Has anyone ever seen this happen?. Fatigue or Accident?

[Dudeland]

 

 

I am working on a pair of E30 sport seats.  I finished the passenger side, it turned out good.  I just broke down the drivers side.  I knew that something was wonky, I thought it may have been cracked a bit or the hinge out of index, but when I took it apart I found something much worse.  

 

I am thinking that this may have been due to some sort of fatigue rather than an accident.  I will take a run at welding it up.  It isn't that bad, but wow.  The price was right for the seats, so I can't complain. 

 

Is this common, even for a drivers seat?, I wouldn't have expected something this bad. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mike G]

Usually it’s the back rest that cracks. The wear on the lower bolster seems like they were sliding over it to get in and out, could’ve caused the frame damage. 

[02Les]

Why don't you specify (detail in words) what is actually wrong with the seat so us older guys have a clue about what the heck you're complaining about. Have a nice day.

[visionaut]

You a Lynx browser user Les?

?

 

Tom

[Chris_B]

3 hours ago, 02Les said:

Why don't you specify (detail in words) what is actually wrong with the seat so us older guys have a clue about what the heck you're complaining about. Have a nice day.

He did provide a pic of the problem (broken bottom frame) .

[Tommy]

On a laptop screen I can't really see anything on the other pictures, but the obvious problem looks like a typical fatigue cracking. If there was deformation around the crack, like some bending in the metal, then it would have probably origated from an accident. To me this looks like a clean crack on otherwise good frame so it's fatigue.

Seeing the outlook of the seat, I'm not too surprized to find something like that.

Edited April 4, 2022 by Tommy

[NickVyse]

was that seat mounted in another car other than e30? Looks like a stress death to me, but possibly brought about by poorly adapting it to another car and introducing a stress point.

[Henning]

Just interview the PO:
 

 

He may give clues.

henn

 

[Dudeland]

5 hours ago, NickVyse said:

was that seat mounted in another car other than e30? Looks like a stress death to me, but possibly brought about by poorly adapting it to another car and introducing a stress point.

Not sure.  The tab for the seat recline/back adjustment was also broken off.  I have a new hinge, and will be doing a little tappity tappity to get the bits welded back together.   I don't see anything other than the original mounting holes... that and a lot of snot and hair... lots of hair..... 

 

[Dudeland]

3 hours ago, Henning said:

Just interview the PO:
 

 

He may give clues.

henn

 

I didn't know you followed me on instagram. 

[jgerock]

While you’re in there, replace the (4) seat “shocks” to restore the adjustments.

[JsnPpp]

To my mind, it would have to be a heavier than average person, over years, to break it like that! Or as others have said, an accident that introduced a fracture, then just repeated normal use.

 

I am on the e30 parts site on FB, and the seats do show up, may be worth posting to see if someone has a bottom you can buy if you can't weld it to your satisfaction.

 

FYI - I recently recovered parts of my vinyl sport seats from the zoom zoom guy on ebay, worked out really well.

 

Jason

[Dudeland]

22 hours ago, jgerock said:

While you’re in there, replace the (4) seat “shocks” to restore the adjustments.

Way ahead of you. I ordered the last 4 of the "500N" or 500 newton shocks (technically Gas springs)  I could find.  I got them from ECS.  They are the ones that support the seat.  The backrests take the 350N, or 350 newton springs for the backrest, they are easier to find. 

 

All but 2 of mine were completely shot. Of the two remaining they had about half of their original holding power.  I used a big ratchet clamp to compress them enough to get them on the seat hinges. 

 

 

[Dudeland]

21 hours ago, JsnPpp said:

To my mind, it would have to be a heavier than average person, over years, to break it like that! Or as others have said, an accident that introduced a fracture, then just repeated normal use.

 

I am on the e30 parts site on FB, and the seats do show up, may be worth posting to see if someone has a bottom you can buy if you can't weld it to your satisfaction.

 

FYI - I recently recovered parts of my vinyl sport seats from the zoom zoom guy on ebay, worked out really well.

 

Jason

I am using the covers from Lseat.  They are fitting pretty good.  The headrest cover seems a little sloppy, but after 30 years my head is getting a bit sloppy. 

 

I have had to repair worse breaks than this seat frame.  As long as it doesn't need to be too pretty I think it is repairable. 

 

Picks of the passenger seat are below. I think I can steam the wrinkles out of the headrest and some other places.  But for the $$ I am pretty happy with the result even if I can't.   I am debating stitching vs gluing the edges of the seat back and bottom.  The back is tucked in, and the base has a couple of hog rings holding it in place.  The original fastening method was of course the reversed staples (the ends curl out instead of in). I am not going to try to find them.  I have an upholstery thread and needle kit coming today, Perhaps a combination of glue and stitching, but I feel that they don't need much to stay in place. df 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mike Self]

Somewhat related...a cautionary tale on the stock 2002 seats:  I had one of the "ears" that the backrest latches rest on and clamp to break off when the car was only 6-7 years old.  The weld had failed.  I remember talking to other '02 owners at the time and several others had experienced the same failure, all on 72 and 73 cars. 

 

Perhaps Hans or Fritz handling the welder at the seat factory was having a bad day, or his welder wasn't working properly.  So...you might want to check your seats to see if that ear is loose on your car.  It was quite a surprise to me when one side of the seat wanted to recline as I was driving...

 

mike