Ahhhh Yes, I remember why to never buy cloth interior

[01_Duramax_Dually]

Just spent an entire weekend in my friends Chevy truck...he has the cloth interior...
I had static electricity all weekend and got zapped everytime I got out of the car... DROVE ME NUTS!!!!. Sometimes the ZAP was powerful and hurt.

We had the same problem with our Honda Civic as well...

He said he has tried that spray but it has never worked. He complained about the same thing, wishes he would have got the leather.... :D :D :D

Carry On......

[Paintdude]

GMC`s don`t do that.. :D

[Pizza Man]

I agree with Paintdude.


LOL

[bluenote]

Of course GMC's don't create any static electricity...they don't generate enough power to create much of anything! :D :D :D

Actually, I have the custom cloth seats, and have never once had this problem.

[GMC-2002-Dmax]

I have a GMC as well,

NO STATIC EITHER!!!!!

GMC ;)

[01_Duramax_Dually]

Well my friend said this happened before in his Dodge, I have also experienced this with other trucks and cars. Now out here on the west coast it gets dry, and as always, is more proned to this happening but regardless it is ANNOYING.

I had one ZAP that you could see the arc from my finger to the door handle. Then my T-shirt stuck to me for 5 minutes....I told him to get a brass chain, attach it to the bottom of each seat, drill a hole in his floor and let those drag on the ground....Sort of like an ESD set up.....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Now one thing I can say, I have never ever had this problem with any car with Vinyl or leather...the cloth lends itself to this static charge......

Just made my weekend very long as I would forget about this until I went for the door..... :eek:

[01_Duramax_Dually]

OH Yeah all you GMC guys with No problems......HAHAHAHA

I see your Signatures, you all are from back east area where it rains and rains and rains so your seats are drenched and your floors are wet.... tongue.gif

[56Nomad]

I've got the graphite cloth and have never been shocked.
Love the cloth.....I've never cared for leather
in my vehicles. Of course it is just personal
choice on my part.

My sister and brother in law ordered their Dmax
with leather and would not have anything else.

[hoot]

We wished it rained and rained. We are in one of the most severe droughts in history. Luckily we got a few inches of rain last week with a couple more coming Wed.

No static here...

[Paintdude]

the only thing I miss about the leather I had in my last 2 Trucks is the looks..Leather belly skin seating surfaces and vinyl sides do look good,when new.. tongue.gif

[zip]

Just drag your knukles on the ground when you get out-- Presto! No shock.
:D :D

[mattb5150]

If you install Covercraft Seatsavers these may help prevent this. I have the part numbers for both front and rear seats of a crew cab if anyone wants them.

Matt B.

[AKDmax]

Yup, My Chebby shocked me everytime too. So bad I would always touch the screw in the armrest while getting out. Got rid of that for a GMC and shock is gone. Must be the recycled parts... :D :D Treating the seats with Scotchguard should stop that.

[ 10-14-2002: Message edited by: AKDmax ]</p>

[battmain]

I'll keep my cloth seats. :) All you folks that have leather just have not had the pleasure of sitting on a hot leather seat in either shorts or long pants. Ouch! Double Ouch if you live in Florida.

Still, no car has static shock like the Honda's though. If I take my mom somewhere at night in her car, you can see the blue arc whenever I touch the car. BZZZT! #$$%! Uh, sorry mom. (while she snickers at me.)

[NickLeinonen]

i have leather in my tahoe, and will never have leather in another truck again. cold as ice in winter [no heated seats :( ] and kinda sticky in summer. the quality of the leather that GM uses is pretty crumby i think. now if the leather was the same quaity as a bmw or mercadies then it could work...

[Black Dog]

The tires you run have a lot more to do with the static buildup than the seats (if the seats have anything to do with it). Some rubber compounds are much less conductive than others, and they do not drain the static charge that builds up as the vehicle runs down the road.

[Steve Joneli]

Try adding a rubber grounding strap to your truck that drags on the ground. That should do it as it will constantly keep your truck grounded and won't allow any static charge to build up.

[01_Duramax_Dually]

Battmain,
Isn't that the truth...HONDA's are the absolute worse for the static build up. We had a 1999 Civic ES, and I got zapped every time I got out of that car. Tried scotch guard, tried that static release from DuPont, Tried grounding seats too. Nothing worked. My wife has long hair and when she would get out of the car, it would be Outta control....We loved that car, great mileage, never had one problem, VTec motor was fast, but never got rid of that issue and finally my wife said ENOUGH already. Went to MBenz with full leather, deep tinted glass and has been happy ever since.

Just so you folks know, I am not harping about GM, Chevy. They are all made of same products essentially. Just something absolutely annoying. We would come to a stop and we would have to do Rock, scissors, paper to see who was going to have to sacrifice and take that zapp so we could open the door...It was comical. Not the first time had this problem either, same thing with a new Yukon.

As for the leather, well I see 100 degree heat all the time, I drive all the time in shorts. However I have all my windows tinted and I usually park in a direction away from the sun coming through the windshield. In all my years never had a situation where I burned my leg on a hot seat. Maybe it's the shorts people wear.....Speedo Vs Hurley boarding shorts... ;)

[TxDoc]

I think it is a well-accepted and proven theory that the size of the charge is directly proportional the square surface area of the posterior that is in contact with the seating area.

[Pizza Man]

Well if this is the worst of our truck problems I'd say were doing pretty good.

[01_Duramax_Dually]

TxDoc,
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA,
Now that is funny. Although I might break the theory...I weigh all of 152lbs on a 5'8" frame.

Surface area is small, But maybe that's the problem, I need a wider surface for more grounding potential....HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.. :D :D :D

Carry On....

[jqqd]

No, you guys have it all wrong. It is the quality of the clothes causing the problem. Polyester pants will light you up every time. ;) ;)

[ChevysRus]

It's the difference in engineering theory! Chevy wants to get rid of all the static buildup and ask the owner to participate in the process. If they allow the buildup to get to high then they expect the ECM and maybe the TCM to short out causing intermittent false positive SES lights to show up on the control panel without codes!

GMC on the other hand being the professional truck people, try to capture all that free energy and channel it to the Alternator as boost energy!
This allows them to use a smaller alternator in cloth seat optioned trucks counting on "personal" energy to supplement output. This also reduces the cost of the GMC truck overall allowing GMC to throw in additional options at no extra cost over their in house competition (such as tow hooks)while Chevy says "we don't need no stinkin tow hooks" and "the owners generatate all that static electricity, let them get rid of it"!!

It just all goes back to the proverbial question....paper or plastic? ha ha ha LOL

[David Utz]

Like Black Dog said, It's the tires, not the interior. My Tahoe with leather can power a small city with the charge it builds. I got in the habit of holding the keys out to take zap. I found that keeping a coating of WET LOOK tire gloss helps keep charge down. I believe the problem has to do with the amount of carbon black blended into the rubber. The more carbon, the better the tire will dissipate the charge. :mad:

[01_Duramax_Dually]

Hey there ChevysRUs,
How you been, Long time no see?

Boy Howdy this has been a fun post...HAHAHAHA

Serious Arcing going on. When we stopped in Baker I went to grab the door and it caused a flash almost like that of a camera flash..My friend was laughing so hard he almost fell out of the truck...
I was baggin him hard about his cloth interior in the truck....

But about the tires that people have referenced. We both have the same tires. The GoodYears standard fair. Now maybe this is a Kinetic energy issue. He drives very fast like I do and maybe the wheels do not ground the chassis well and since cloth has a natural tendency to retain static it builds big juice where as the leather does not.

The Rock, Scissors Paper game before opening the door at each stop was good for some serious laughs as we just KNEW what was going to happen...

KaaaaaZZZZZAAAPP!. All the city lights dimmed, the radio reset all its channels and My cell phone would lose signal for a moment...HAHAHAHAHA... :D

Hey on another note, I finished 4th in Points for this season out of 32 in the class and we got some things going on for some serious power next season..You are gonna like what we are up to.....BOY HOWDY..... :eek: .... ;)

[Redhawk]

Living in dry, dry So. Cal for many years, I just got used to static discharge. I also took my keys out of the ignition and touched the door handle with the key every time I got out of the car. Presto, no shock, but sometimes the blue discharge from the key to the door handle was truly impressive.

[GMC D-Max]

Drive a GMC, no shocky. Simple as that!
(and no, it's not raining here....yet!) :D

[01_Duramax_Dually]

All you GMC guys.....LOL
Why would a GMC not shock you and the Chevrolet might?

Just curious what is so different...Did you know the cloth is made by the same manufacturer?

Seems strange...

I have no Problem...I got leather and never see a ZAP.....

[conradv]

I think that most of the stuff from the GMC crowd (me included) is in jest, being that most of the world has no idea of the history of the GMC division of GM, as well as most of the Chevy owners - they only think that there was ONLY "Chevrolet". Sometimes it drives me nuts, but I've learned to accept other people's ignorance on the subject... ;)

[wangotango]

I used to get cloth seats in my rigs.

One day I noticed that everytime I get in or out of the vehicle a small charge was generated. It was enough to activate my garage door opener.

Used to flip me out.


Then my wife told me that it wasn't the seats at all. She had been tricking me. I didn't notice that everytime I'd get in and out of the vehicle she was upstairs rubbing balloons on her head.

I make her wear a long graphite-impregnated rubber tail now when she's in the house to help cut down on this type of incident.

It looks great on her.

w/t

[Heartbeat Hauler]

I have cloth seats and I get shocked everytime I open the garage. I'm shocked at how lucky I am that I drive the greatest truck in the world.......except for the stupid sunvisors! :D
Jp

[GMCTRUCK]

My 2003 GMC doesn't shock me. Must be true, GMC gets the gold parts Chevy gets the silver. There's nothing wrong with Chevys. There just the trucks that get rejected by the GMC inspectors. tongue.gif

[hoot]

I noticed the washers are thicker on my GMC too.

[ChevysRus]

HI There Jeff!! Congratulations on ending up 4th in the points standings. Quite an accomplishment and I am sure you couldn't have done it without the DMAX!!! ha ha ha To haul that screamin hotrod around. I used that launch picture of yours as a screen saver,,,real cool wheels up, head down ha ha ha

Also you sure know how to stir things up and have fun.....who knew static elecricity could be so much fun LOL

Next time let your friend ride with you!!!

Are you racing at Bakersfield next weekend??? 11/2 & 11/3 Goodguys last race of the season. Also Pleasanton is 11/10 & 11/11. Hope to see ya somewhere along those paths.

Take care and keep having fun.

[Corey S]

Hey there Jeff!

Long time no see. Hard to meet for lunch when I work on the other side of the Bay now. :(

And about this static stuff, I think you're making it all up!! :cool: I have graphite cloth with no shocking problems! smile.gif

[ 10-17-2002: Message edited by: Corey S ]</p>