To you guys who have done this on coupes, did you remove the rear seat bottoms? I can't seem to get the rear side panel to come out unless I remove the rear seat bottoms. The service manual just says pull up and out, but they don't want to budge. Any advice on running the cable through the rear seat area would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

I did not remove the rear seat bottoms. I leaned them forward, and then the side panels were relatively easy to get out. The first time I took them out, I had to use a good bit of force, but after that, it was no problem. A lot of panels in the car are like that.

However, if you do want to remove the rear seat bottoms, here is a good DIY. It's for a 2003, but it should work pretty close on our 2005-2006 models.

I will be doing that eventually, to lay a bit more dynamat below the rear seats.

Dave

 

Hmm, what do you mean by leaned them forward? If I grab the side closest to the side panel, it's pretty secure. When I look down the inside of the side panel, there are some large styrofoam-looking pieces attached to the panel down near the level of the seat cusion, so it would appear that i would need to move it out towards the seats a few inches before it would lift out and up.

From the looks of the DIY, there really just are those two clips holding the seats in... I guess I just need to tug REALLY hard. It just feels like I'm going to damage the seat frame.

 

Just lean forward as if you needed to put a pair of skis in the trunk. You know, pop the handle in the trunk on the drivers side, and the rear seats lean forward...

Those styrofoam pieces are a PITA, but you can get the side panels out without removing the seats. I guarantee it, since that's how I did it. And without damaging anything, either.

Dave

 

Man, I had to pull the **** out of those seats to get them to pop out! Holy geebus. But all is well now.

 

After reading this, I too ran myself some power wire to the rear. Not all that difficult. I didn't pop the seat bottom out, but I kinda wished I did.

I only partially pulled off the rear side panel but in doing so, one of the plastic rivets slipped out of it's slot in the panel but is still stuck to frame of the car and I don't have a rivet popper. Now after putting it back together, the top of the panel won't sit flush with the other panels. I'll have to go back next weekend and rectify this. Oh well.

Overall though, running the power wire isn't all that hard.