I have an 2002 A4 coupe and my drivers seat plastic side(towards the door) is broken.. I bought this vette from a body builder so I'm guessing him getting in and out put too much pressure on this part and its just hanging there... The controls still work and all but its just ugly to see it hanging out when you open the car. BTW, you can just snap it in place becasue the plastic pieces broke that holds it together. I'm going to replace the leathers in the seats anyway so my question is,,, Can a upholstery shop fix this or do I have to take it to the dealer? Or better yet whats the best way to fix my problem? Also, any really good suggestions on who i should by the leathers from? I heard some are better than others.

 

As far as the replacement plastic piece goes. They can be bought at Corvette Central, Mid America, Eckler's, or any other Corvette specialty place.
I got my seat leathers at Mid America.

 

What is that plastic side piece called????

 

Can't find the nomenclature for this, but it's a common failure item. I've had two C5s, and both had some issue with the bezel around the seat adjuster. For the 1999 coupe, it could be snapped back in and would stay, but for the 2002 convertible, the upholstery shop glued it back together and put it back on. And it still doesn't stay.

I got a replacement from a dismantler, but haven't felt like taking the seat out to change it. It's plastic, and comes up too close to the seat surface height, so you just have to be a little careless to break the thing. Bit of a design flaw. My upholstery guy added a bit of foam to the outside bolster to give it more protection, but it's still a bit loose. Couldn't find them in the catalogs - I'd love to see a reference, as I'm sure I'll need another one eventually. Options were from a dismantler, or from the dealer. They aren't even on the gmpartshouse.com web catalog, though I'm sure Gene could get them.

Be careful of the seam where the seat back bolsters come together, about shoulder level. That's a natural place to put your hand getting into and out of the car, and the seam pulls apart. Mine happened at about 35k miles. Just a bad place for a seam - my Shelby is 40 years old, and still has the original seat covers on it with no repairs. One piece bolster there, though.

 

Seat adjustment bezel.
Mid America part # 618-494
1-800-500-1500 or www.mamotorworks.com/corvette

 

A Chevy dealer in Fenton, MO on the famous auction site has them for $11.00 plus shipping.