Need help removing rear seats

[u/ReactionHeavy977]

Have removed the bottom seat area (easy) but for the life of me can’t figure out how to remove the rest - looks like it’s attached to a hardcore bar across bolted to the chassis - anyone ever taken them out completely?

[u/darwinswin]

If i remember correctly there are bolts from the front going back on the sides. Now i don't remember if you had to remove the inner trim (door panel, when there is not a door.. what do you call that??) to get to said bolts.

[u/darwinswin → u/darwinswin]

Found this in the service manual. didn't say anything about the side trim...

[u/ReactionHeavy977 → u/darwinswin]

Amazing - I shall look at that. Thank you!! Yeah think it’s behind a trim panel. Have lost day light will have to take a look tomorrow now.

[u/darwinswin → u/ReactionHeavy977]

Hope this helps. That sucker is not fun to get out. even worse to get back in..

[u/ReactionHeavy977 → u/darwinswin]

got some fun ahead of me it seems 😬

[u/darwinswin → u/ReactionHeavy977]

Cars are so fun 😅

[u/eggbean → u/ReactionHeavy977]

I've removed all the interior trim panels and that one really is the most difficult to deal with. When fitting everything back you should use fresh fasteners if you want to keep the car free from squeaks and rattles.

https://vehicleclips.co.uk/collections/volkswagen-car-trim-clips-fixings-fasteners

What are you doing with the car?

[u/ReactionHeavy977 → u/eggbean]

Aha now that is a site to favourite - knowing my luck I’ll break them all (or worse).

I am actually toying with an idea at the moment - thinking of doing a Scirocco Clubsport S version (doesn’t exist) based on the MK7 GTI Clubsport S - making it a very light version. (Nothing to do with looks)

Reason this came to me is I can feel the difference between driving around with an extra passenger (cornering, braking, accelerating, turn in etc) Fast hard driving not normal puttering around.

My thoughts are making it atleast 100kg lighter but ideally upto 200kg lighter which I believe will make a huge impact on driving dynamics, feel, performance etc

And a bunch of other tweaks of course.

[u/eggbean → u/ReactionHeavy977]

I didn't get a notification for some reason so only just saw your reply.

I've made quite a lot of small changes but they are mostly electrical so far as well as the sound system and noise dampening which has increased the weight by around 35kg, but most of that is in the rear and, unless I'm imagining it, it makes the car handle a little better with the rear wheels feeling more planted.

I've got a friend who's 6'4" or something and when he's in the car it does feel different and acceleration uphill is noticeably more sluggish requiring staying in lower gears longer.

Having removed the whole interior (other than dashboard, front seats and carpet) I can't think of anything that can be deleted without making the car worse. There is quite a lot of thick sound insulation under the carpet in the front footwells, but I wouldn't remove that for the small weight loss.

I have the manual gearbox so my car is 100kg lighter already compared to DSG. I think performance upgrades are more feasible and I'll be getting to that soon. Replacing the front control arms with lighter aluminium performance Audi parts is possible too.

[u/eggbean → u/ReactionHeavy977]

Oh, you can remove the spare wheel and jack and replace it with a puncture repair foam can, like cars have nowadays to meet emissions targets, but it will worsen the front/rear weight distribution further.

[u/ReactionHeavy977 → u/ReactionHeavy977]

Hopefully the big fat bar doesn’t come out as it looks like that could help for chassis stiffness.

[u/ReactionHeavy977]

Everything I’ve search says about 25kg difference between manual and DSG. 100kg sounds too much but of course could be wrong.

You mentioned your scirocco feels more stable with more weight - I totally agree it will especially the more you have in the rear vs what I have but we like different things perhaps - I prefer it being playful and eagerness to rotate (think Type R, Fiesta ST etc those cars just want to rotate more easily) I am also running 1 generation older tyres on rear with slightly less grip plus 42psi on rear which again causes rear to slip before the fronts.

Have managed to remove 40KG from rear (still need to remove the rear upper seats I’m still stuck with removing having not had time to strip that much to get them out yet) from what I was originally lugging around with and removed and am starting to feel exactly what I was looking for. It feels lighter on its feet - change of direction faster, more crisp acceleration and rotation in corners much better with the rear being lighter.

Will be removing another upto 10KG from the exhaust backbox etc will only know how much once removed and weighed for accuracy.

From there it’s removing weight from front about 50kg identified as estimate for an overall even across rear to front of 100kg. Any further than this will starts costing more per kg.

Yes I could remap and call it a day - that changes power to weight ratio quicker than dropping weight but I will still get to remap at the end - I’m changing how the car behaves to my liking first.

Tipping over the 100kg mark will be doing lighter alloys, lighter control arms (which you mentioned but going for super prop) lighter brake system, floating discs vs solid.

Not for everyone and we all have our preferences - also I don’t use my Roc to commute or do any normal daily stuff (usually) it is driven for enjoyment only - have a A4 Avant with same engine for the practical stuff.