Hi Folks:

I have a new R56 with leather sport seats.

I also have some serious steel parts in my left leg as a result of an injury.

Now that the seats a breaking in a bit, I'm finding sport seat bottom "wings" hit my leg at exactly the point where the steel plate begins and after a bit I have some serious pain and even some difficulty walking for several days after spending a few hours in the seat.

Please understand, this is not a design issue with the seats, they are fine. But I have a problem with my leg that I have to resolve in order to go on enjoying my little car.

Question>

Is it possible to remove or modify the wings on the seat bottoms?

If not, can I order the base parts and covering for a non-sport seat and retain my curent seat back?

I have gone to the parts sites and find that it can cost well over a grand for a complete seat. I hate to have to go that far, but I really need to resolve the pain issue.

Any thoughts??

 

Mine came with standard leatherette and no armrest (I had sat in all the offerings at the Dealer and liked none of them).

Solution for me was to add four inches of Memory Foam on top of leatherette and cover with Wet Okole (photos in my Gallery, story here).

Best idea for you, might be to visit a quality, local Auto Upholstery Shop to have them add Memory Foam under your leather.

Memory Foam can be quite expensive, I visited a local Custom Foam Shop and bought a few bushels of 'left-over' Memory Foam for my DIY project.

I am more relaxed after an eight hour drive now, than after a four hour before.

 

You kind of have two options.

1 buy seats - this can be expensive and my not be able to be done with the seats in your car depending on options like heated seats.

2. as pilotart said have a local shop do something for you.

 

I looked everything over and I've come to the conclusion that the best thing to do is to reshape the existing seats using the stock cover. Then I looked over the info linked to the postings here, but I find only full matresses or "toppers" that are availabe in inccrments from 1 to 4 inches, but as you say, they are kinda expensinve given that its likely that only a small portion of the full topper will be used.

I kinda figure that something made up from 2 inch and 3 inch blocks can be worked in under the existing leather cover in the areas that are painful. If I can accomplish that, I believe that the problem can be resolved.

Do either of you know of a source for smaller "blocks" of the memory foam?

Do either of you know if the stock seat cover is held on in any way beside the usual seat cover hog rings?

Is there any "trick" to working with a seat that has an airbag attachment?

I've messed with the seats in my Miata to add some support to the sides. It appears that this mod might be similar.

I'd still liek to know if the sport seat back can be attached to a non-sport type seat bottom. If I wind up having to buy OEM stuff, it appears tha the most const effective might be to do that, if its possible. A complete "regular" type seat with the leather seat cover is well over a grand, and I'm not sure if there is any sort fo re-programming needed to ensure operation of the air bag system.

Thanks so much for your input. If the fix works, I'll post the pictures in case someone else has some comfort problems like mine.

 

I found high density foam at Joann's (a craft/sewing store). They have it in many sizes.

 

Not sure about the way it is actually held on but if you have heated seats then you WILL have problems with the seats after adding padding to them.

Just make sure you disconnect the battery before doing anything with the seats otherwise you will have to take it back to the dealer to have the Air Bag Light turned off.

As the base of the seat is a completely different size and shape I doubt that you will be able to fit the seat back of one to the base of the other. Things like that are just not that simple in these cars.

 

have you tried any other stock seats??? you cound potentially trade or buy some different Mini seats and just bolt them riiiiight in. I wouldnt hesitate to let you try mine out, for example, if your in the area.. I think they have smaller bolsters than the sport ones

 

Another problem with the "Toppers" is that they are a 'sandwich' made from layers of normal foam with (often thin) layers of Memory Foam.

I visited a local 'Custom Foam' Shop and bought remenants from her along with construction advice (use an electric carving knife, freeze for fine trimming, frozen Memory Foam is 'stiff-as-a-board' for a few minutes).

She also sold me an aerosol Contact adhesive called "Ram Tack high tack spray adhesive" made for the purpose. Some of the 'blocks' I purchased had been fastened with this and it makes a seamless joint between various 'weights' of MF.

You need to use more (thicker) Memory Foam than you might think, as it is so 'compliant' and a thin piece will not provide the support you want.

Of course I was building under Wet Okole Covers, so did not see the Air Bags, but they came with cutouts on outer edge of seat backs to accomodate the Air Bags Deployment.

 

Just a quick update to let everyone know what the short-term fix wound up being.

I found that if I could move myself back on the seat and shift weight from the middle of my lower legs to my tailfeathers, I could get more comfortable.

To accomplish that, I unbolted the seat tracks at the front and added about three quarters of an inch of flat fender washers (stainless of course). I put the stock bolt back in but I have a couple of longer ones on order.

The end result was that I added a pretty good amount of "Up" to the front end of the seat which shifts my weight backwards enough to alleviate some fo the problem.

Its not a pretty fix, and it may not be the final solution, but for now, it puts me back on the road comfortably.

As a side note, we completed the Mini's first toad trip to Key West. We travelled about 1000 miles in total and averaged 37.6 mpg in mostly highway driving (cruise on, air conditioniing one only a few hundered of the total miles).

We also counted 32 other Minis of every description (lots of the folks at the Naval Air Station seem to have them).

Lotsa radar traps in the Keys. No tickets -- thank you very much Escort 8500.....

This is a GREAT car.