Slack In Front Seat Mounts - Wobbly Backs!

[skeggyrik 3]

There is a quite a bit of movement in the front seats of my 205. Over time, presumably with wear of the mechanism for tipping the seat forward, this has resulted in slack allowing the seat back to rock forward and backward quite bit (20-30mm) when you try and move it. It was noted by the scrutineer at the last autotest I attended and I recall it was mentioned on one of the MOTs a while back too.

 

Is there a simple fix for this, or is it time to source an unworn base?

 

I do remember from way back, some people on here (C_W I think was one) had removed the bottom section that does the tipping to sit you lower in the car. I presume this would be an option as the rear seats are not used. Would that fail an MOT though?

 

What other options to fix this issue are there? The seats themselves are in an acceptable condition.

[B1ack_Mi16 67]

In addition the rear mounts tends to crack loose from the floor-pan, which also makes the seats wobbly...

[welshpug 1,657]

there are adjustable rubber buffers in the mechanism, it could also be a worn catch, which I have repaired in the past by laying a few passes of mig weld and dressing back down to shape.

[Leslie green 110]

I did notice my drivers seat was a bit wobbly when I fitted it too but hadn't checked any further yet as a million jobs to do .

[jj007205 0]

More to do with the base than the back.

 

I have also had an issue whereby the rails were not locking on both sides. This meant the seat would wobble more.

 

This occurs when the u shaped rail flexes and 'opens' up over time. This then means that the two ratcheted parts do not mate/mesh properly and hence don't lock into place.

 

I removed the rail in question (having removed the seat from the car) and carefully pushed them back together using a vice in several locations (as you don't want to do it in one go). The aim is to get the two parts to fit flush. Remember to protect the two sides in the vice using something suitable so you don't scratch the paint etc.

 

Re-assemble and admire your handiwork as to how stable your seats have become :-)

 

HTH

Edited December 26, 2017 by jj007205
typo

[Pugleyrich 37 1 Cars]

It's quite common for the seat back to become loose. I've had numerous seats with wobbly backs but solid mounts and base. I've kept a few seat frames from low milage cars over the years, to replace my current ones when the get worse. I'm interested to know whether that can be fixed though. It must be caused by wear to the mechanism that allows the seat to recline. I guess that's what WP is referring to (rubber buffers)?

[jj007205 0]

I'd be interested to know about the back too. Guess it will eventually be investigated when time permits or it  becomes an issue ...whichever comes first :-)