Rear headrest installation...can I do it?

[CrimsonBrian]

Hey guys,
I would like to pop some rear headrests into my 1995 525. I know that Bruno's site has instructions on how to do this, but I was curious if anyone had any actual experience with it. Was it really hard? Expensive? Could someone with a moderate to light amount of mechanical ability do it? It sounds like a fun weekend project and one that would really benefit those who ride in the back of my car. Currently, they just sit there like bobble-heads... Thanks guys!

Brian

[myles]

I just did it on my car. It was easy, but did take a couple of hours. The only part that made me nervous was cutting holes in the top of the leather seat back. It is most important that you take your time and get it exactly right the first time. The end result is great.

[Alan_525i]

I did it. You can too. Its not that tough. Just take your time with the cutting like others have said.

[CrimsonBrian]

Fantastic info, guys! Did you just follow the procedure on Bruno's site or did you have some other instructional info? Also, do you guys have any pictures of the finished result? And finally, should I buy the headrests new or from a salvage yard? Thanks for answering all my headrest-newbie questions!

Brian

[myles]

I bought mine on ebay and they came from a dismantler in the UK, they just needed a bit of leather cleaner to make them perfect. I don't have a photo, but it looks like it was made like that in the factory. I didn't use the procedure on Bruno's site, but it looks accurate having done it.

[Patrick]

I copied this from www.535i.com -I haven't done it yet but maybe you'll find it helpful. Post pics for us when you're done.

Adding Rear Headrests

My rear headrests, installed and elevated one notch (adjustable)
I originally got this from a message posted on The BMW Forum and have successfully installed rear headrests with his information. NOTE: The part numbers listed here were for TAN COLOR parts. If you need black or grey the PN's are DIFFERENT from BMW. Ask your parts person to verify the color you need to be sure you get the right part. I learned the hard way! The only E34's to offer the rear headrests in the US were a limited Olympic Edition 525i in 1995 and the E34 ///M5. Thanks to the post-er of these instructions! Here goes:

The head rests are identical to the ones you’ll see in the E34-M5 version. They look very nice. The installation took 2.5 hours and I took my time (**took me 4 hours, problems aligning brackets -Jeff). I cleaned and conditioned the back seat and back rest while they were out of the car. I also added the vinyil/plastic protectant before installation in the car. This way, there would not be any overspray of chemicals.

The part numbers are:

5220-8-168-591: This is the actual leather head rest. It comes with the metal post (which is a flat chrome metal piece, approx. 2.5” by 3/16” cross-section) and the plastic cover to cover the metal post (I’ll call this cover as part “X”).
5220-8-116-436: This is the plastic piece that covers the holes you have to make (to pass the metal post from the head rest). The color of this plastic should match with the rest of the car.
5220-8-102-717 and -718: This is the metal bracket (they call it 8-guide left and 8-guide right) that gets installed behind the rear back seat. This bracket is installed to the flat metal panel that is part of the car by 3 metal screws. When you look at the car metal panel, you’ll see two holes which are already threaded. The third one is “indented” and you must punch it out and add a threaded clip. If you are not clear on how this clip looks, take a look at the Bentley book for the 5-series, page 510-5. If you look at the picture, to the left of item 8 and just below/left of item 9, there is one of these clips. You gotta get one of those for each bracket. When you remove the rear back rest, you’ll see it. Picture is worth a million words in this case.

Anyway, that is all! You need 3 parts. If you must purchase everything from BMW, the clip (I believe) is p/n 07-12-9-925-735, the metal screws are p/n 07-11-9-916-939. I got them all from this garage because I did not even know how many parts were needed.

This is what it cost:

Headrest, 5220-8-168-591, $204 for both
Cover, 5220-8-116-436, $15.90 for both
8-guide left, 5220-8-102-717, $31.75, for left side bracket
8-guide right, 5220-8-102-718, $31.75, for right side bracket
Screws, 07-11-9-916-939, $0.48 for all six
Clamp (this is the threaded clip), 07-12-9-925-735, $0.16 for both

Installation:

Remove the seat. The seat has two spring clamps holding it. Pull up from the front of the seat. Pull hard. Slide out the seat and you will see the battery there. You’ll also find the BMW alarm there.

To remove the back seat, you gotta remove 4 (10 mm) bolts. Two bolts can be found behind the armrest. These are the metal nex nuts. The other bolts are one at each side of the back seat. You will see these small plastic nuts. Remove the two large (18 mm) nuts that are holding the seat belts to the floor pan. Pay attention how they are mounted. Note that there is a belleville washer between the seat belts at each bolt.

Remove the back seat. Each side has a spring clamp. Pull out at each side of the rear back seat. Now, pull out the seat belt plastic cover on top of the back rest. The center of the back seat has a small metal clamp. You have to pull UP the back seat in order to unhook this center metal clamp.

Now that the back seat is out, you will see how the brackets are installed. To expose where the bracket is going to be mounted, remove the rubber padding pattern and expose the holes.

You can place the 8-guide left bracket behind the rear back seat and use a marker to mark where the holes should go. Now, place a screw driver from behind and try to puncture through the leather from behind. Just push enough to leave an indentation. With the indentation, you can then mark with a marker from above. Get a knife and start cutting the leather. I used a clip (similar to a plier but used to cut wires).

Install the metal brackets on the car. Place the back seat in the car. Note how the bracket and the hole you made fit. You can make the adjustments with the back seat installed. Place the plastic cover (the second part number in the list). Turn the plastic screws 90 degrees to match with the plastic clip in the head rest.

Insert the head rest sliding post through the leather, and through the bracket. Jam it all the way in. The little plastic clips will connect with the plastic cover and you will not see the metal sliding part any more.

Replace the 10 mm bolts to hold the back rest, the 18 mm to hold the seat belts, the plastic covers on the seat belts, and the bottom seat cushion. You're done!

[CrimsonBrian]

Thanks for the info guys. I'm going to let my car thaw a little (its currently under a bazillion inches of snow) but I will definitely post pics when I am finished. Thanks!

Brian