dal20402

I have to say that the bottom cushion of my 2008's seat, while not uncomfortable or remotely painful for me personally, is a bit harder than I would have expected for a low-mile luxury car. It feels a bit like you'd expect from an old-school Mercedes, when the Germans thought of "luxury" as "it never breaks," not "it's comfortable." This thread has me thinking about a foam insert just to get a bit more softness.

The seat is also narrow by "generous" American standards. My rear end fits in it fine, but I have wide shoulders (5'10" 200#, almost all in upper body) and the upper cushion is a bit too narrow for them. Keeping it reclined a bit farther than I would otherwise and carefully adjusting the lumbar support works around that pretty well for me, and the comfort level was fine when I drove the car 800 miles home in one day.

irishbrahm

My driver's seat comfort problem in both my '06 and '11 were due to previous owners who wore down the foam pad in the bottom seat cushion, no doubt due to heavy rear ends. So in both cars I had the padding replaced by Tim's Auto Upholstery in Duluth, GA. Now the seats are unbelievably comfortable.

CRowe14

May I ask how long ago did you have this done and how is it holding up?
I have a marginal concern about the seats creasing/stretching and possible stitch popping/tears.
Also, if you don't mind me asking, what was the cost for the '11, and how long did he have it?
I have family in GA, and the next time I take a drive, I may pay Tim's a visit.

irishbrahm

IIRC, the total cost was $225. The entire job took about 1.5 hours (I waited, Tim's has free wifi). The stitching and overall work quality is excellent. If you read Tim's reviews, they are all excellent.

I should mention that Tim goes out of his way to ensure satisfaction. Once the seat was out, he gave me the option of what kind of foam I wanted based on degree of firmness. He also volunteered to make future adjustments if necessary (which will not be the case).

I just returned from a 16+ hour road trip in the '11 -- the first big trip since having the work done. The seat was incredibly comfortable.

sdwtchlvr

iTrader: (1)

Believe me, I was pretty sick about it 2 days after buying my car thinking, what have I done? It's odd because I've never experienced seat comfort issues ever. I agree that it's completely subjective and a personal preference thing.

So a little update on my situation:

After driving with that foam cut out, it helped with the rear side pressure but then presented an issue of it's own because I was feeling pressure on my tail bone from it. It helped with the pain from where the bottom meets the bolsters but then made me feel like I was "sitting" on something rather than just a uniform feeling of cushion. Once that pad is inserted into the seat, I'm sure it will be compressed which should alleviate most of that feeling.

I am going to ask about inserting foam all the way down the center of the seat to the front. When I asked Rudy at Jim's upholstery about that, he said that would create less room for my legs under the steering wheel. But I'm not too concerned with that happening. I just don't want to create a bulbous raised padding in one area and not have support for my lower thighs.

I felt the seats in my '10 RX350 before finally selling it Saturday and the bottom seat bolsters were not as contoured and the foam in those bolsters was softer. Further, the cushion in the middle was about an 1" wider and felt firm but had a nice cushion and give when I pinched it. The foam was softer on the side back bolsters too, they were easier to compress, both the thigh bolsters and side bolsters. When I sat in the RX350 seat after driving the LS460 all week, the RX350 seat felt less supportive and a bit stiff....but no pain.

I bought a seat pad at an auto parts store to hold me over until my appt. on Monday. It has helped tremendously though it's not perfect. It's the kind of padding with seat and back padding, memory foam stuff. I just folded it in half and put in on the seat and it's quite comfortable. It slides around though and annoys me when I get in and out of the card.

I'm going to ask the shop to try and reduce the contour as much as possible and make it more of an even surface, less contrast. Add padding to the center and perhaps the side bolster padding can be swapped out for some slightly softer stuff although I don't want to mess with the way the leather fits around the foam too much and I know there are metal parts right below that foam. I think by raising up the center of the seat with foam padding, that will do the trick.

I'll keep everyone updated with the outcome.