Joined
·
210 Posts
OK, I got the drivers seat bolster repaired by the dealer in my '09 C6 Z51 base model. As I wrote in another thread, this seems to be a too common problem with the Corvette seats. The bolster cover cuts and tears in a short time in certain cars. I believe it is common in base model cars that do not have the "easy entry" feature and with drivers who are average to small stature and slender because they tend to leave the seat in a forward position and when entering or exiting the car, your butt will rub against the bolster causing the fiberglass seat shell to cut the upholstery.
Larger or heavier drivers or those with the easy entry feature might not experience this problem because their seat is all the way back when they enter or exit the car.
Anyway, the problem is not with the drivers. After all there are huge numbers of cars with the same situation and their seats never wear holes or cuts into the bolster cover.
The base model C6 Corvette has a big design flaw and rather low quality build. If you just had your seat repaired because of this, or if you want to prevent this from happening, you might want to do this simple and inexpensive modification. It's not guaranteed to prevent the problem, but it will probably help a lot.
First tilt the seatback forward and adjust the seat for easier access to the back of the seat. Then look for the zippers that run up and down along both sides of the seat back. You need to unzip the side closest to the door so you can access the seat shell, padding and cover. Here you can see the "cutting edge" (pun intended) technology that GM uses to made this seat.
The edge where the tip of the screw driver points and the red arrow that I painted there is the edge that appears to cut through the padding and soon after, the bolster cover. Obviously, some edge protection is in order...
I went to Autozone and scored this piece of 5/16" hose for about $1.75
I cut a piece about 7" long. Since it is to cover the convex edge, I cut it along the inside diameter.
Then I cut 2 shorter pieces about 4" long and cut them along the outside diameter so they would best fit the concave curve of the shell above the "cutting edge"
Then I placed them first over the cutting edge and the above and push them them and pull them until they were where I wanted them.
Now make sure everything is where and how you want it and zip up (down actually) the seat back cover and you are basically done. here is the finished product.
This is the "before" picture with the torn bolster
Larger or heavier drivers or those with the easy entry feature might not experience this problem because their seat is all the way back when they enter or exit the car.
Anyway, the problem is not with the drivers. After all there are huge numbers of cars with the same situation and their seats never wear holes or cuts into the bolster cover.
The base model C6 Corvette has a big design flaw and rather low quality build. If you just had your seat repaired because of this, or if you want to prevent this from happening, you might want to do this simple and inexpensive modification. It's not guaranteed to prevent the problem, but it will probably help a lot.
First tilt the seatback forward and adjust the seat for easier access to the back of the seat. Then look for the zippers that run up and down along both sides of the seat back. You need to unzip the side closest to the door so you can access the seat shell, padding and cover. Here you can see the "cutting edge" (pun intended) technology that GM uses to made this seat.
The edge where the tip of the screw driver points and the red arrow that I painted there is the edge that appears to cut through the padding and soon after, the bolster cover. Obviously, some edge protection is in order...
I went to Autozone and scored this piece of 5/16" hose for about $1.75
I cut a piece about 7" long. Since it is to cover the convex edge, I cut it along the inside diameter.
Then I cut 2 shorter pieces about 4" long and cut them along the outside diameter so they would best fit the concave curve of the shell above the "cutting edge"
Then I placed them first over the cutting edge and the above and push them them and pull them until they were where I wanted them.
Now make sure everything is where and how you want it and zip up (down actually) the seat back cover and you are basically done. here is the finished product.
This is the "before" picture with the torn bolster