FINALLY made my driver seat comfortable enough!

FINALLY made my driver seat comfortable enough!

Folks,

As you may recall, I've been whining quite a bit about the Corolla seat. I've been plugging along with all sorts of ideas -- seat covers, seat cushions, even tried the "raise the front of the seat up" trick with shims. Well, finally, I can report that I've found something that works quite well, and it's far short of spending a bunch of dough on a new seat or some major upholstery-shop work. The story goes like this:

First of all, I bought one of these "bubble" seat cushions:



This was only like fifteen-twenty bucks or so, at a local auto parts store. I didn't need the back, so I cut that off -- I only need the "seat cushion" part. This is what it looks like:



Those bubbles are actually quite stiff -- and they do break up that grip on your upper thigh that bothered me so much. So, that firms up the seat (good) and breaks that grip on your thigh (good). Also, there is slight bolstering around the outside of the cushion (good).

I've had this stuffed underneath my "leather-like seat cover," which helps hold everything in place, and provides a slick surface so I can "squirm around" and find a comfortable position, unlike the ultra-grippy Corolla seat fabric. And, I've been pretty satisfied with it, with one exception:

I'd sure like a bit more "bolstering" around the edges. As the Corolla seat has always been, the "edges" of the seat just don't really support you very much -- it's like you're sitting on just the "middle" part of the seat, kind of like you were sitting on a bar stool. So, I've tried a few things to "add some bolstering," by stuffing different things underneath the edges of this bubble cushion. And, that generally hasn't gone very well -- it has always been "waaay too much" bolstering.

So, I thought I'd try a minimal approach -- I've got some of this really big, industrial-sized velcro, with self-stick backs. So, I cut and stuck some of the "fabric" part around the edges of the bottom of the bubble cushion. It looks like this:



And, here's what the velcro stuff looks like:



Believe it or not, the addition of the velcro made a MAJOR difference. It didn't really add much to the height of the edges of the bubble cushion, but it sure seemed to "firm up" the edges, to the extent I actually feel "support" out at the edges. And, that's the final ticket that makes this thing work -- it adds "support at the edges of the seat" to the firmer seat and that "break the grip on the thigh" quality of the bubble cushion.

Here's what the thing looks like in the car -- the afore-mentioned "leather-like seat cover," which covers this little cushion I built:



Maybe not the best-looking thing in the world, but it has certainly made a huge difference for the better to the Corolla seat. I haven't had a chance to do some real long-distance driving with this last scenario yet, but that should happen pretty soon. But, most definitely, for the first time since I've had the car, I really think I'm "at peace" with sitting in the thing.

So, if this gives you some food for thought in regards to making your seat feel better, I hope it helps!

thoots

nice.. ive been reading about how uncomfortable the seats are juss wondering if you can but an audi a4 seat in our rolla. its looks like about same to me

Congrats thoots, I'm glad to hear that your long time battle with the seat is over and it didn't cost you much. :wink: