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Recaro seats wobbling/loose/play?

XuperXero

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#1
Just picked up my ST couple weeks ago. However I noticed driver's side Recaro seat has some play or looseness on the reclining side since 400km on the odo. It has progressively gotten worse and I'm now at 850km.

Every time I brake, my seat lurches forward by about say... 8-10mm (very noticeable). I've looked around for bolts/screws to tighten, but Recaro has gotten the seat covered pretty well and I don't want to risk ripping the fabric.

Same issue is evident on passenger side, but not as serious as I've literally only had 2 passengers since pick up.

Anybody know a fix for this? I can't imagine what it must be like if I got into an accident.

FYI: Car is Euro spec 3dr without MFT or base stereo for Chinese market.
 


stuntdoogie

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#2
Dont fix anything...thats why you have warranty. Take it back.
 


OP
XuperXero

XuperXero

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Thread Starter #3
Dont fix anything...thats why you have warranty. Take it back.
Got my 1000km oil change today. Talked to them about it... Well... I'm a Canadian located in China, the lack of responsibility and attempt to avoid responsibility is unrivaled here compared to Western world. They claimed it was normal and that they have to charge me for taking apart and inspecting. Warranty pretty much equals nada.

Another major concern for me was that... I'm in a city where there's currently recorded sale of only 10 FiST... out of like 5 million cars. I was the first FiST in the dealership to go for an oil change since the sale of FiST here.... This worries me deeply. They wanted to give me the oil and filter for their Chinese Fiesta (piece of garbage with 1.5L locally produced engine). After 2+ hours of arguing and showing them the US Fiesta Supplement and proving that mine was an imported Fiesta produced in Germany (VIN starting with W), I convinced them to use the 5W20QFS (Motorcraft Full Syn) from the more common Ford Escape and FL910S oil filter from Ford Edge (also more common and imported as well.)

This hassle pretty much told me I'm on my own. Luckily, I did apprenticeship as mechanic in high school, assisted in building a race car for a local racing team back in Canada, and swapped my own engine of my 1988 Toyota MR2 SC at age of 20, so I would say I'm above shade tree mechanic. I'm most likely going to take the seat cover off and look around for bolts/screws to tighten. Passenger side also became noticeably looser in the last couple of days... even though I've had no passengers.

Edit: while doing oil change, I snuck into the garage and talked to the mechanics... they don't know half of what they're doing. They're just following instructions on computer, oil cap not off while draining, after draining, they put the drain plug back on THEN proceeded to take off the oil filter. THEN tightened the new oil filter with a freaking rachet! Should be hand tightened only!!! Needless to say, I had to loosen it and tighten it again by hand.
 


airjor13

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#5
As sad as it sounds, a few yuan to grease the wheels and a friendly relationship or a pack of cig with the local service adviser might go a long way! Trust me I lived and worked in Chengdu for 5 years, I had local made A4L 2.0T and it was at the Audi dealership a lot haha.
 


airjor13

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#7
I m more worried that the ST assembled in Germany would have these kind of issues lol!
 


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eugene
#9
As sad as it sounds, a few yuan to grease the wheels and a friendly relationship or a pack of cig with the local service adviser might go a long way! Trust me I lived and worked in Chengdu for 5 years, I had local made A4L 2.0T and it was at the Audi dealership a lot haha.
Airjor, Probably darn good advice...........
 


OP
XuperXero

XuperXero

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Thread Starter #11
Recaro only has two facilities in the world. Both in North America, so I doubt originating from Germany would have any effects on this as they will receive their seats from North American facility as well.

Funny thing today, I adjusted my seat a little bit (the recliner part) and there was less wobbling [confuse].

Airjor, I'm planning to do all my service at this dealership and hopefully build some relationship with them. Pack of cigarettes, maybe some baijiu if necessary. The only downside is that they'll never assign the same mechanic to do one car which was what I was hoping for. Will be attempting to make friends with all the mechanics at the dealship...

Off topic: Another thing that ticked me off was that I told them I planned to switch to PU oil after 10,000 kms, they said they'll void my warranty. Typical dealership BS, but the fact that they have the Motorcraft Full Syn, I may stick with that until warranty expires in 3 years. Anybody know how's this oil compared to PU? I know it's better than the Synthetic blend...
 


airjor13

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#12
Recaro only has two facilities in the world. Both in North America, so I doubt originating from Germany would have any effects on this as they will receive their seats from North American facility as well.

Funny thing today, I adjusted my seat a little bit (the recliner part) and there was less wobbling [confuse].

Airjor, I'm planning to do all my service at this dealership and hopefully build some relationship with them. Pack of cigarettes, maybe some baijiu if necessary. The only downside is that they'll never assign the same mechanic to do one car which was what I was hoping for. Will be attempting to make friends with all the mechanics at the dealship...

Off topic: Another thing that ticked me off was that I told them I planned to switch to PU oil after 10,000 kms, they said they'll void my warranty. Typical dealership BS, but the fact that they have the Motorcraft Full Syn, I may stick with that until warranty expires in 3 years. Anybody know how's this oil compared to PU? I know it's better than the Synthetic blend...
Another option is if things don't go your way with the dealership, since you are paying money anyways, find the best/most reputable import/high end tuning shop in Wuxi to have basic service done there. Its going to cost more, but you can develope a better relation, pick out better oil, possibly watch any maintenance work being performed.

A good judge of how reputable/knowledgeable the shop is if you pull up in your Fiesta ST, they recognize what it is, and not shoooing you away because its just a Fiesta! [thumb] Also, look for top dollar imports chilling in the parking lot, usually a good sign.
 


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