DIY - Make your seats comfortable

[mausr]

Having multiple slipped discs, I am confident to say that the seats in the 86 is simply rubbish. It forces me (184cm/93kg) in a position which is shown as the example on "how-not-sit" in every website/book/etc dealing with spinal problems.

Basically there are two problems with the seats:

1. no lumbar support at all
2. shoulder wings force the shoulder in an uncomfortable posture

Let me share you what I did to solve these issues.

First, I added lumbar support, as follows:

1. Disconnected the battery and waited 90 sec at least (airbag inside the seat!)
2. Removed the screws fixing the seat (you need E10 sockets) and disconnected the cables
3. Removed the seat from the car carefully (airbags inside!) and placed it to a blanket facing its back upwards
4. Removed the hogs at the back and unzipped the cover
   
5. Removed further hogs to free up the back of the seat
6. Get smaller size, properly shaped lumbar support pillow
   
   and inserted it between the frame and the foam
   

Second, I made more space to my shoulders:

1. Removed the seat cover from the shoulder wings
2. Pushed the ends of the bracing inside the wings towards the ground to make more space:
   
   The bracing inside the wings is just a curved steel bar welded to the main frame, you need a medium force here to not brake them:
   

Surgery was then done. Reassembled the seat, felt free to use zip ties instead of the hogs (I used a micro flush cutter pliers for edge free cutting -> zip tie then could not hurt the fabric/foam).

Some minor adjustment was necessary after driving some kms, and it could be done without removing the seats.

Finally there are some before/after pics. The shoulder wings are wider some 2.5 cm and I finally have very comfy lumber support.

I have just driven 1100 km in one day last month without any pain, so dear Subaru I hereby grant you to use these changes in the production cars.

• before: seat "lumbar support"
  
• after: proper lumbar support
  
• before: distance between the soulder wings
  
• after: distance between the soulder wings
  

Credits: I was not clever to figure all above myself, the idea of inserting the lumbar support pillow comes from

and the bending of the shoulder wings was suggested by a forum entry previously. (I could not find that entry this time, link will be added if I found it again.)

[guybo]

The seats are very comfy for me, but customization is a very personal thing and a lot of people may benefit from this DIY. Thanks

[Roth]

I've done something very similar on one of my previous cars. Lumbar support is a key factor for comfortable seats. That time I used some memory foam pads, shaped in different sizes, and after re-padding the lumbar area and the seat pillow it felt like driving a different car. Thanks for sharing your diy

[Mr.ac]

I had the same problem, but before I was going to cut open the seats I just turned the head rests around. It was shocking how much my head was being forced forward with those gay ass head rests.

[stevesnj]

Originally Posted by Mr.ac

It was shocking how much my head was being forced forward with those gay ass head rests.

Headrests can be gay?

[8RZ]

I didn't know this was an issue; the seats seem custom-molded to my body they are so comfy.

[BigHugeFatGuy]

^Same. I'd take this car across the country as is. My wife wants to swap them into her car (Prius) as those seats are dreadful and cause shoulder pain.

Still, this is a good cheap but quality approach to DIY. Great job.

[DarkSideFRS]

i am having the same issue... my back hurts if i drive the car for too long... where did you buy the lumbar support?

[Lonewolf]

The side bolster wings prevent me from sitting against the seat in a comfortable manner (thanks caveman back) so it is nice to see you develop a work-around that is not cost prohibitive

[DustyRags]

Sweet! I'm working on a similar project myself. I'm focusing on making the seat not as "deep" by building up the space in the middle of the back rest and seat, between the bolsters. Just adding a uniform 1" thick piece of firm, high-density open-celll foam went a long way to fixing both those things- the "wings" are now further back, I'm sitting further forward so I'm not as squeezed into them, and what lumbar support there is has been improved (but then, that wasn't a huge deal for me to begin with).

I'll create a thread when I figure out my project.

[MissGreen]

Great help! Thanks for this!

[Riztnack]

Just did the shoulder mod, excellent result (Wide shoulders here). You can do this with out removing the seats at all. Just sit on the seat, put one arm through the headrest hole and use your elbow to push on the wing. Gained about 1.75 inch total space and seat feels amazing now.

[MoonieGT]

My biggest issue with the seat is the seat bottom. It feels too firm for me. For reference I am 6 feet tall, 170 lbs, 32 inch waist. I get pressure on boniest part of my rump. If the front of the seat could be raised that might support more of my thigh to take some pressure off of the part that hurts.

I've been wanting to the cover off the seat, remove some of the bottom cushion and replace it with some other kind of foam. Not sure what to replace it with. Maybe an inch or so of memory foam?

The work doesn't seem too involved to do it, but I don't want to ruin my seat cushion if it doesn't work out...

My previous car was a Lexus IS with the F-Sport seats... Would love to have those in my car...

[firekat]

Originally Posted by MoonieGT

For reference I am 6 feet tall, 170 lbs, 32 inch waist.

Skinny! Your not carrying much of a caboose, surprised your not getting sciatic type leg pain.