Uncomfortable front seats

pmansson

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Tough to admit it, but they are not very comfortable. I would like to get further down in the driver´s seat, but don´t know how to modify. Leave 300 Lb of cement bags on the seat over the winter perhaps.....
Any means of cutting some of the metal springs and associated wiring under the seat??
No difference in comfort level between early and >74 seats.
Peder
 

alanmcg

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springs

i agree, seats are not comfortable even when newly rebuilt.

re sitting lower, i wanted same, so tied all the springs in the bottom cushion with wire so that they were approx half way compressed. this worked, gave me about an extra 2 inches, and didnt change the feel of the cushion noticably.

long term, imho, period correct recarros are the way to go.
 

dang

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I can't use stock seats. They are so uncomfortable I can't drive for more thqn a half hour. I put sport Recaros in every coupe..
 

HB Chris

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At 6'5" I find them comfortable enough to drive to Monterey every year. If they get overstuffed they won't be comfortable. As I posted before, I raised the front end of the seat track about 3/8" and it helps a lot.
 

Peter Coomaraswamy

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Can you suggest a source

I was toying with the idea of re working the originals but after reading this I think I would prefer something with a little "sportier" look and more comfort- Any suggestions? I plan on re-doing the interior in black with a dark grey wool carpet.

Thanks,
 

Nicad

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The seats in the White Coupe on BAT today look quite interesting.
 

rb1971

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Stefan at Classic Car Seats made the seats in my car. Very comfortable (including on a 12-hour driving day and a couple of 6 hour driving days so far) and he was a pleasure to deal with.
 

thehackmechanic

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Recaros, baby, Recaros

The period-correct German seats, with their pleating and swoopy chrome side plates, are beautiful, but they suck, comfort-wise. Get a set of Recaros with the standard 16" bolt pattern out of any car (90s VWs are a great source) and make an adapter plate (see my post) or buy adapters from Dave Varco at Aardvark Racing (2002parts.com)
 

Nicad

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Canadian Corrados had excellent cloth or leather heated power Recaros. I'd imagine Scirroccos had some nice seats . 320I's had Recaros too.
 

'69 2800cs

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The seats Rob mentions can be found in '87-'92 16V Golf GTI and Jetta GLI. Most were a gray cloth with small stripes, but some of the earlier ones were a black vinyl with a grey cloth center. Both kinds say "Recaro" in the center.

They are fantastic seats, I've owned a bunch of those VW's.

VW uses their own slider system, very different from BMW, so it's not quite a straight swap. The good news is those unique VW mounts *bolt* to the bottom of the Recaros, so pull them from the car, unbolt the VW pieces and you have seats that mount just like any other aftermarket Recaro.

The Scirroco had some cool seats too, but I'm pretty sure the brackets on the bottom are welded-they are not easy to adapt to a BMW. The Corrado had Recaros too, as mentioned in the Canadian market but those are very desireable and pricy. Hard to find too, the Corrado wasn't exactly a volume seller. Great car with the VR6 though.

Here is the common GTI GLI seat-

2jbjo1f.jpg
 

thehackmechanic

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Recaros are Recaros, no special sliders

I've bought several sets of Recaro Trophy and Recaro Helois seats out of, as '69 2800 says, late 80s and early 90s Golfs and Jettas. If they say Recaros, they're Recaros, and if you unbolt the VW-specific power sliders, you'll reveal the standard Recaro bolt pattern, which is two rows 16" apart. I've bought sets of seats, sold the powers on eBay, and in the end paid nothing for the seats :^). See this post on bmw2002faq for an example:

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component...revious/sid,831a22491d15d2af99df8b6abade1313/

Whether they're your style, or you think they match the 3.0CS' interior is another matter, but you can find them very cost-effectively.

I have a set of Recaro SE seats that are a tan houndstooth that match my tan E9's leather interior incredibly well, they're balls-out comfortable for long drives, and I paid $125 for the pair.
 

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Markos

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Back from the dead. Looking up seat stuff. FYI - The manual seats below are from a GTI. The GLI seats had power bases and different bolstsers. Basically, the GTI seats had a center cushion that extends much like a scheel seat. The GLI bolsters extend all the way to the end of the seat, similar to an E30 Recaro. The most aggressive VW Recaros are the black Vinyl and grey fabric "Trophy" seats found in the '87 / '88 GLI. The bolsters are magnificent!


The seats Rob mentions can be found in '87-'92 16V Golf GTI and Jetta GLI. Most were a gray cloth with small stripes, but some of the earlier ones were a black vinyl with a grey cloth center. Both kinds say "Recaro" in the center.

Here is the common GTI GLI seat-

2jbjo1f.jpg
 

rsporsche

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my stock seats were nice looking, but i didn't think they were that comfy either. i bought some scheel mann seats (not the CSL type), the kind that's in the drivers seat of jabberjaw. i am amazed at how comfortable it is. it is a little narrow if you have a very wide tail section ... but i like it
 

dang

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These plain-Jane Recaros are in 2000-ish Chevy Lumina Police package cars. I was walking through Pick-n-Pull (self service auto wrecker) one day and spotted the tops of the seats. The pair was in really good shape so $40 later I had a nice set. Sold them on craigslist for $200. Nice seats although they didn't fold since they come in a four door.

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