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97 SL500 Seat Height Adjustment

984 views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  jerryi 
#1 ·
My newly acquired 97 SL500 had a worn left-side (driver-side) floor mat, so I ordered a pair of genuine MB replacement mats. I find that both seats tend to push the mats forward because the front of the seat frame barely clears the mats. That may have been the reason that the driver mat had become hopelessly wrinkled in its 20-year, 50,000 mile lifetime. On the right side seat, the clearance between seat and carpet is essentially zero, so there is no way to keep the mat from being pushed forward when the seat is moved forward.

I was able to re-mount the mat clips (which resemble old suspender clips) more laterally on the driver side to nearly solve the problem for the driver mat, but it appears to me that both seat frames should be raised approx 1/4 inch. Is this doable, or is there something that I am overlooking? It looks to me like each seat rides on an outboard side rail and an inboard floor rail, and I am not sure if there is adequate adjustment capability, especially for the side mount rails.

Can anyone discuss related experience with this problem or refer me to an appropriate thread? I was unable to find anything.
 
#3 ·
I intend to investigate that possibility, but it surprised me that both seats are too low to ride over the floor mats. So I posted to see if anyone else had encountered the problem. There are quite a few R129s around, and it would surprise me to find that mine is unique in that respect.
 
#5 ·
The typical mats you get today (even from MB) aren't the OEM mats for our cars.

The real mats cover more, fit better, last longer and come with the snaps.

Oh, and they cost more than $60, if you can find them.

Mats have been covered on this site, do a search.
 
#6 ·
exactly. the Original mats had two snaps on the DS and the passenger side extend down further in the center with one snap. the snaps are very easy to add and fix the problem on the DS.

Or, you can find the original style mat's on ebay or have GG bailey make you a set. they have a pattern for the original style as well as the ones that match what dealers sell today.

For the original style you may need to call and ask them. I generated a pattern based on a set of original style mats. they can't put the snaps on them.

And the GG bailey ones have similar backing and matching colors.
 
#7 ·
On the passenger side, even a single piece of printer paper (0.007 inch thick) slides forward when I move the seat forward because the metal seat front brushes the carpet. There is no clearance room for a mat. I don't know why my carpet is 'too high', but I bought this car from the original owner, and he asserts that the carpeting was never replaced or messed with. The situation on the driver side is slightly better, but the original OEM mat was essentially destroyed because it had been scrunched into a wad so many times in moving the seat forward (because of inadequate vertical clearance). I don't know why this seems to be the only 97 SL on earth with this particular problem, but I see no way to remedy it without pulling out the nearly-perfect original blue carpet, installing thinner carpet padding, and then reinstalling the carpet. I am not prepared to undertake such a task right now.

For now, my best recourse seems to be: remove the two new OEM mats and enjoy the beautiful carpet for a few thousand miles, until it becomes worn. Then perhaps I will explore the issue and lower the carpet so I can use my new MB mats.

BTW this car has three snaps in the original carpet. All three were covered with snap caps. I am relatively certain that the mats that were in the car were the same mats that came with the car, but they had no integral snaps.
 
#8 ·
original mats had snaps. the "OEM" mats as replacements from the dealer don't. the original mat for the passenger side has a protruding section on the bottom that goes to the single snap on the passenger side.

I had a set of mats made to match the orginal form factor, added the snaps, seats work fine. however a set of "OEM" mats from the dealer did give problems, worse on the passenger side, on the drivers side I added snaps and it fixed the problem. But the real solution is a set of mats that match the original design.

you should be able to get a set made by GG Bailey. they have the pattern but you'd have to call and make sure you get that pattern, not the one shown on the website which matches the "OEM" replacements.

If you do some searching you should find a thread that shows the mats I had made that match the ones that shipped with the car.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Thanks, but as I mentioned earlier, the leading edge of the passenger seat brushes against the carpet, so it is impossible to use any kind of mat if you want to be able to move the seat forward. I believe that the previous owner had the car serviced at some point and that an independent mechanic put too much backing beneath that carpet. The seat design does not lend itself to shimming the rails.
 
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