Friday, December 3, 2010

Corbeau Baja RS Seats

My Corbeau Baja RS seats were delivered yesterday. I was so excited to pull them out of the box and get them installed in my truck, but I had class. So I waited.

This morning, bright and early, I opened the box of seats and was initially disappointed. I really hoped that these seats would be all they claimed to be: the perfect offroad seat. And I figured, having spent a grip of cash on the "vehicle specific" sliders, that they would be awesome and would fit right out of the box...

The quality of the seat itself was on par with what I expected:
  • They are sturdy
  • The vinyl is excellent quality
  • The inflatable lumbar support is awesome
  • The width was perfect for me (and I'm only a 30" waist)
However! The following cons screwed up my initial response to this seat:
  • The seat itself is really firm - like, numb your ass in an hour of driving, firm
  • The sliders stick
  • The handle for the slider isn't secured to the slider itself by anything but a metal tab
  • The handle pulled apart from the slider when the necessary 15+ lbs. of upward force was applied to it
  • Because of the sticky slider and the unsecured handle, the sliders like to slide independently of one another, which also happens when the seat is attached to them, but in order to attach the seat to the slider, you have to slide the whole thing forward first, which inevitably breaks the handle loose and causes much frustration
I really can't believe that this is the quality of Corbeau's manufacturing.

The worst part about this whole ordeal is that I spent so much time researching seats before plunking down the cash for these. I guess time will tell as to weather or not they do well after being broken in and the sliders see someone who can cut and weld them to fit.

Lesson learned: Don't buy anything that is a comfort piece before trying it out first. Even if the reviews you get are great.

EDIT JULY 2011:
So far I actually really like this seat. I sit at least an inch higher than I did in the stock seats. I also have less fatigue when driving long distances and I think this is at least partially due to their firmness. I was able to bolt up 3 of the driver's bolts but only the front 2 on the passenger side. The rear bolts on the pass side are inches off (which I still consider BS since they were supposedly vehicle specific). I don't have passengers all that often though, so I've still not gotten them adjusted (welding isn't something I have time or money to learn or do). I'm going camping soon though, so a nre write up to follow.