[ocjmakaveli]

The trim around both my front seats is broken primarily from where the center screw goes into the side of the seat, the plastic around the center screw completely broke off from the rest of the trim.

I bought the car this way and I recently tried jb weld to glue the plastic pieces together adn when i screwed it back on it held ok but when I sat on the seat the leather pushes outwards against the trim and caused it to break on the driver side.

on the pass. side it's holding ok at the moment

I know if i just replace the trim itll break because the leather pushes outwards when weight is on the seat.I'm wondering if maybe after 90,000 miles the seats are squished down enough that more leather is pushed outwards causing the trim to break.At the moment when someone sits it causes the seat to be at level with the side trim and i can see that just entering and exiting the vehicle would put weight on the trim causing it to break again.

Is there any fix or should I just have the seats reupholstered with firmer cushions and then replace the trim?

 

[phathead785]

That problem happened on my driver seat....also before I purchased it- but I just epoxied it to the leather, no problem since then (6 months now?)

 

[Kdirk]

Very common problem on the 94-99 cars. I've replaced both of mine (they were surprisingly cheap from the dealer - about $25 a piece) and they have held just fine since then (over 20,000 miles on the car since I put the new ones one).

FWIW, these were redesigned in 1997 without the center screw on the side, they have a molded in "catch" and steel clip on the inside of the panel instead that latches into the seat frame.

I don't know if this reduced the rate of breakage or not, but there must have been some reason GM changed it and I figure it was due to the lack of long-term durability on the earlier cars becoming evident by the time the 97's were in the design phase.

Also, JB weld will not likely hold this in the long term due to the type of plastic it is, it's nearly impossible to get decent adhesion. Save yourself the headaches of ongoing disassembly and repair and and get the new trim.

KDirk

 

[Guyz1996deville]

Same Thing With My 96 Deville, Super Glue Did It For Me....

 

[ocjmakaveli]

Very common problem on the 94-99 cars. I've replaced both of mine (they were surprisingly cheap from the dealer - about $25 a piece) and they have held just fine since then (over 20,000 miles on the car since I put the new ones one).

FWIW, these were redesigned in 1997 without the center screw on the side, they have a molded in "catch" and steel clip on the inside of the panel instead that latches into the seat frame.

I don't know if this reduced the rate of breakage or not, but there must have been some reason GM changed it and I figure it was due to the lack of long-term durability on the earlier cars becoming evident by the time the 97's were in the design phase.

Also, JB weld will not likely hold this in the long term due to the type of plastic it is, it's nearly impossible to get decent adhesion. Save yourself the headaches of ongoing disassembly and repair and and get the new trim.

KDirk

Thanks for the tip it's nice to know there new and improved I'll be buying the new ones for sure.

If you happen to remember the part # could you please post it?

 

[Kdirk]

Actually the "new and improved" ones will only work on 97-99 cars. The reason being that there is no mounting screw on the side-center part of the plastic bezel. There is a concealed fastener, consisting of a molded-in catch and a spring steel clip that latches into the steel frame of the seat. The 1994-96 seats do not have the place for this spring steel clip to "catch", they have a hole for a self tapping screw. Without some way to retain the clip, the piece will not stay flush against the side of the seat, and will pivot up and down since it will only be held by screws at the front and back.

I suppose that the seat frames could somehow be modified on the 94-96 cars to make the 97-99 trim piece work, but I am not sure that even the updated pieces will last much longer than a new piece of the older design. Thus, going to the trouble of doing this mod might not be worthwhile.

As to the part number, I don't have this at my immediate disposal but bear in mind that each color and side (driver/passenger) has a different part #, so there are probably 8-10 different numbers depending on which side you need and what color your interior is. There were some colors that were not offered in all years either, like burgundy and beechwood (kind of a butterscotch or saddle tan color, I think was only offered in 96 due to it's lack of popularity) so substituting parts may not be an option.

KDirk