Repairing badly rocking sport seat?

[Vincent Brick]

My drivers seat has gone downhill very fast the last couple months, what started as a slight bit of fore-aft movement has turned into total slop.

It seems like a lot of the movement is from the very front pivot point where the spring loaded pins are, but after looking closely it is definitely not the only place that it is loose, it seems like EVERYTHING is loose. I commute 75 miles or more a day and its just not taking it well despite not being a large guy and always being very careful with the seats when getting in/out.

I keep messing with it, but the more I do it seems like the worse it gets. I had to search for months to find these seats, paid a shitload of money for them, had to spend 10-15 hours making them usable and they still need upholstery work, so I am not sure what to do. Am I going to be looking at a seat frame replacement? Will an upholstery shop be able to fix stuff like that?

I just don't know anything about this stuff, but its so bad I have to put my comfort seats back in and I'm restarting my search for another pair of front sport seats, but if I buy another set are they just not going to be able to handle my commute either? And how do i sell a sport seat with such a severe rocking issue? My coworkers say i should just buy a fixed bucket, but I don't want to do that for several reasons.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[cory58]

Is it "rocking" or moving fore/aft? Does changing the height adjustment make a difference? Have you inspected the bottom frame to make sure nothing is broken?

[Vincent Brick]

Its mostly rocking like a rocking chair, with an audible clunk upon accelerating or braking, though there is some side-to-side. These are getting worse with time. There is significant movement from the front hinge pieces that move when seat height is adjusted and when folded forward for rear seat access, both the upper hinge i can't get to and the lower one where it pins to the track. I ave inspected as much as i can without removing upholstery and cannot see anything broken. The this has been getting gradually worse in time I am inclined to think it is more a "worn out" than "broken" situation.

There is actually movement everywhere though, I'm told my seatback moves way more than it should, and I feel movement at both the front and back of the lower seat cushion.

Thanks

[Semblance]

It's possible the seat bottom frame is broken. I've had two go on me. The frame is actually just thin formed sheet metal, nothing more sturdy, and it's got a weld in the middle that seems to go. You won't see it without pulling upholstery, but if the seat bottom changes shape when you push the seat-back forward (so as to get in the rear seat) then it's toast. It also probably would be in a position of permanent recline.

[profbooty]

I assume you cleaned and lubed the mechanisms? That helped me with some of my passenger seat issues.

[Vincent Brick]

Yeah the mechanisms work fine except for needing new shocks, I had to go through those when I first got the seats.

I think I see how the bottom cushion can be pulled mostly off fairly easily, I'll take a more thorough look. I just wanted a bit of an ideas where to look before randomly taking more shit apart.

[Das Delfin]

There are some brackets on the metal seat frame that can be broken off and cause the seat to tilt like yours is. My drivers side has the same problem though not as bad. You can grab a shitty set of sport seats and change the bracketry over. I don't believe they are specific to either side. The other option is to weld them back together. If you take the seat apart or even take it off the car and check the underside of the seat you'll see what I'm talking about.

The ones I'm talking about are on the front side of the under seat on either side just to the aft of the center leg bolster. There is a 3" rotating arm on either side which is supposed to be attached to both the frame rails and the bottom seat frame. It's part of what adjusts seat height. If you can move either arm freely then you know it's broken