Quick easy seat fix mod
Drifting
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 1,258
Likes: 66
From: San Luis Obispo, California
After seeing my seat back frame (I inserted extra foam into the side bolsters), I'll bet the seat bottom frame rails need fattening under their side bolster foam to prevent cutting.
Thinking I'll either insert 1/4" high-density foam in there, or cover the frame rails with a plastic, 1/4" door-edge gaurd strip.
For the cables under the seat bottom, think I'll get 3/16" wide tubing from the hardware store, cut the pieces lengthwise, & put them around each of those seat bottom wires. That should keep the sag, but prevent the foam being cut. Will let y'all know how it goes.
Thinking I'll either insert 1/4" high-density foam in there, or cover the frame rails with a plastic, 1/4" door-edge gaurd strip.
For the cables under the seat bottom, think I'll get 3/16" wide tubing from the hardware store, cut the pieces lengthwise, & put them around each of those seat bottom wires. That should keep the sag, but prevent the foam being cut. Will let y'all know how it goes.
Drifting
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 1,825
Likes: 443
From: Boca Raton Florida
I had my driver's seat out to put in the race seat a couple weeks ago and happened to look at the bottom side. I was kinda shocked at the construction and how easy it was to go to pieces when the wire slices it's way through the foam.
Here's the before pics and you can see where the wire is cutting into the foam.
I'm only 175# naked (no pics) and the car has 104K miles, but I suspect drivers of a larger size would have even more damage and probably in less miles. It seemed that something kinda flexible, yet tough enough not to be cut by the wires needed to be inserted. I ended up buying a 13x18 dinner placemat I found at Bed, Bath, & Beyond. It is flexible plastic on one side and backed with a dense foam for a total of 3/32" thick. Just for fun, I picked red to match my car.
I cut it in half, thinking I'd need one on the passenger seat. When I flipped that seat over to inspect for damage, this is what I found. It was now a question of why was it missing on the driver's seat.
Here's the pics after the install of the half placemat.
Pretty simple and cheap cure for the sagging seat problem. The best part was that the barrier is flexible enough that it didn't require any disassembly of the seat to install. I just folded it in half, then slipped it in from the front, and rotated it sideways between the foam and wires. Smaller hands than mine would make it easier.
Here's the before pics and you can see where the wire is cutting into the foam.
I'm only 175# naked (no pics) and the car has 104K miles, but I suspect drivers of a larger size would have even more damage and probably in less miles. It seemed that something kinda flexible, yet tough enough not to be cut by the wires needed to be inserted. I ended up buying a 13x18 dinner placemat I found at Bed, Bath, & Beyond. It is flexible plastic on one side and backed with a dense foam for a total of 3/32" thick. Just for fun, I picked red to match my car.
I cut it in half, thinking I'd need one on the passenger seat. When I flipped that seat over to inspect for damage, this is what I found. It was now a question of why was it missing on the driver's seat.
Here's the pics after the install of the half placemat.
Pretty simple and cheap cure for the sagging seat problem. The best part was that the barrier is flexible enough that it didn't require any disassembly of the seat to install. I just folded it in half, then slipped it in from the front, and rotated it sideways between the foam and wires. Smaller hands than mine would make it easier.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 2,226
Likes: 1,029
From: Thomas Texas
The Seat Repair Kit was designed and manufactured by "Mez" is available from various forum vendors including JW Motoring, West Coast Corvette, and Corvette Central. It is also being sold on eBay.
Mez was permenantly banned from the forum over a year ago for posting information about his shifter bushing kit he made that is also being sold by various vendors on the forum.
The Seat Repair Kit has been available for about 3 years and I was an early buyer. It is very simple yet effective repair for the poorly designed seats. My seat has remained firm and totally comfortable since then.
Sometime around 2010 GM put a pressure sensor system under the passengers seat foam bottom to determine the weight of the passengers so they could regulate the force of the airbag in case of a front end collision. To keep the center wires from cutting into it, they added the jute you see in the photo. No such mod was done to the driver's seat, however.
Mez was permenantly banned from the forum over a year ago for posting information about his shifter bushing kit he made that is also being sold by various vendors on the forum.
The Seat Repair Kit has been available for about 3 years and I was an early buyer. It is very simple yet effective repair for the poorly designed seats. My seat has remained firm and totally comfortable since then.
Sometime around 2010 GM put a pressure sensor system under the passengers seat foam bottom to determine the weight of the passengers so they could regulate the force of the airbag in case of a front end collision. To keep the center wires from cutting into it, they added the jute you see in the photo. No such mod was done to the driver's seat, however.
Last edited by RussM05; Jan 8, 2013 at 07:33 PM.
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 16,557
Likes: 2,108
From: Peoria/Phoenix AZ
C6 of Year Finalist (performance mods) 2019
The Seat Repair Kit was designed and manufactured by "Mez" is available from various forum vendors including JW Motoring, West Coast Corvette, and Corvette Central. It is also being sold on eBay.
Mez was permenantly banned from the forum over a year ago for posting information about his shifter bushing kit he made that is also being sold by various vendors on the forum.
The Seat Repair Kit has been available for about 3 years and I was an early buyer. It is very simple yet effective repair for the poorly designed seats. My seat has remained firm and totally comfortable since then.
Sometime around 2010 GM put a pressure sensor system under the passengers seat foam bottom to determine the weight of the passengers so they could regulate the force of the airbag in case of a front end collision. To keep the center wires from cutting into it, they added the jute you see in the photo. No such mod was done to the driver's seat, however.
Mez was permenantly banned from the forum over a year ago for posting information about his shifter bushing kit he made that is also being sold by various vendors on the forum.
The Seat Repair Kit has been available for about 3 years and I was an early buyer. It is very simple yet effective repair for the poorly designed seats. My seat has remained firm and totally comfortable since then.
Sometime around 2010 GM put a pressure sensor system under the passengers seat foam bottom to determine the weight of the passengers so they could regulate the force of the airbag in case of a front end collision. To keep the center wires from cutting into it, they added the jute you see in the photo. No such mod was done to the driver's seat, however.
The pic of the passenger seat is of an '08 with jute. Maybe someone with an '05 can check theirs to see if the jute is in all C6s.
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 25,025
Likes: 2,716
From: Far NW 'burbs of Chicago
St. Jude Donor '13
Will be interesting to see if that is correct or not.
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Burning Brakes
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 968
Likes: 8
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 2,226
Likes: 1,029
From: Thomas Texas
The Seat Repair Kit fixes 2 problems.
1. Over time, the center wires cutting into the OEM foam causing the area in the middle to sag and pinch your hips. The seat looks baggy and wrinkles develop, too. The ballistic nylon effectively repairs the cuts and the jute firms up the center of the seat making it much more comfortable.
2. The bottom side bolsters sit on the seat frame and are cut by the frame. This causes the bolster to drop down between the center support wires and the seat frame. This is why the bolsters look flat. Also, they don't hold your hips in place around corners. The seat repair kit adds high density foam under the bolsters which pushes them back to their original positions and keeps the OEM foam off the seat frame. The only way to fix the bolsters is to remove the seat, remove the bottom cushion, and glue the new blocks of foam to the bottom of the OEM seat foam as show by JW Motoring photo.
1. Over time, the center wires cutting into the OEM foam causing the area in the middle to sag and pinch your hips. The seat looks baggy and wrinkles develop, too. The ballistic nylon effectively repairs the cuts and the jute firms up the center of the seat making it much more comfortable.
2. The bottom side bolsters sit on the seat frame and are cut by the frame. This causes the bolster to drop down between the center support wires and the seat frame. This is why the bolsters look flat. Also, they don't hold your hips in place around corners. The seat repair kit adds high density foam under the bolsters which pushes them back to their original positions and keeps the OEM foam off the seat frame. The only way to fix the bolsters is to remove the seat, remove the bottom cushion, and glue the new blocks of foam to the bottom of the OEM seat foam as show by JW Motoring photo.
Racer
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 436
Likes: 0
I used the seat kit to bulk up both of my seats while I was adding the lumbar supports and a power seat track on the passenger side. No problems with the seat heaters. I installed the jute pads under both pieces of foam although the passenger side was a little tighter since it already had some jute installed. You can see the difference between the two seat just by looking at the leather seat bottom. Driver's side isn't any where near as taut. My wife commented the seat felt firmer to her and much more comfortable. Previously, we had made a couple long trips and she said it felt like she was sitting on the springs even though the passenger seat is rarely used.
Bill
Bill