I was suffering with this car until I found a solution. Everyone's anatomy and past injuries are different.

In my case, my lower back really hurt after driving the MCS. Can't dial back the lumbar on my leatherette, only the leather.

Then I noticed there was a pretty big space below the aggresive lumbar bulge and the lower seat cushion. Placed a very small shaped pillow in that spot so the backrest "continues" to the seat cushion.

It feels great, and distributes the weight properly for me. If this helps just one other person, the post is worth it! It's not really an "Interior Mod" so I placed it here.

Hope you are all comfortably enjoying your MINI's!!! :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile:

Regards,
Red Rides Again

_________________
The meek shall inherit the passenger seat.
Life is better MINImized. CWFAC 03

 

Those seats were killing me as well. Finally, I found that they completely change shape when I jack them up. I raised them both a couple months ago and haven't had a problem since. Logged 1200 miles this weekend and haven't a hint of back pain.

 

I might have to give this a try. To bad they do not have any small pillows in the Sheraton :smile:

 

I have the standard leatherette seats in our CVT and while they do not bother me in the back, the bottom portion is what I am having a bit of a problem with in long drives. The bottom is flat and hard therefore after a couple of hours behind the wheel it begins to bother downthere. Raising the seats afford a more supportive driving position but does tend to accentuate the problem. Lowering the seats makes the bottom more tolerable.

I am wondering if anyone with the standard seats have come up with some idea to make them more beareable on long road trips. Otherwise in city jaunts they are OK and provide reasonable support.

I am looking forward to my sport seats in my '04 MCS...

 

The bottom should be easy to fix with some foam (maybe a piece of that Tempupedic Heat Sensitive stuff would work great).

Have you tried a quality thin foam pillow? IKEA was selling Sheepskin Pillows quite chaeply last time I was in, but not sure if it would be appropriate.

Regards,
Red

 

Hmmm.....I have leather and have dialed back the lumbar all the way back and it still feels like a small ball in my back, raising the seat and tilting in the top slightly changed the dynamics and reduced the lumbar, wished it didn't have the lumbar, tech at mini suggested I take it to auto upholstery shop and see if they could modify it....damn wish I had the recaros in my old bimmer, especially with the pull out lower seat support since my legs are long...often thought about just replacing the damn front seats, but another $1500 so just living with it since I don't do long trips.....

 

glad to hear you found how to fit into the seats Red :smile:

Just for a contrast, I absolutely love the shape of the seats in my MCS, they fit me perfectly, and even after a 10 hour drive, I'm still comfortable, and get out refreshed and relaxed. Just goes to show everyone's different!

Cheers,
Ryan

 

I have the leatherette sport seats and find them pretty comfortable. If I could change anything, it would be to lengthen the seat bottom to support further down the legs toward the knees.

 

you know...just so happened my co-worker and i drove about 25 miles to a lunch meeting. he complained about his low back killing him. i must admit, i too, find i gotta shift around to recorrect my posture during my drives thru traffic, about 30-60 minutes.

i have the regular seats. i hear you guys talking about sport seats and some of you talking about lumbar adjustment, which i assume changes the amount of bulge/back support in the backrest? is this a special feature with sport seats? or an additional option?

just so happens i work with alot of low back pain patients in physical therapy. i always discuss their car seats and how to modify them to help with their uncomfortable daily drives. basically, the idea is since the mini is low to begin with, many of us have our butts sitting too low, that is, below our knees. this puts more pressure on our butt bones. ideally, our butts should be fairly even with our knees to even out the pressure. so we gotta raise the seat up somehow with our lever or with a folded bath towel.

second, our thighs to our butt should be supported by the seat, except for the first 3 finger widths from the back of our knees. thus, we may have to build the backrest forward or back depending if our legs are too short (backrest forward) or too long (backrest back). again, this is a matter of evening out the pressure over our thighs and butt.

third, we shouldn't be over-stretching for the pedals. ideally, our knees should be about 90 degrees bent. however, this is quite impossible cause we gotta drive and press and release pedals. but having some support under our feet is better than none at all. probably heel support and just doing the heel-toe motion is our best bet, especially with manual trans. auto, you just got one leg/foot to worry about. in addition, having our foot/feet firmly in contact with the floor helps to prevent us from sliding down the seat, which leads to slouching, which is bad, bad, bad, especially over a prolonged period of time.

finally, the low back itself should be kept in a slightly curved-in posture. just like how we stand with a slightly curved inward back, we should sit with a slightly curved inward back. this is our "normal" posture, which helps to absorb the shocks and bumps we encounter on the road. in fact, whenever i know i'm gonna hit some bumps in the road, i purposely try to sit up and slightly arch my back. the problem is that many car seats are not conducive to "good" posture, even if they have the lumbar support. further more, there is no "one size, fits all". we are all built differently.

the best thing i can suggest is a towel roll rolled up to about the width of you low back and to about the diameter of about 3"-4". with your butt touching the backrest, lean forward and place the roll behind your back just above your belt line. then lean back and your set. now, i know some cars have a built-in lumbar support, so you might have to adjust the size of the towel roll accordingly, since there's already some, but not enough to keep you properly supported, lumbar support. there are actually low back rolls out on the market that cost anywhere from $12 to $60+. some attach with velcro straps to your seat while others have a strap that winds around your whole backrest to stay put. i don't believe one is better than another, because we're all different. all i can say is try them out if you can. and the more expensive ones are not necessarily better. in fact, the one i dish out to patients is about $12.

sorry, this is so long. but i know low back pain is not fun. especially with driving, which can be a big problem for us motorers.

oh yeah, one other thing. the car seats are made for comfort, at least what we perceive as being comfortable. such as those plush leather sofas and couches. but comfort is not necessarily what's good posture for our backs. i know this i confusing, but trust me, once you have back pain/problems, you will realize what i'm talking about. and the whole idea with posture is to prevent back pain from happening in the first place.

 

Thank you KBSETO for your very informative post. In my case, that rolled up towel would work, too, right below the lumbar bulge and the bottom seat cushion.

Regards,
Red

_________________
The meek shall inherit the passenger seat.
Life is better MINImized. CWFAC 03