or back and forth, I was on the Amazon site buying my spacers (cheap) and I was surprised to see many other cars (and trucks) had the same issue including BMW ?? they all use the basic same seat adjuster, so it's more a supplier than a GM issue ?? wonder why they all didn't go after the supplier or they did and pocketed the money ??

 

I promise you they went after the manufacturer and beat the living monetary crap out of them for reduced costs and more profit looking forward.

Ya, speaking from experience.

 

Cars are profit instruments for the manufacturers. There are not in the business to make a car last. It like marriage, your thrilled at the buy in but later not with the maintenance.

 

This is a typical statement from a clueless person. todays cars are ten times better tha they were just 50 years ago. 50 years ago Motors were designed to last 60,000 miles, and infact 60,000 miles was the point you never wanted to reach before trading in or selling a car since they lost 95% of their value once that thresh hold was met
IN the seventies engine design benchmarks were raised to 100,000 miles.
The C5 was the first car in the industry to incorporate a 200,000 mile certified motor. there are hundreds of C5 on this forum that look and run as well as New. My car is an example of a quality car. with over 100,000 miles and still get people asking me if it is New. Yes Not the most Corvette knowledgeable people at times , but their comments are real. People who say Cars are designed to fail are pathetic... If some one holds on toa car like a C5 and puts two or three hundred thousand miles or in many cases 400,000 miles on their 20 year old car and bitches because something wears out is a clueless sniveling cry baby

Just my thoughts
Bill aka ET.

 

:agree:

The seat fix is a simple washer replacement - nothing to drive an opinion that the C5 is not a great engineering feat!

 

indeed,
i spent a whole 25 bucks to fix my sliding seat, a must do.
yep, this car is a flipping genius. still learning about it. 99 vert.

 

Bought my nylon washers from Ace Hardware, sanded them to fit perfectly, did both seats for under $4.

I have no clue why people buy kits...

http://www.lieblweb.com/c5seatfix.html

Here's what I found when I pulled my seats apart and the car had less than 5k on it.

 

Love your analogy on the marriage/maintenance thing ! Maintenance is just a part of keeping them in great shape and to protect your investment. My '99 6m vert is probably the all around best performance car buy, meaning bang for the buck and driving enjoyment purchase that I've made in a pretty long string of performance cars. I'm still chuckling on the marriage comment, thanks for the early morning humour! Have a good one!

 

Bill, agree, I am clueless when it comes to design and the mechanics of automobiles. And correct that autos made 50 years ago (like just about everything else) are better now. But if you look back at the production years of the C5, you will see a much lower reliability result for American made cars vs. many of their foreign manufacturers. I suspect the lower reliability result has to do with quality of materials used for the wear and longevity acceptance levels along with a poor quality control by the parts manufacturers.

 

Well when I pulled the seat out I saw a bunch of white plastic pieces on the floor of the car. seat adjuster clevis shattered (plastic) would have been nice for a few more dollars to be metal ??? AND I DON'T NEED A LECTURE OF COST MEASURES !!!!!!!

 

Lecture, lecture, lecture...

 

 

BMW's and Porsches from the 1990's do _not_ hold up better than a C5. Nor does a Supra, RX-7 or most of the other Japanese halo cars up to an S2000 which honestly is still not as reliable, the engine is much touchier than an LS. Toyotas do not achieve reliability through high quality build standards and materials, they achieve it by sacrificing literally everything else.

Your econobox has a detuned engine running at roughly 80-90%. All of the parts are designed to be cheap and not break, but their interiors weren't much better than anyone else's. I actually bought a Toyota Prius a few years back for a reliable daily. It wasn't, there was always something wrong with the car, and that something was always expensive. Since I bought that car just to be reliable and cheap I was furious with it after a few years, and I take some satisfaction in the fact that its mystery oil consumption problem lead to the motor blowing. It's kind of great to be the crazy shop chick who hated her Prius so much she killed it, which is how I choose to view that sequence of events!

Going back to the original point, it's normal to have to pick up replacement parts for a car overtime, hence Bill's frankly understandable reaction as someone with a professional investment in the car. If you think that an import from the era you're talking about would hold up better than a C5, shop around and get an idea what you'd actually be dealing with. In the import market, the 1990's were the heyday of overdone turbo systems, trust me, it's not fun to try to keep those engines running.

If you like the stock seats, replace the spacers. I think I'd like to move to some Recaro seats within the next year personally. I have sport seats in my car, they're comfy, but I definitely need something that provides more support for driving.

 

Reality is metal instead of plastic would have cost GM less than $1 per car. And that includes all plastic parts in both seats.

 

if I had a metal lathe I could make one in about a hour !! had to order one from Vettenuts and it might be on back order, I don't have any more time, leaving next Mon. and still need a good day to test drive my car. I cobbled it together for now !!!





the great news is my foam is in great condition as well as my leather !!!

 

LESS than a dollar ? CLUELESS... changing the color of plastic parts for 7 pieces cost 7 cents, or 49 cents a copy. to say the cost of metal vs. plastic would less than a dollar is simply wrong. Cost of a small plastic latch( cost to manufacture ) is ten cents, ( because in most cases it's injection molded where 16 can be made in a 30 second cycle. the cost to manufacture it in metal ( requires machine time, and process time and finish time and then a protective coating, chrome, or another corrosive protectant.. cost to manufacture a single metal latch is 1500% more.. plastic part=10 cents
metal part 1.50

Adding metal would have added several hundred pounds and over 1000 dollars and way out of the designed budget. Intake manifold ( glass filled Nylon, sand cast molded cost to manufacture 18 dollars and 50 % lighter than aluminum. "1 plastic item" cost savings 15 dollars and 15 lbs lighter. This is the reality...

Radiator with plastic expansion chambers. 5 % lighter than all metal, and 5 % cheaper to manufacture.

But then " JUST FOR THE CLUELSS "... plastic was the only choice because if its specific gravity... The whole idea in the process of building a car like the C5 and have it pass the gas guzzler tax threshold was the most aggressive focus in design ( Every push from Dave was to make it lighter") again for the clueless who spout things like it would have only cost GM a dollar to go from plastic to metal.. is just pathetic...This is the reason why I always say.. "Be Very careful who you listen too here"..

People who know nothing about automotive design or manufacturing should not open their mouth about things they know nothing about.

Bill aka ET


I know a few things because I have seen a few things.

 

Bill you don't like me and I don't like you, I have stayed away from you as much as I can, asked for no lectures, I don't care what you have to say. Do us both a favor and stay away from me !!!

 

I don't post much but I read a lot. I came to this thread because the seats in my C5 are doing the rocking thing and I wanted to read about the proper fix for it....and AGAIN I have to read posts from a fellow vette owner calling the rest of us "clueless", "pathetic", "stupid" and whatever else comes to mind in this thread as well as various past threads. No wonder I don't post more with that attitude of non-comaraderie on the C5 forum, after all, we all love the car!!! Shouldn't we respect each other's various levels of expertise and offer a helping hand without the put downs? I'm sure there's a more eloquent way to get a point across without all the name calling. Yes, I'm learning, but I don't consider myself pathetic or clueless in any way.

 

50 and 60 years ago most cars didn't last much beyond 50K. Many people traded for a new car every year to avoid mechanical problems and to get the most trade-in value. A car with 50K + sold for very small money because most people knew that it was a problem in the waiting. This was good for the car companies because it meant more production which was more profit. There was no incentive for them to build a better vehicle because they owned the market. Then along came the Japanese cars that were well built and were good for 100K or better with proper maintenance. Their fit and finish was also better than American cars. When the American manufacturers started to lose market they had to improve the quality and today we have reasonably well built vehicles. The underlying idea of manufacturing is that to stay in business and for acceptable profit you have to make and sell new products all the time. Most products can be built to last many years with out replacing or major repairs but that item's cost would be astronomical and people would put off buying a new one. That means less profit for the company. Products are made to last just long enough that people feel they have received acceptable quality for their money. There are no altruistic ideals involved in manufacturing longer lasting products, just enough quality to make the consumer believe they are getting a good product and not purchase a rival's product.

 

The real reason cars are lasting longer is because of the efficacy of the computer controlled engines and the great oil of today, no more carburetors flooding the oil pans with gas and sparks plugs lasting 12,000 miles or so. of course the roller lifters and rockers and modern upgrades of the engine help also !!