C5 Z06 Seats

Although they look nice, I'm not happy with my 2004 Z06's seats. They aren't comfortable. And they don't wrap around much to hold you in in a hard turn. Anyone got any experience with aftermarket seats? Ricarro comes to mind.

Thanks, Ed

Reply to
Spud
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I assume these are the same as on my 2003 coupe. As far as I can tell these are the worst seats ever sold on a car costing more than $10K. Unfortunately the center tunnel and torque tube reduce the C5 seat width by 2" compared to the C4. As a result normal aftermarket seats from Ricarro, Corbeau, and Sparco won't fit. The last time I checked, only the Sparco EVO racing shells would fit and my wife doesn't like them. I understand these were used by the C5R factory team. Keep in mind that the inboard seatbelt attachment point is on the seat itself, if they're like mine, so you'll have to deal with that somehow.

You have noticed the complete lack of upper body lateral support. Nothing like being held in by your kidneys when cornering. I also have a 1996 which has really sweet seats. If the C5 space hadn't been so narrow I would have bought a couple of C4 seats and fixed mounted them. Compared to the 1996 seats, the 2003 seats are much flimsier, probably because of misguided weight reduction. You can easily feel the difference in seat back flex. I'm guessing that the lighter C5 seats were simply not strong enough for GM to put any kind of lateral support wings up high on them.

You may also start having problems with the seat back adjusting latches popping out of engagement when you accelerate and/or corner. Your dealer can install C6 latches which will improve (but not eliminate) that problem.

There are at least four other things wrong with those seats but that's enough for now.

Reply to
bob.kirkpatrick

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