I'm the 3rd owner of my Mini and I'm need to clean the interior and was wondering about the seat materials. Mine are either leather or leatherette, is there a way to tell the two apart? I've read that they need to be cleaned in different ways and didn't want to mess them up.

Also I was trying to remove the rear seats and the drivers side rear seat wouldn't come out. The instructions from the service manual said to tilt it forward 45 degrees and it should come out. I think the pin in the rod or some other part must be messed up. The rear passenger side seat comes out just fine . Has anyone else seen this before?

Thanks!

 

Easiest way to tell is look for the lumbar adjustment **** on the inside of the seats (located at the lower portion of the seatback on the side between the seats). If there is a **** there that adjusts the lumbar support, you have leather.

As for the rear seat backs, that's correct. Once they are unbolted, you need to tilt the backs about 45 degrees and the pin that in the plastic panel will become free. If you don't tilt it, it won't come out. Just tilt it, and gently pull and wiggle it out if there are problems. Sometimes the plastic holder in the panel gets loose and hangs on to the pin in the seat.

The rear seat bench just pops out..there are metal spring clips that hold it in place.

Richard