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To replace seat upholstery parts or single parts of the lumbar support, the seat should always be removed. To do this, the panels above the screws must be removed or unscrewed, if necessary. On the 700/900, the outer side pocket must be unscrewed in order to access the lower belt screw connection. The seats on the 200 can be easily removed after removing the screws, on the 700/900 the seat rails have to be pushed forward because there is an additional pin under each rail.

If the belt whip is mounted to the seat, unscrew it.

If you want to work on the backrest, pull out the headrest. Unlocking is done by pushing the plastic hooks on the bracket in the backrest forward, in the picture without cover for better illustration. Unscrew the wheel of the lumbar support and remove it.

Remove the knob and the backrest adjustment covers. To remove the knob, lever off the centre cover.

Turn the retaining plate anticlockwise with a pair of circlip pliers or long nose pliers to unlock the knob. Then you can simply remove it.The adjustment wheel of the lumbar support can simply be unscrewed after it has been released.

The cover plates must be disengaged at the bottom (see picture) and then pushed upwards in the direction of the backrest. The eyelets at the top break very quickly, do not try to lever them off.

Loosen the seat frame from the seat with two screws on each side. Depending on the model, these can be normal hexagonal or hexagon socket screws, one next to each height catch, as shown in the picture. It is not necessary to unscrew the seat frame if you are only working on the backrest.

In any case, the backrest must be separated from the seat, otherwise the cushions can neither be loosened nor reattached properly. There are two screws on each side, and here, too, there may be different spanner sizes depending on the model and year of manufacture. The picture shows a seat from a 240, on the 7/900 models the screws are on the outside.

It is best to remove the upholstery clips with a pair of pliers.For the backrests, the cover is loosened with 5-6 clips on the underside, after which the cover can be pushed up. If the cushion should be replaced, the springs on the back must be unhooked.On the 200 models, the backrest frame is often warped. It should be straightened and, if necessary, reinforced before re-upholstering.The seats have a hooked tension rod at the front and back, which is additionally secured in the middle with a metal clip. Press down this clip and then unhook the tension rods from the outside of the frame. Then cut through the upholstery clips on the sides. On the 700/900 models, one hook must be unhooked from the front of the lower frame on each side first. On the 200 models, the cover is also attached vertically to the frame with a metal clip at the rear end of the lateral tension rods. This must be levered off with a flat-blade screwdriver.

In the backrest of a 200 Volvo, where the lumbar support can no longer be adjusted, you may find situations like this after pulling up the upholstery.The plate of the lumbar support is broken multiple times, one of the retaining wires is broken and the rear hook plate was no longer there. Some parts must be replaced. Spare parts are available, the retaining wire is available in two different lengths. The shorter one must always be on the side with the adjusting wheel, i.e. on the side facing the door.

Replacing individual parts of the lumbar support is of course easiest when the seat is completely unpadded, as in this picture. However, it is sufficient to pull the cover up to just above the middle of the backrest.Fold down the foam of the upholstery a little on the outer sides and everything is accessible.It is important when replacing the plate that the hook plate on the back is also there, without it the plate would quickly break again. The unspectacular wire guide in the backrest frame on the right also has its function: if it is not there, the wire radius runs over a sharp edge and the wire would break sooner or later.The disassembly is quite simple: completely release the tension on the adjusting wheel, remove the hook plate, unhook the plate from the wires and remove it, then unhook the springs from the wires. The bracket for the adjusting wheel is screwed to the seat frame with two Phillips screws, if the springs are too tight, simply loosen the screws. Reassembly is done in reverse order.

On the late models, there is a cover on the back of the plate above the hook plate, which is very useful. It protects the lumbar plate from the knees of those sitting at the back and thus prevents damage. The cover is simply hooked onto the wires.

Here are the parts of the lumbar support of a 200 in an exploded view. The spring no. 24 is of course fitted twice and the whole thing sits behind the plate no. 18 in the seat back. For the 700/900 lumbar support there is a separate manual on our shop page. The adjustment bracket is usually defective.

When upholstering the seat, first check the lower frame. The seat frame should still be straight in any case, but there are usually no problems.More important: All springs of the upholstery support section should be in place and the upholstery support section must be intact.On the 200 there are four springs per side, on the 700/900 there are three each. There, however, the support section also rests on one end. The cushion support section itself can sometimes be broken, damaged by rust or bent. If parts are broken off, single springs may be missing. Springs and support are still available. The upholstery cushions are available as reproductions. If the springs are too tight, they can be unhooked and rehooked quite easily with brake spring pliers.Attention for seats with seat heating: The temperature guard must always sit properly in its position, it is usually pushed up from below by a spring.

When upholstering the seats, the piping rod, which sits approximately centrally in the front of the upholstery, should always be pulled into position and fastened first, if fitted. In the original, this is fastened with upholstery clips in the back of the upholstery, which can sometimes be a bit tedious. Therefore, it can be quite handy at this point to pull the piping bar backwards with cable ties and then fasten it with those.This applies to both the backrest and the seat. For the backrest, the cover must first be pulled loosely over the upper part first.

The upholstery clips are inserted into the grooves of the pliers as shown in the picture and then pressed into position.When mounting the seat on the base you have to push a little because the spring of the seat height adjustment pushes the seat away from the base. Here it is better to tighten the screws that are closer to the spring first. It is then easier to push the longer side.The rest of the assembly of the seats is done in reverse order.Freshly overhauled upholstery gives a completely new seat feeling and ensures fatigue-free rides!