red, I would love it if the dealer could so something about re-grearing the seat so that it stayed flat in the lowest position. Kinda don't think they can but worth a try.

This is the only time in my life where I wished I was short!

Drove my other car today to rest the hip. Tomorrow I will try another combination of seat adjustments. In search of a painless ride...

Thanks.

 

If the dealer says no, I would contact MINI USA to see if they can reconfigure the gearing.

If not, maybe a custom interior place? You want to keep the seat because it has an airbag in it.

Whatever happens, keep us posted. Again, most cars with power seats are able to be adjusted independently, seat bottom and seat back; it's a shame MINI forces this one adjustment fits all crap on us.

Regards,
Red

 

Still messing with the adjustments to see if I can find just the right combination. Took my longest drive so far...4 hours...and still have hip soreness. It is getting less but still quite noticeable. Thinking of getting some sort of pillow to flated out the angle of the seat.

 

No hip soreness; but my lower back continues to bother me.There is no lower back support with the letherette sports seats.Does anyone have a good solution other than a pillow to solve this problem.

 

>>No hip soreness; but my lower back continues to bother me.There is no lower back support with the letherette sports seats.Does anyone have a good solution other than a pillow to solve this problem.

I have not found one. Just a very small pillow from a back rest "kit". I just put 140 miles on today, and no pain!

You may want to try rolling up a small towel (black) and jamming it in the open space if you don't want to go the pillow route. Another option would be to have a good interior shop reconfigure the contour. There are other threads on this to check too.

Good luck.

Regards,
Red

 

This weekend I took the car for a 4-hour drive towards Acapulco on a very twisted highway. This was my first "long" highway trip on the MINI, and my conclusions after the drive were:

WOW, excellent driving position. I got no soreness, discomfort or tiredeness at all!
I do have the regular seats and regular suspension, with 15 inch wheels, so my ride is a lot softer than with the sport plus and run-flats.

I am 5.7 and 140 pounds, so I guess my build is quite accomodating.

 

No hip soarness either, but what I did get from a long drive was chin soarness because my right leg was propped against the pillar most of the time...solutions you ask?

I got one of the mouse couchions (that you can rest your wrist on when using a mouse) and taped it right where my leg touches the pillar...the only problem now is that it's soo comfortable, that my leg keeps falling asleep :smile: jk

Hip sparness could maybe be related to bad seating posture...have you tryed playing with the up/down lever and finding the best setting for that?

Louay

 

I think I have figured out the hip sorness. the right bolster that is near the pain is to high. when I push it down I can feel the plastic spine in the inside to help the bolster keep its shape. If I push down on it real hard I can bend the formed plastic spine on the inside and the seat gets much more comfortable for about 5 minutes until the spine finds its way back into place. I am going to take my seat apart and disect it and bend that spine or cut it out.

I believe this to be the problem as my pass seat doesn't affect me at all. and when I bend the bolster down the seat gets comforatble. If I can modify my seat to stay down or remove the hard plastic spine that is in the seat bolster on the right leg I believe the pain will go away.

wish me luck. I will be disecting in a few days.

 

>>Still messing with the adjustments to see if I can find just the right combination. Took my longest drive so far...4 hours...and still have hip soreness. It is getting less but still quite noticeable. Thinking of getting some sort of pillow to flated out the angle of the seat.

If you have no luck, get some foam and cut out a big triangle with the big end towards the seat back. Maybe you can get some pre-cut. If it works, you can have it covered in black fabric.

Regards,
Red

 

BPW-Pat - Yes, keep us informed on your disection project. I have felt that plastic peice in there too. If you get it out AND it helps I will give it a go. Hope it works. I would rather do that then have to always have a wedge shaped pillow on my seat. Not even sure if it would totally solve the problem. I'm still playing with all of the options.

 

So here it is months later and there is good and bad news.

Good news...I did finally find a seat combination that didn't give me bad hip pain.
Bad news...it's back

So I now have just under 13k miles on my MINI and have had it for 8 months. The hip thing was awful for the first month or so. Then it seemed to go away. Now it has come back in a big way. I mean big time pain, as in I can't sleep on my right slide because of it.

So what changed? sheesh, I wish I knew.

I thought that I was over it by either finding the correct seat position or just got used to it by extended seat time in the car.

Thoughts?

 

Here's what comes to mind - based on the fact that you changed the seat and it worked great for several months but now the pain is back.....

Have you tried lowering it so your legs are more straight? or the opposite, raising it so your knees are more bent?

Or is it something else, like working in the yard, standing extra long, etc... that you are once again doing that is making your hip hurt when you drive.

Could it be how you sleep? and you are back to your old angle of sleeping?

 

Make sure you have a good driving position.

This is a common problem. Especially if you have a "bad back" that was injured in the past (30-40% of adults) or misalignment of the spine.

You need to start with a correct and safe driving position. See
http://www.clevelandclinic.org/healt...asp?index=4485
Quote:
Correct Driving Position

* Use a back support (lumbar roll) at the curve of your back. Your knees should be at the same level or higher than your hips.
* Move the seat close to the steering wheel to support the curve of your back. The seat should be close enough to allow your knees to bend and your feet to reach the pedals.

and
http://www.backcare.org.uk/pages/f_pages/fs-driver.php

The lower back support is key. A half or full lumbar roll is worth having which helps to keep the lower spine in correct position. make sure your feet and reach the pedals comfortably with knees bent a little.

You might need to have your primary care doctor refer you to a physical therapist if this problem persists.

Also you may have gotten worse after being better because you were sitting for an extended time at a keyboard, or in some other situation more than usual or even riding in a plane or sitting long at a theater or performance. All these can aggravate a back condition which is further injured by driving.

Also some info on buckling up safely-
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/inju...-04/airbagfct/

 

My wife and I put the driver's seat all the way down to the floor and we are fine on long trips. She does stretches every morning and I'm a runner so that helps too.

 

Thats hard to do while motoring

 

If you aren't using cruise contol on your longer trips give it a try. Sometimes moving your legs around a little can help reduce the soreness.