for the advice, I'll look out for it.