Sports Seats

[fieldl]

My 996 C4S has black ruffled leather standard seats.
Whilst I don't mind the ruffled leather I do find the seat kind of uncomfortable on long journeys (over 2 hours or so)
My back starts to ache a bit.

So would sports seats help this ?
What might the seats be worth and what would a second hand set of sports seats cost me ?

[phelix]

I find that Porsche seats don't give much lumbar support. You want to play around with a lumbar cushion to see if that makes the problem go away. One that has a cross section like a flattened "D" is worth a try.

[340ragtop]

If you're interested I have just advertised a like new set of 996 sports seats on the classifieds.

forgive the plug!

cheers

[fieldl]

Porsche Apart will do a set of sports seats in excellent condition for £900
and take mine in part-ex too

[flemke]

fieldl said:

My 996 C4S has black ruffled leather standard seats.
Whilst I don't mind the ruffled leather I do find the seat kind of uncomfortable on long journeys (over 2 hours or so)
My back starts to ache a bit.

So would sports seats help this ?
What might the seats be worth and what would a second hand set of sports seats cost me ?

As Phelix suggests, mess around with the back of the present seat first before you shell out for a new set.
For one thing, there's no guarantee that the new set will work any better - and you wouldn't be able to assess that until you'd tried them in your own car or similar (affected by reach to pedals, ride quality, etc).

I have had similar problem in P's often (in both comfort and bucket seats) and have solved it with that bubble-wrap material that's used for packaging.
It weighs nothing, you can fold it into as many layers as necessary to get exactly the thickness that you want, and it doesn't compress.
Just peel back the lower cushion and try putting a few layers in.

[phelix]

flemke said:

I have had similar problem in P's often (in both comfort and bucket seats) and have solved it with that bubble-wrap material that's used for packaging.
It weighs nothing, you can fold it into as many layers as necessary to get exactly the thickness that you want, and it doesn't compress.
Just peel back the lower cushion and try putting a few layers in.

Eeek! A low price solution to a Porsche problem?! Flemke, when Stuttgart hears of this you'll be summarily excommunicated.

Seriously, this is a great idea. I've just put a GT3 seat into my 993 and feel the need for more lumbar support and will try this. Not sure if the bubble wrap can be put under the cushions of anything other than GT3 seats though, at least based on my 993 experience. Perhaps 996 seats are different.

[DucatiGary]

ive got ruffled leather sports seats

no probs at all with long journeys, one customer I visit every month is 4 hours away and ill drive back the same day, total 8 hours no comfort probs whatsoever.

[flemke]

phelix said:

flemke said:

I have had similar problem in P's often (in both comfort and bucket seats) and have solved it with that bubble-wrap material that's used for packaging.
It weighs nothing, you can fold it into as many layers as necessary to get exactly the thickness that you want, and it doesn't compress.
Just peel back the lower cushion and try putting a few layers in.

Eeek! A low price solution to a Porsche problem?! Flemke, when Stuttgart hears of this you'll be summarily excommunicated.

Seriously, this is a great idea. I've just put a GT3 seat into my 993 and feel the need for more lumbar support and will try this. Not sure if the bubble wrap can be put under the cushions of anything other than GT3 seats though, at least based on my 993 experience. Perhaps 996 seats are different.

I can't be certain, as I don't have a 996 with comfort seats, but generally P do their non-bucket seats with a removeable centre section that clips or velcro's into place.
Manufacturing is a lot easier when you deal with individual parts that fit together, rather than stitching together a big, integrated unit.
Even if you cannot readily remove the centre section, I would be surprised if you couldn't pull it open far enough to slide the padding underneath.

As for the GT3 seats, it's a breeze to put padding behind that flimsy centre section.
Another tip for GT3 seats - if the shoulder area is too tight (which it is for many of us), you can loosen the fabric cover with a spring-loaded clip that is underneath the bottom front edge of the seat. The clip holds taut a wire that runs around the edge of the seat shell.
Then you can peel away the offending foam (without ripping it) and pull it down and out of the way. This gives your shoulders more room and you can tuck the surplus foam down and outside, so that it's still attached but out of the way.

[johnny senna]

flemke said:

fieldl said:

My 996 C4S has black ruffled leather standard seats.
Whilst I don't mind the ruffled leather I do find the seat kind of uncomfortable on long journeys (over 2 hours or so)
My back starts to ache a bit.

So would sports seats help this ?
What might the seats be worth and what would a second hand set of sports seats cost me ?

As Phelix suggests, mess around with the back of the present seat first before you shell out for a new set.
For one thing, there's no guarantee that the new set will work any better - and you wouldn't be able to assess that until you'd tried them in your own car or similar (affected by reach to pedals, ride quality, etc).

I have had similar problem in P's often (in both comfort and bucket seats) and have solved it with that bubble-wrap material that's used for packaging.
It weighs nothing, you can fold it into as many layers as necessary to get exactly the thickness that you want, and it doesn't compress.
Just peel back the lower cushion and try putting a few layers in.

Good idea I reckon. I like that.