Seats too narrow :(

[Azzudien]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Yea, I'm 5' 7" and my weight varies between 175 and 220 depending on the year....

Have you tried turning the headrest around?

I do this at the track when wearing helmet, turn the headrest around so my head is not pushed forward to much.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Azzudien

I do this at the track when wearing helmet, turn the headrest around so my head is not pushed forward to much.

yea it was actually designed for that specific purpose, so after I posted this it occurred to me it wouldn't help much if you wanted your head to rest on it.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

yea it was actually designed for that specific purpose, so after I posted this it occurred to me it wouldn't help much if you wanted your head to rest on it.

Do people actually drive around with their head on the rest? (Real question). I can't even imagine what it would be like to do that. Know it is called a "rest" but it is there more for safety reasons then comfort.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Do people actually drive around with their head on the rest? (Real question). I can't even imagine what it would be like to do that. Know it is called a "rest" but it is there more for safety reasons then comfort.

I certainly don't. I don't think I've ever had a car where I could rest my head one it. Maybe the Suburban if you tilted the back of the seat just right.

[Brayden_23]

Clicked into this thread to provide the same response a few others have provided just before this. Hop in the back and tug on the bolsters - I had to do this same thing (6'2", 205). You can slightly tug out the bolsters around the rib cage too albeit these ones are a little tougher than the bolsters around the shoulders.

For lumbar issues, looks like there are some pillows you can get. Make sure your seat is adjusted correctly too which will slightly help. My back doesn't usually start to hurt from lack of lumbar support unless I'm driving for hours on end, in which case I will stuff a sweatshirt (or temporarily an arm) just to make it so I can go just a little further.

[DustyRags]

Thanks, all! You've been super helpful, this gives me a lot of hope! I'm taking it by a local upholstery shop today to see what they have to say. I wish there was a way to see what's going on in there short of disassembling the entire seat- I hate working blind on stuff like this.

Headrest- I do actually use the headrest in most cars. Not like a bed pillow with my head on it all the time of course, but occasionally to lay my head back and relax for a few seconds. Really helps on long drives.

College buddy of mine would drive with his head rested back all the way. It was terrifying on long night drives, with his head rested back, eyes flickering shut... I thought he was going to pass out any second! Luckily ("luckily") he had no concept of pedal modulation, so his idea of speed control was to slam the go pedal until he was going slightly faster than target speed, then take his foot completely off it until going slightly slower, then slam it back down... worst driver I ever met.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by DustyRags

Thanks, all! You've been super helpful, this gives me a lot of hope! I'm taking it by a local upholstery shop today to see what they have to say. I wish there was a way to see what's going on in there short of disassembling the entire seat- I hate working blind on stuff like this.

Headrest- I do actually use the headrest in most cars. Not like a bed pillow with my head on it all the time of course, but occasionally to lay my head back and relax for a few seconds. Really helps on long drives.

College buddy of mine would drive with his head rested back all the way. It was terrifying on long night drives, with his head rested back, eyes flickering shut... I thought he was going to pass out any second! Luckily ("luckily") he had no concept of pedal modulation, so his idea of speed control was to slam the go pedal until he was going slightly faster than target speed, then take his foot completely off it until going slightly slower, then slam it back down... worst driver I ever met.

Keep in mind that there are airbags in the side of the seat.

[DustyRags]

Yep, VERY aware of that airbag!

I ran it by an automotive upholstery shop today, and it isn't encouraging. Essentially, the master upholsterer's opinion is that it probably won't work.

The degree of widening would have to be so significant there wouldn't be much bolster left at all. He's willing to have a look at it, by which I mean if I bring it back in a couple of weeks he'll be able to take the seat out, disassemble it, and inspect it. He doesn't think a wider seat will fit, since it's already a pretty close fit. This is looking to get very expensive.

As far as rebuilding the one that's there, he's hesitant because the fabric isn't available- the entire seat would have to be recovered, and it wouldn't match the passenger seat at all.

I'm pretty hesitant to try bending the seat at this point- it doesn't seem like something that's easily undone, so if it doesn't work, I'm out a seat and with nothing to show for it.

At this point, I'm leaning pretty heavily toward selling the car for what I bought it for, and moving on to something else.

[DustyRags]

Well, I'm still here.

I put it up for sale, asking a bit a bit more than I paid for it because cars never sell for what they're posted for, and waited. Dropped it a bit... dropped it a bit... started getting some nibbles, and sat on it.

And man, I've never had so many offers to trade for a car as this one! Seriously, VW's, BMW's, Fords, Hondas, Mazdas, Fiats, Pontiacs, and more. I was floored. Most of them were crap offers. I got a few cash offers too- wildly low, for the most part, but they were coming in.

Then I got a couple of offers for a bit under what I paid, but still reasonable. I thought about it, and went on a week long vacation over Thanksgiving. Right before I left, though, I stumbled over a youtube video of a guy building up the bolsters on his WRX by stuffing foam UNDER the seat foam, between that and the frame.

Lightbulb!

He did that by unzipping the seat back. I tried that- works on my seats just the same. Cool! I also had a look at the seat frame, and decided there was no way I was bending the side bolsters out. At least not without risking serious and permanent damage.

Later that day, we left on the week-long road trip. That put 3400 miles on my wife's Mazda 3, and is a wonderful story for another time.

The last day on that trip, one of the people who made an offer earlier called me back and raised his offer. It was still lower than I'd hoped, but acceptable, and after a month of fending off lowballers I was ready. We agreed to meet the coming weekend.

It wasn't a relief, though. I felt terrible. I've been watching the FR-S since I first heard about it after I wrecked my motorcycle and needed 4 wheels again. It had turned out to be everything I ever wanted but with horrible seats. It seemed like giving up.

In a last-ditch effort, I found an upholsterer near work, bought some foam, and that night played around with some cardboard templates and hacked up foam. Maybe I could figure out a way to raise the middle portion of the seats, and effectively "shorten" the bolsters...? Specifically, since the bolsters are angled out, that should give me a wider base, since the "bottom" of the "valley" between them was filled in a bit. I grabbed the highest density, firmest foam they had.

I made a template from a cardboard box, then cut the foam to that and stuck it in the "valley". Then I took it for a ride.

It was night and day. The seat was comfortable, held me snuggly but not tightly, nothing poked or prodded me, and the bit of extra height put the wheel and dead pedal exactly where I wanted them. It felt absolutely perfect!

Unfortunately, I've been busy and the 3400 miles in the Mazda wrecked my spine pretty bad, so I haven't had time (or, honestly, inclination) to do any more testing, but I'm over the moon happy. This is real comfort. This is exactly what I wanted! I called the prospective buyer back, and canceled the sale. He was disappointed, but understood and was very encouraging and positive.

My next steps are a couple of day trips to see if, how, and where it needs fine-tuning, and then to figure out how to make it permanent. I see four options for this: Take off the cover and stuff the extra foam under the existing foam; take off the cover and build up on top of the existing foam; take it back to the auto upholstery shop I went to a couple of weeks ago and ask them to build it up for me; and making or commissioning a custom seat pad. I'm leaning toward the last option- it's probably the easiest and cheapest, it doesn't involve permanently altering the seat, and it's the easiest to make adjustments to down the road.

Thanks to all for the information and encouragement! I was massively disappointed at first, and I'm really glad I persevered. I'm not out of the woods yet, but I'm really excited again.

[nico_rsx]

The guy there show how to widen the shoulder bolster and add lombar support:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123479