Chuck Jones

I've been having trouble with the sealt belt retractor on the driver's side belt. The dogone thing hangs up and sometimes will lie outside the door when I shut it...so I have to sort of spoon feed it back into the retractor.

I went to the Porsche folks who said that DOT mandated that the retractor couldnt' be fixed by taking it apart and doing minor surgery...that you had to replace the whole enchilada...including the web belt, retractor etc.

I opted to put up with spoon feeding it for a while rather than eat the cost of replacing the entire apparatus.....that is UNTIL....I went to my buddy's shop. He's an upholsterer...does seats, canvas, rebuilds sofas, lazy boys, chairs, car seats etc.

He heard my tale of woe and snickered....then he went and got his can of spray teflon "stuff"...whatever it was....and sprayed the inside edge of the seatbelt that rubs against that plastic or teflon coated D shaped retainer ring above your left shoulder on the driver's side...then it goes down into the retractor. The application of the silicone spray made the belt slick...apparently it isn't so much the spring on the rectractor as it is that the belt gets a bit rough from the back and forth movement thru the D ring....Bottom line and end of story....the belt retracts just great now. The can of Silicone Pytroil spray was $3.59 at Kragan's. Any product that sprays silicone and dries will do...no need to flag on the brand name.

Now as a cautionary addendum to this post...you have to look at your seatbelt and make sure that the belt itself isn't frayed...which would lend itself to failure in a crash. Mine had no sign of fraying...it was just a little rough from the back and forth action over the D ring which was rectified by the addition of a little silicone spray rather than eat the cost of a total replacement.

wross996tt

Just curious, when you pull abruptly on the belt does it lock the retractor as before? The problem with these things is the tensioner. It is a "sealed" unit...and it should not be disassembled ever.

Chuck Jones

Bill: It locks right up...no slippage or hesitation involved. Actually, if you pull the belt out too quickly, it will lock up.

jimq

what is the chance of the silicon messing up the fibers in the belt? I would use it sparingly.

Chuck Jones

Silicone is a pretty neutral and intert substance. I guess you could what "if this: thing to death if you were so inclined. Silicone is hardly a nuclear by product. I'm almost sorry I brought it up.

wross996tt

Chuck...many years ago I worked for a hard disk drive mfg. Silicone was the number one evil...we were told stories about its ability to destroy polymer chains and the difficulty in removing it...Since then I have stayed far from it...probably to a fault...LOL

Chuck Jones

I'll do some checking into the subject....there is usually some sort of disclaimer they put on a product that warns not to use certain substances due to discoloration or breakdown of the fabric etc. Or I could go out and run the car into a tree and see if the seat belt stays intact. You gave me a term I can use.in research...Polymer chain....

Chuck Jones

Here's some technical info for you to digest....then you can tell me what it means. In the meantime, my seatbelt works great and I dont need an entire belt component:



The following is a probable reason why the friction-reducing treatment of the present invention gives a seat belt which is superior to conventional ones in retractability (slip properties) and wear resistance after a long period of use.

Conventional seat belts have their slip properties improved by coating with a resin composed mainly of urethane block prepolymer (as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 66948/1992). The problem involved in this prior art technology is that the resin layer covering the belt surface peels off after repeated use and the seat belt becomes extremely poor in slip properties (as mentioned above). There even is a case where peeled resin forms scum which stains the belt and aggravates the slip properties. To address this problem, many attempts have been made to develop a new resin superior in wear resistance and to coat the resin layer comparatively thick. No satisfactory results have been obtained yet.

By contrast, the present invention is intended to impart the desired slip properties to the surface of individual filaments constituting the belt instead of resorting to the resin-coated layer.

In the case of conventional seat belts, the resin coating layer stays mainly on the belt surface and only a small portion of resin permeates into the inside. In other words, the coating resin does not reach the surface of the filaments at the innermost layer of the belt. This can be confirmed by disintegrating the belt and analyzing the substance on the surface of fibers.

The friction-reducing treatment of the present invention permeates not only through the surface layer but also into the innermost layer of the belt, so that it covers the surface of individual filaments constituting the innermost layer of the belt. It is in this point that the present invention greatly differs from the prior art technology.

The conventional coating resin for seat belts has such a high viscosity that it makes it difficult to unwind yarns from the cheese package if it is applied to seat belt yarns in the yarn-making process. In addition, the coating resin applied to yarns gives rise to scum which causes troubles in the belt weaving process.

THE FOREGOING ALMOST FALLS UNDER THE CAPTION OF MUCH ADO ABOUT.... EITHER NOTHING..... OR SOMETHING....someone who understands it can tell me...or we just close this discussion with who gives a rat's A$$.

LukeInDubai

Chuck, you're an absolute lifesaver.

I had exactly the same problem, and was quoted $225 (825 AED) to replace the seatbelt. I figured it couldn't hurt to try the Silicon spray idea.

Worked like a charm, many thanks.

"02996ttx50

excellent and timely post! mine's been bunching up and it's annoying as hell. i have to manually retract it back every time. grrr.

will try your fix!

Last930

This may sound trivial compared to a seat belt failing in an accident, but won't that spray stuff end up end up rubbing off on your clothes eventually?

SelectiveRecall

I was thinking the same thing.

wross996tt

problem solved...drive naked...LOL

Last930

Now that's solid thinking !!!

PorscheDoc

Just an FYI, check your state laws on seat belt warranty. For us here in KS for example, cars sold new in Kansas (and this is included in the Porsche warranty documentation book), there is a full 10 year replacement warranty on seatbelts that are defective.