cohenfive Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 thought i'd make a new thread of this. the saga of our new lgt ltd and my wife's comfort continues... she sat in our old saab and the subi 'cheek to cheek' yesterday and does not like the subi seat right now. it seems that the core issue is that the bottom cushion of the saab seat sits 'flatter' than on the subi. in other words in the saab the bottom cushion can be made parallel to the floor while in the subi even on flattest setting it leans back a bit--not much, but some. this forces your back into the seat which in my wife's case puts pressure on her back. i'm looking for suggestions on how to change this bottom seat cushion angle. should i first try to get a foam wedge that would fit into the back of the seat cushion, effectively changing that angle? also is there any way to get the seat to tilt more forward? i'm hoping to avoid taking a $5k hit on the car which she (and i) otherwise like. there has to be a way to get the seat better for her but i'm no expert. last night she made me pull my ad to sell the saab..... thanks in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-lo Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Your wife must have some low back issues, yes?? the proper postion should be so your knees are slightly higher then your hips. Is she in that position in the Saab? A wedge could help solve the problem. Also may want to look at the lumbar support. perhaps that is causing some issues as well. 258k miles - Stock engine/minor suspension upgrades/original shocks/rear struts replaced at 222k/4 passenger side wheel bearings/3 clutches/1 radiator/3 turbos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cohenfive Posted June 2, 2005 Author Share Posted June 2, 2005 Your wife must have some low back issues, yes?? the proper postion should be so your knees are slightly higher then your hips. Is she in that position in the Saab? A wedge could help solve the problem. Also may want to look at the lumbar support. perhaps that is causing some issues as well. she does have some back issues. i hear you on the seating position, maybe that's why most car seats are slightly tilted front to back (to get the knees up a bit). as for the lumbar support she hates it so we've turned it off. her issues seems to be pressure on the back from leaning too far back even with the seat cushion as parallel to the floor as it will go. i will check on seat position with her more later today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-lo Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 perhaps another solution instead of a wedge would be one of those foam rollers to fit where the seat back and bottom meet. Could start with a towel to get the right diameter. 258k miles - Stock engine/minor suspension upgrades/original shocks/rear struts replaced at 222k/4 passenger side wheel bearings/3 clutches/1 radiator/3 turbos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blkwag Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Also try and remove two seat bolts either front or rear and install washers this will raise ont front for more/less slope or if you due it to rear it would have the opisete effect. Depending on how high you go due get longer bolts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cohenfive Posted June 2, 2005 Author Share Posted June 2, 2005 Also try and remove two seat bolts either front or rear and install washers this will raise ont front for more/less slope or if you due it to rear it would have the opisete effect. Depending on how high you go due get longer bolts. have you (or anyone else) done this or is it just a hypothetical solution? it sounds like it might help if it's doable as it would change the angle of the seat cushion relative to the floor which seems to be the issue. i will take a look at the seat and will ask the dealer is this is possible. thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
924 turbo Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Also try and remove two seat bolts either front or rear and install washers this will raise ont front for more/less slope or if you due it to rear it would have the opisete effect. Depending on how high you go due get longer bolts. The problem with this is your wife may be comfortable, but since this is not a factory retrofit she may also fly out of the windshield in an accident. I would never change the way that a seat bolts into a car. It is amazing how weak most of the bolting points are already. Adding potential extra stress of longer bolts and washers sounds like a recipe of disaster. The wedge sounds like the best and safest idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
driggity Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Shimming the seat brackets where they attach to the car should be pretty easy. I don't know that the dealer will do anything about it though because of potential liability issues. If that doesn't help you may want to look into inflatable lumbar support setups. This will give you better control of just how much support you get. And I'm not sure about your Saab, but my experience with them in general is that they have incredibly comfortable seats so depending on how sensitive your wife is it may be tough to find something that matches them in that regard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cohenfive Posted June 2, 2005 Author Share Posted June 2, 2005 appreciate all the comments, positive and negative. we're not talking about a huge change so i'm not even sure the current bolts won't accommodate what we'd need to do. certainly not enough of a shift to raise a risk of flying out of the seat. in fact all we would try to do would be to get the angle more towards what is already in the saab, which is not known to be a dangerous car. other comments: lumbar won't work as the issue is her back being pushed against the seat more than is comfy. i may first try some sort of foam 'wedge' on the bottom seat cushion to see if that helps. i need to find some foam that is firm enough to feel like a bottom seat cushion though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gfxdave99 Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 out of curiosity is this a limited or a regular lgt If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough. - Mario Andretti Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp928 Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 As I have said somewhere else , some makers used to supply washers and longer bolts to allow for seats to have their alignments altered to suit owner needs. IIRC it was only a few cars that had the belts actually attached to the seats (worked well for me, shoulder belt was always in the right place) where the seat to floor attachements needed to be reinforced to pass tests in impacts. I suspect its not bolt failure thats a problem, it would be the threaded plate coming adrift I would worry about, and you as a user cant do much about that. Our OB has a height adjustment lever that also changes the angle - ie as it goes up, the rear of the seat rises faster than the front - not true in your case? jp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cohenfive Posted June 2, 2005 Author Share Posted June 2, 2005 As I have said somewhere else , some makers used to supply washers and longer bolts to allow for seats to have their alignments altered to suit owner needs. IIRC it was only a few cars that had the belts actually attached to the seats (worked well for me, shoulder belt was always in the right place) where the seat to floor attachements needed to be reinforced to pass tests in impacts. I suspect its not bolt failure thats a problem, it would be the threaded plate coming adrift I would worry about, and you as a user cant do much about that. Our OB has a height adjustment lever that also changes the angle - ie as it goes up, the rear of the seat rises faster than the front - not true in your case? jp i imagine our seat has the same controls but it doesn't go far enough to suit my wife so she is miserable in the seat. not a good situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp928 Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 wHATS THE magnitude of the shortfall - within the scope of a few washers under the rear fixing points? Say 1/2" ? If so, and the bolts still had 3/8-1/2" of engagement with the thread under the floor, I would try that at least. Try to do it with a packer or spacer ON the cushion to reduce the time invested to ensure that it will be enough to improve the situation. Then make sure you could live with the seat raised that much if its done at the fixing bolts. My wife is ok with the adjustment amount provided....so far. jp jp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cohenfive Posted June 3, 2005 Author Share Posted June 3, 2005 well for now i'm driving the new subi. put my mtn bike in the back and went for a ride yesterday, took it to the train station today. i like having a fun car to go on bike rides instead of our beat up sienna minivan!! we're going to explore some solutions for the seat...ideal case might be to get the bolts spaced if i can find someone in the sf bay area that would do this. might ask on the norcal board...thanks for the input on this, trying to keep the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blkwag Posted June 6, 2005 Share Posted June 6, 2005 Yes the dealer may say that it is not safe. My Dad and I did it to several cars and felt better. If you do do it just do not tell dealer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dolesun Posted June 6, 2005 Share Posted June 6, 2005 How about one of these? http://tees-usa.com/images/full_xax2_detail_2.jpg http://tees-usa.com/images/full_brix2_detail_2.jpg http://tees-usa.com/images/full_ergo2_detail_2.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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