Little White Seat Guides

[mister bill]

Gentlemen and ladies of course ;your expertise is needed once again; this time regarding the little white seat guides . I have a 1985 Mercedes 280 sl with a tippy seat (passenger side) backwards play . Apparently there are seat guides (see photos below ) that keep the seat stable and secure on the seat rails. I sure would like to see a photo of how that works.How many guides are involved per rail and how are they situated . mister bill. Thanks in advance to any and all info .

[Strife]

Originally Posted by mister bill

Gentlemen and ladies of course ;your expertise is needed once again; this time regarding the little white seat guides . I have a 1985 Mercedes 280 sl with a tippy seat (passenger side) backwards play . Apparently there are seat guides (see photos below ) that keep the seat stable and secure on the seat rails. I sure would like to see a photo of how that works.How many guides are involved per rail and how are they situated . mister bill. Thanks in advance to any and all info .

Well, each side of the seat frame fits in like an sideways "I" beam, with the guides at each point in the "I". It (was) very important to keep track of where they went before disassembling, because I suspect that these were "hand-fitted" to give the best fit. Mine were NOT "big one on the bottom, little one on the top" consistently, and I don't think the seats were ever removed before I reupholstered them. There were also a few black inserts inside of my plastic glides which acted as shims between the metal seat "I" and the plastic.

With the parts disassembled now, your best bet is to put the seat upside down on a carpeted/blanketed floor, and fool with them until you get the best fit and slide. It's important to clean the rails completely of the old grease (and 10-year old french fry debris) and put in new very high quality grease (I've used white grease and synthetic grease, both OK). My rails were also a little rusty so I wire wheeled and painted them. Both my cars have seats that glide perfectly now.

One of my seats was "tippy" because a very hard black nylon part was missing at the rear of one of the rails. Again, I don't think that the seat was ever removed and perhaps it wore out or cracked off. Incredibly, this part was available from the dealer, for about $10. Ridiculous price, but what are you going to do, and they DID have it!

[mister bill]

Thanks a bunch. I`ll get to it before it goes back on the road in the weeks ahead. mister bill

[peter serbanica]

I would take the other seat apart. Inside some of these guides is a filler, black strip.