So I finally found an I-30 today that had almost perfect condition leather seats front and back. I wanted to swap out my tan fabric seats for the tan leather ones. But, I was only able to get as far as removing the bottom portion of the seat but the back-rest of the seat was part of the track.

I was trying to un-do all the screws that I could find it was attached to, but had to abandon job because at one point it looked as part of the back-rest was fused to the track. So my hopes of getting all leather seats seem dashed.

The backseat though fits fine, so I might just have backrow leather seats, hoping it doesn't look too Mexican LOL (not to be derogatory, but I can't help but think of Escalade grills on Chevy's spray painted all over...fail!)

The good news is I bought some perfect condition fabric seats for my color in a 99 Maxima that had seat covers. But as far as finding good leather seats on a Maxima? I've given up! Every Maxima leather seat I've seen looks horrendous. The one with a manual passenger seat, was all ripped up.

 

I have both front seats and the back seats swapped from an i30... I didnt have any problems. What do you mean the back rest was part of the track??? A seat is a seat, everything included ???

 

Well, I have a manual passenger seat. Under the manual passenger seat there is only 1 connector coming out of the floor (which is just tied and taped off). The driver's side has 2 connectors. So I couldn't just plop in a passenger side power seat in there (if I'm correct, that the I-30 also only has 1 connector coming from the floor?

For the driver side in the I-30, some idiot had cut the connections leading to the power seat controls. It would have involved removing all of the motors and stuff, and that's the one I was working on trying to simply remove the seat from the track.

 

This should be direct swap. Like stated above it has been done many times. Put the back of the rear seat in then the bottom of the rear seat. unplug and unbolt the front seats. Then bolt up the I30 seats and plug them in. That's all you have to do. Your Maxima should be already pre-wired for power passenger seat.

 

I had to splice the passenger seat. There's a big hot wire it will go into. It's a very obvious target for splicing the seat... But just splice that mug. I habe both front power seats from an i30 in my 95 gxe

 

I already know how to do the backseat. But I'm not sure we're on the same page on this.

In the Maxima, coming out of the floor under the passenger side seat, there is just 1 connection coming from under there. However, on the passenger's side under the seat, there are 2 connectors coming from there. How can I direct swap an I-30 leather seat that has 2 connectors on the passenger side over to my passenger side with only 1 connector? Would that mean just 1 function of the seat would work?

Also, if the SRS airbag having been deployed make a difference? I couldn't move the thing back into place, but figured I'd unbolt that metal piece instead. I know I'm sounding clueless here, but the whole thing turned out harder than I expected. Especially when someone cut the wires leading to the controls.

ooo, I'm jelly lol. But I don't get what you mean splicing? So you were able to use that 1 connector to connect into the 2 connectors under the I-30 seat by cutting and connnecting wires or something?

(I also have to admit I never pulled the I-30 passenger seat, just the driver's side. but I'm just going by the Driver's side power seats and what connectors are coming from the floor. I also seen both driver and passenger side of the Maxima)

 

Don't bother trying to swap the cushions over to your old frames. Yes you can take them apart but you may not able to reinstall the old with the new. There are differences between models and years and its not as easy as you'd think.

Just wire up the seat for power. Don't worry about air bag wires or seat heaters.

 

The 2nd plug on the I30 seat is for the side impact air bag which your 97 Maxima does not support so just leave it off.

 

Ahhh, well duh lol. I didn't know that. I thought it was 1 connection for the cushion and another for the backrest. So that means I can have 2 power seats? woohoo!

But now, this would involve me returning the 2 cloth seats I bought. I cleaned them up and they look really good. The original reason for me doing all this to begin with was the owner prior to me must have smoked and there were like a dozen cigarette burns in both seats. Also the foam on the driver's seat was thinning out contributing to lower back pain.

If I go ahead and get the other seat from the I-30, I'll just have 1 passenger leather seat and 1 rear seat leather backrest. And I suppose I can't do anything with the driver's side seat that had the wires all cut from the controls, no?

Does anyone think I should just forget about the leather seats and stick with these new looking cloth seats I bought?

 

Thats a question only you can answer. Do you really want the leather? Is it worth your trouble? Or are the cloth seats good enough. Its a personal preference. I enjoy the hell out of my i30 seats, but thats me.

sent from HTC DNA using Maxima.org app

 

I just don't think it'll look right having rear only leather seats. Having rear seats with headrest just too my interior to the next level. If the cloth didn't have that pattern on it, I'd leave it. Plus, I already have all the door panels, switches and handles from the I30 lol.

The smell of leather is sort of aromotherapeutic for me as well.

 

Then I think you answered your own question

sent from HTC DNA using Maxima.org app

 

I love the rear headrests, both front power seats, and tilting front headrests. Plus.. I have clean white stitching all around ;-)

 

I was hoping someone would tell me there's cars that exist that have both leather and cloth seats. You know, best of both worlds...

 

Well I won't be the one to tell you that. Either all cloth or all leather.

 

Well guess what? I finally got the whole thing done lol. I can't believe I have a passenger side power seat now. Had no idea it was an option on the Max.

It took me far longer than normal though because I had to bring both driver's side seats upstairs and swap the 2 motors on the side and figure out which screws I took off when I was trying to get it off the track. Then when I put it in, only 1 side of the track was moving...took an hour or 2 to figure it out, it was the cable under the seat had gotten disconnected and bent a bit. I just pulled the cable from my old seat.

Then I had to remove the airbag modules and E-6000 the airbag cover shut on both seats. I was just damn, the salvage hard should have gave me a discount on those seats because of all the ****ing work I had to do lol.

I'll be on the lookup for a better bottom half of the backseat though. I was able to get all seats except for that one on the car with the well-kept interior, but found another i-30 that had a backseat without any tears...but you can tell it was on it's way there. Crappy looking leather just bugs me, I'd prefer cloth over it.

 

Glad you got it done. Maximas come pre-wired for all options. I have added stuff to my 98 GXE before and just used the factory wiring. Good job!

 

Glad you finally got it all working. Well worth it huh? lol if you don't mind me asking, how much did your seats cost you from the salvage yard?

 

The 2 front seats came to like 64, the top of the back seat was 26 (i think they charged me for the whole seat, but it was literally mint condition as if no one ever sat in the back so i didn't fuss too much) but had to find the bottom half of backseat from another yard for 14.

Awhile back there was a place that wanted 60 per seat (non of which matched my interior or in mint condition) to pull it themselves so I came out pretty good.

 

Hmmm...well the seats I got were from the I30 touring which was loaded. Heated seats also. Are you saying I can do side airbags and heated seat option?