RBS-C5
Active member
The top front of the black plastic trim piece on the left side of the driver’s seat on my 2003 Coupe kept popping loose from the seat frame. This resulted in an unsightly ½" gap between the trim and the leather seat cover.
The top front of the trim piece is held against the seat cover by a plastic finger that snaps into a hole in the seat frame. I could push the trim piece toward the seat and the finger would engage the hole and the ½" gap would be gone. But after a couple of exits from the car the gap would return.
I did some reading on the forums and discovered that this gap can result from a problem with the seat foam related to the bolsters on the left/right side of the seat. My 200 lbs of weight is largely all on the left bolster as I exit the Corvette and this causes the ¼" wide seat frame to cut into the seat foam that supports the bolster. The cut seat foam then slides down the frame thus causing a bulge on the left side of the seat. The pressure from this bulge is what tends to push the top of the trim piece away from the seat which results in the gap that was bugging me.
I purchased a "Corvette Seat Cushion Repair Kit: 1997-2013 C5, C6, Z06" (Corvette Seat Cushion Repair Kit : 1997-2013 C5,C6,Z06) from West Coast Corvettes for $30. The kit is for both C5 and C6 seats and consisted of 4 cut pieces of blue foam, some ballistic nylon cloth, a piece of jute padding, a handful of cable ties, and instructions. You can probably buy the parts yourself for less than $30, but I liked the convenience of the premade kit.
The instructions that came with the kit were "all right" but if you are going to attempt this repair yourself I definitely recommend these excellent instructions (Vette Essentials Full Custom Seat Cover Install) from Vette Essentials. The instructions are for a complete seat cover replacement, but the sections on seat remove/install and lower seat cushion remove/install are excellent and provided me with tips that really helped.
Below I’ll share some pictures and comments regarding my experience with the seat foam repair. I deviated somewhat from the instructions that came with the kit, and I’ll cover that below.
The first step is to remove the two black plastic "shoes" on the front of the seat rails. This shot shows the black plastic pins (sort of like rivets) that attach each shoe to its seat rail.
Slide the seat all the way back and it’s easy to get to the two front nuts.
Slide the seat all the way forward and it’s easy to get to the two rear nuts.
The Vette Essentials tip about propping up the front of the seat while I struggled with the electrical connector was helpful.
Despite the fairly detailed Vette Essentials instructions (step 17) on how to disconnect the electrical connector (I only had one connector) I struggled with getting the connector to disconnect. Typically on my projects if there is an electrical connector involved then I will have a hard time with it.
In the end I was unable to separate the connector while it was attached to the seat frame. I ended up squeezing the plastic finger that attached the connector to the frame and detaching the connector from the frame. Then I was finally able to get a firm grip on the two sides of the connection, push a small flat-blade screwdriver into the magic spot on the connector, and separate the male and female sides of the connector.
Now it was "cut the hog rings" time. I chose to cut my hog rings because the repair kit came with plastic cable ties to replace the hog rings. If you have hog ring pliers (I didn’t) then you may want to put the seat back together using hog rings. I used the cable ties.
The first hog ring I cut with side-cutters is shown above in the red circle.
With that hog ring cut you can lift the leather seat flap and see the knot in the seat cover drawstring. Untie the knot. DO NOT CUT THE DRAWSTRING!
Next I cut the hog rings shown above that attach the seat cover to the back cover (this is step 15 in the Vette Essentials instructions).
Then I cut the hog rings on the right side.
This view shows that I did not have a problem with the seat spring wires cutting into the foam. The kit came with ballistic nylon cloth to glue to the bottom of the seat foam to prevent the wires from cutting into the foam.
Next I removed the seat cushion and seat cover assembly from the seat frame. At this point you can separate them by pulling the seat bottom toward the front of the seat.
The rear of the seat foam has a curved section that fits over a horizontal piece of the seat frame. After I got my seat bottom out I discovered that the foam in this curved section was torn. I don’t know if it tore due to my pulling on the seat cushion to get it out, or if it tore over the years of use. At any rate, before you start pulling on the seat cushion assembly to get it off the seat frame you might want to help that curved rear foam over the horizontal frame piece to avoid tearing the foam or making an existing tear worse. I’ll have a picture of the tear in this area later.
The Vette Essentials instructions have you remove the seat cover from the seat cushion because they are planning on replacing the seat covers. DO NOT separate the seat cover from the seat foam (as shown in step 16). If you do, you will just have to put the seat cover back on the foam which is no big deal - you just have to get the Velcro attachment points stuck together.
This picture shows one of the small foam blocks that came with the kit. The block has been glued to the frame to help in supporting the bolster in that area. This shot is the front right of the seat frame.
Notice the two red arrows that point to the ¼" wide frame member that supports the bolster foam. Having a support that narrow often causes the frame member to cut into the foam below the bolster, especially the bolster on the door side of the seat where your weight is concentrated when you exit the car.
Here is the front left area of the seat frame. Another blue block of foam from the kit has been glued to the frame to aid in supporting the bolster foam.
The black shaft attaches to the seat recliner handle. For me, getting the recliner handle off that shaft and disconnecting the black electrical connector shown in the picture were the two hardest parts of this repair.
If I had to disconnect the recliner handle just using the instructions that came with the kit I would probably still be poking and prodding to no effect. The Vette Essentials instructions (step 10) were extremely helpful. In my case I tried to use the crochet needle method but that didn’t work for me so I ended up pushing the retainer clip down toward the shaft using a slim flat blade screwdriver.
Continued in the next post due to a restriction on no more than 12 images per post.
![Seat01a.jpg](http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j425/CustomCarArt/Forum%20Pictures/C5-Seat-Repair/Seat01a.jpg)
The top front of the trim piece is held against the seat cover by a plastic finger that snaps into a hole in the seat frame. I could push the trim piece toward the seat and the finger would engage the hole and the ½" gap would be gone. But after a couple of exits from the car the gap would return.
I did some reading on the forums and discovered that this gap can result from a problem with the seat foam related to the bolsters on the left/right side of the seat. My 200 lbs of weight is largely all on the left bolster as I exit the Corvette and this causes the ¼" wide seat frame to cut into the seat foam that supports the bolster. The cut seat foam then slides down the frame thus causing a bulge on the left side of the seat. The pressure from this bulge is what tends to push the top of the trim piece away from the seat which results in the gap that was bugging me.
I purchased a "Corvette Seat Cushion Repair Kit: 1997-2013 C5, C6, Z06" (Corvette Seat Cushion Repair Kit : 1997-2013 C5,C6,Z06) from West Coast Corvettes for $30. The kit is for both C5 and C6 seats and consisted of 4 cut pieces of blue foam, some ballistic nylon cloth, a piece of jute padding, a handful of cable ties, and instructions. You can probably buy the parts yourself for less than $30, but I liked the convenience of the premade kit.
The instructions that came with the kit were "all right" but if you are going to attempt this repair yourself I definitely recommend these excellent instructions (Vette Essentials Full Custom Seat Cover Install) from Vette Essentials. The instructions are for a complete seat cover replacement, but the sections on seat remove/install and lower seat cushion remove/install are excellent and provided me with tips that really helped.
Below I’ll share some pictures and comments regarding my experience with the seat foam repair. I deviated somewhat from the instructions that came with the kit, and I’ll cover that below.
![Seat01b.jpg](http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j425/CustomCarArt/Forum%20Pictures/C5-Seat-Repair/Seat01b.jpg)
The first step is to remove the two black plastic "shoes" on the front of the seat rails. This shot shows the black plastic pins (sort of like rivets) that attach each shoe to its seat rail.
![Seat02.jpg](http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j425/CustomCarArt/Forum%20Pictures/C5-Seat-Repair/Seat02.jpg)
Slide the seat all the way back and it’s easy to get to the two front nuts.
![Seat03.jpg](http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j425/CustomCarArt/Forum%20Pictures/C5-Seat-Repair/Seat03.jpg)
Slide the seat all the way forward and it’s easy to get to the two rear nuts.
![Seat04.jpg](http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j425/CustomCarArt/Forum%20Pictures/C5-Seat-Repair/Seat04.jpg)
The Vette Essentials tip about propping up the front of the seat while I struggled with the electrical connector was helpful.
Despite the fairly detailed Vette Essentials instructions (step 17) on how to disconnect the electrical connector (I only had one connector) I struggled with getting the connector to disconnect. Typically on my projects if there is an electrical connector involved then I will have a hard time with it.
In the end I was unable to separate the connector while it was attached to the seat frame. I ended up squeezing the plastic finger that attached the connector to the frame and detaching the connector from the frame. Then I was finally able to get a firm grip on the two sides of the connection, push a small flat-blade screwdriver into the magic spot on the connector, and separate the male and female sides of the connector.
![Seat05.jpg](http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j425/CustomCarArt/Forum%20Pictures/C5-Seat-Repair/Seat05.jpg)
Now it was "cut the hog rings" time. I chose to cut my hog rings because the repair kit came with plastic cable ties to replace the hog rings. If you have hog ring pliers (I didn’t) then you may want to put the seat back together using hog rings. I used the cable ties.
The first hog ring I cut with side-cutters is shown above in the red circle.
![Seat07.jpg](http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j425/CustomCarArt/Forum%20Pictures/C5-Seat-Repair/Seat07.jpg)
With that hog ring cut you can lift the leather seat flap and see the knot in the seat cover drawstring. Untie the knot. DO NOT CUT THE DRAWSTRING!
![Seat08.jpg](http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j425/CustomCarArt/Forum%20Pictures/C5-Seat-Repair/Seat08.jpg)
Next I cut the hog rings shown above that attach the seat cover to the back cover (this is step 15 in the Vette Essentials instructions).
![Seat09.jpg](http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j425/CustomCarArt/Forum%20Pictures/C5-Seat-Repair/Seat09.jpg)
Then I cut the hog rings on the right side.
![Seat10.jpg](http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j425/CustomCarArt/Forum%20Pictures/C5-Seat-Repair/Seat10.jpg)
This view shows that I did not have a problem with the seat spring wires cutting into the foam. The kit came with ballistic nylon cloth to glue to the bottom of the seat foam to prevent the wires from cutting into the foam.
Next I removed the seat cushion and seat cover assembly from the seat frame. At this point you can separate them by pulling the seat bottom toward the front of the seat.
The rear of the seat foam has a curved section that fits over a horizontal piece of the seat frame. After I got my seat bottom out I discovered that the foam in this curved section was torn. I don’t know if it tore due to my pulling on the seat cushion to get it out, or if it tore over the years of use. At any rate, before you start pulling on the seat cushion assembly to get it off the seat frame you might want to help that curved rear foam over the horizontal frame piece to avoid tearing the foam or making an existing tear worse. I’ll have a picture of the tear in this area later.
The Vette Essentials instructions have you remove the seat cover from the seat cushion because they are planning on replacing the seat covers. DO NOT separate the seat cover from the seat foam (as shown in step 16). If you do, you will just have to put the seat cover back on the foam which is no big deal - you just have to get the Velcro attachment points stuck together.
![Seat11a.jpg](http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j425/CustomCarArt/Forum%20Pictures/C5-Seat-Repair/Seat11a.jpg)
This picture shows one of the small foam blocks that came with the kit. The block has been glued to the frame to help in supporting the bolster in that area. This shot is the front right of the seat frame.
Notice the two red arrows that point to the ¼" wide frame member that supports the bolster foam. Having a support that narrow often causes the frame member to cut into the foam below the bolster, especially the bolster on the door side of the seat where your weight is concentrated when you exit the car.
![Seat11b.jpg](http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j425/CustomCarArt/Forum%20Pictures/C5-Seat-Repair/Seat11b.jpg)
Here is the front left area of the seat frame. Another blue block of foam from the kit has been glued to the frame to aid in supporting the bolster foam.
The black shaft attaches to the seat recliner handle. For me, getting the recliner handle off that shaft and disconnecting the black electrical connector shown in the picture were the two hardest parts of this repair.
If I had to disconnect the recliner handle just using the instructions that came with the kit I would probably still be poking and prodding to no effect. The Vette Essentials instructions (step 10) were extremely helpful. In my case I tried to use the crochet needle method but that didn’t work for me so I ended up pushing the retainer clip down toward the shaft using a slim flat blade screwdriver.
Continued in the next post due to a restriction on no more than 12 images per post.