sugardaddy2885

This idea just kinda popped in my head so I thought I would try it and it worked great. I made the stock seats stiffer like racing seats. I had racing seats before but they didnt match my interior very well so I took them out. This way they look stock but hold you in your seats when doing a hard turn. The top can be done rather quick but the bottom takes a little more work. But any ways this is what I did...



I took out the seats and removed the bottom part of the seat by unbolting the 4 bolts holding it onto the sliders. Then take off the seat cover by unclipping the black plastic pieces under it.

Now that everything is apart I will start with the back part of the seat. If you choose not to do the bottom part then you do not have to remove it.

You can do it two ways; Take off the seat cover and remove the seat cushion which will look like the picture below.



There are two 1/4" thick wires which fit inside the sides of the cushions. It keeps it from being too flimsy. The picture above is of a spare seat that I took apart. Notice the right side, the wire sticks out further than the left side. The left side is bent towards the middle which also pushes the sides of the cushion towards the middle. They are weak enough that you can bend them with your hand and a little muscle. The seat cushion fits just like it did before and then slide on the seat cover. Automatically you will notice the seat fits closer to your sides. It will look like the first picture shown above.

This is where the second way to do this comes in. You can lay the seat on its side and push on it. Pushing on the side of the seat will bend the wires towards the middle. You will just have to do both sides and make sure its even by looking at it and sitting on it. This way works just as well but much easier.

The bottom of the seat is harder. I used a welder so if you do not have one then you will have to be creative . Below is a picture of the two pieces of metal that were under the cushions. The one on the right has 1/4" metal wire bent to fit inside the seat cushions which make the sides alot stiffer. The wire can be bent at any angle or height for how ever tight you want it. You will have to experiment on it.



Most of this can be done rather quickly. I just thought this was a good easy way to have the feeling of a racing seat without spending the money. I hope someone might find this useful because I did I wish I would have done it before I spent 300 dollars on racing seats that I ended up not using.

JamesJJP

Cool Idea.... unfortunately those of us with Leather would prolly find it hard to do but I like the idea.... I was thinking about buying new seats and yeah this would've been a wicked mod if I didnt have leather.

BlueSS-supercharged

creative, nice thinkin

OrngBalt

I saw when you originally did this and I like the idea. I dont have access to a welder but it's definitely creative and a little elbow grease is a hell of a lot cheaper than new racing seats. What racing seats did you end up getting that you are not using?

sugardaddy2885

I got a set off of ebay. They would have looked nice but it didnt match my interior. Also driving to the beach, 3.5 hours later... my neck and back hurt for about 2 weeks lol The sides kinda pushed up on my armpit alittle to much. Id show a picture but I never took one. I just know that this is much more comfortable and feels almost as good.

OrngBalt

Did you try them out before you reinforced the bottoms? I may look into doing this. but again, no access to welder, so the tops would do for me.

sugardaddy2885

The leather seats are exactly the same size and shape, I had leather seats in my car but I hated how hot they were. I threw away my stock seats except for the seat covers and the bottom cushins so I just swapped the two covers. So I am now really using the complete leather seats with cloth seat covers on it The only thing I wouldnt know about doing it to the leather is if the leather would wrinkle.

j27

What size wire did you use it looks like 1/4 in can you get a close up of where you welded it?
thanks and it looks good

smartmlp

iTrader: (1)

As far as I know, all the seats are the same they just have different covers on them.

Cobalt30

The seats are not the same. They both have different foam padding, they both have differently spring cushion system in the back and the bottom sections. Some seats come w/ the back tensioner. some don't.

I know this because I took apart a pair of ss s/c seats w/ inserts and stock ebony clothe seats.

Also doing what he said about the seats will make the bars wear through the padding since there are pre-cut slots in the foam for the metal bars to go. Having the friction between your body and the metal bars on the back piece will eventually wear out the padding and have just the bar sticking out further then the padding.

sugardaddy2885

Yes the seats are alittle different but you can still do what I did. Remember I did use the leather seats and swapped out the covers. I removed the back tensioner that was on it. To fix the problem with the wire eventually pushing through the cushin then you will just have to wrap something around the wire to make it thicker. Which would make it not cut through. I could be wrong, but I have not had a problem yet. Anyways this is more of a do it at your own risk job. Works great when you do it but you might have to change things up to make it work for you.

Cobalt30

i do like the idea though and i take your word. its just that on my stock ebony seats i always leaned toward the center of my car when i drove so it wore through the padding cuz of the angle i put it at.

just throwing that out there but seems like you got ur **** in line

sugardaddy2885

Like I said I could be wrong lol all my ideas make sense to me . I dont think anyone will want to take the time to do thist. So I am not expecting to hear ways to improve the idea anytime soon.

Preowner

I Love the look of my leather seats, but hate the feel. I would love to hit the curves all day if it didn't feel like I would slide out of the seat. It's partially the slipery surface and parrtially the lack of apropriate wrap-around support.

A friend has a TL type S, and those seats feel like you won't be able to get out.

This thread is realy making me think I could change this a bit

RollOver360

Sounds like someone has the "gangsta lean" going on.... lol

RBC

Do you not have a before and after of the bottom?

sugardaddy2885

You cannot tell a difference looking at the bottom. If you ever notice the bottom part of the seat just kind of goes flat when you sit on the sides. Well when I put in wire on each side it looks the same, but now when you sit into the middle the sides hug your butt. I wish it looked different so I would have a picture.

Preowner

How did you fit the cussion to the new wire/bars? Just cut slits in the foam and push it over?

I'm starting to get more interested.

Did you happen to get any closer pix of the weld points? Because either side looks like they have a little different placement.

sugardaddy2885

Yes I had to cut slits into the foam. I dont have any more pictures of the wire. It looks like its in different locations on each side but its actually very close. Hard to tell from the light sorry about that.

Cobalt Ted

This is a great mod worked very well but, I didn't take apart the seat and got the same results just pushing on the sides of the seat hard.

sugardaddy2885

Thats what I did to my passenger seat. My girlfriend loves it because she kept rolling out of the seat when getting off/on the interstate. I had the seat apart to show what you were doing. Glad your happy

SSSC4life

But for us guys that have leaher, can the same thing be done ??

Preowner

They use the same internal structure (and padding?) as the cloth seats. the only ones different are the recarro seats.

The easy method for the lumbar bolsters is like other guys are saying: just push/pull on them to bend the internal bar a bit while everything is still on and in the car. That way you can immediately sit in it and make adjustments to what feels best.

sugardaddy2885

Thats how I did the the other seat. I just took the everything apart to show what was being done.

SSSC4life

but are there already bars in the bottom part of the seat, because to me if feels like only foam, and in the pictures it looks like you welded a piece of metal to the seat to create the support.