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Competition seats so uncomfortable - any solutions?
I just purchased a Carbon 65 Grand Sport for my daily driver. It has the competition seats that I wanted so badly because they look so great and I track a lot, but after a week of driving my a$$ hurts. The bottom portion of the seat rises on the sides for bolstering support, but they dig in to my bony hips and it's really not comfortable at all. The back of the seat is fine, it's really just the bottom for me.
I see a lot of posts about people switching the backs of the GT seats out to comp seats, but don't see where anyone has gone the other way and swapped out the bottoms from comp to GT. Is the design of the seat bottom any different on the GT, or is it just the 20% softer padding difference?
Has anyone tried changing the foam in the comp seat bottoms for additional comfort?
Here's a couple of thread that may help you. As you see, you are not the only one.
For your reading pleasure. There are more if you like, just search "seat bolsters" or "seats causing pain" in the search section of this forum on the above right at the top of the 'sticky" threads. Good luck, and fear not. There are ways of making them sit better.
I have read previous posts on this subject matter, and from what I read the seat bottoms are exactly the same. There have been owners of either seat that have taken them to their local upholstery shop and had them modified to their satisfaction.
Check this link and this is typically the best fix for the seats. You could show this to an upholstery shop and have them do it, or you could do it yourself. In any event, this seems to be the best way to do it. https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-bolsters.html
Rebel yell has some good posts on this as well I see.
Last edited by Steve Garrett; 12-12-2018 at 05:31 PM.
Reason: Merged Posts
The bottoms are not the same. The foam is more dense on the Comp seats, and the leather covering has 4 panels rather than 3. The main reason people don't swap the bottom part is cost. It's roughly $500 for the passenger lower seat foam because of the stupid passenger presence sensor.
There's folks who will pay through the nose for complete competition seat assemblies. List yours as a trade plus cash for someone else's GT seats. You'll have a line around the block and you'll make some extra cash in the process.
I just purchased a Carbon 65 Grand Sport for my daily driver. It has the competition seats that I wanted so badly because they look so great and I track a lot, but after a week of driving my a$$ hurts. The bottom portion of the seat rises on the sides for bolstering support, but they dig in to my bony hips and it's really not comfortable at all. The back of the seat is fine, it's really just the bottom for me.
I see a lot of posts about people switching the backs of the GT seats out to comp seats, but don't see where anyone has gone the other way and swapped out the bottoms from comp to GT. Is the design of the seat bottom any different on the GT, or is it just the 20% softer padding difference?
Has anyone tried changing the foam in the comp seat bottoms for additional comfort?
There are a number of threads that advocate addressing the foam density issue by just drilling a bunch of 1/2 in diameter holes into the seat cushion and side bolsters from the top (after taking off the seat cover first! duh). This seems to work as a simple solution to a vexing problem (as reported by those that have done it).
I had a similiar issue with the seats in my F150. I put a pad, 1" thick on top the seat bottom to raise my hips up off the side bolsters. After a couple days the back pain disappeared.
The bladders don't adjust the bolsters on the seat bottoms
What are you calling bolsters? When I used the seat adjustment for the bottom seat cushion the entire seat base inflated or softened to your preference. I have a 19 GS 3LT with the standard seat.
^^^^First I've heard of this. Mine only inflate the side bolsters on the upper part of the seat.
Mine inflate those also. The switch on the seat (3rd front the left nearest the back) controls the side bolsters and the seat cushion independently on my 2019 GS 3LT. You can move the switch up-down and then side-side to control the 2 independet movements.
I find my competition seats to be really comfortable - so much so that I can do a 10 hour day in the car and not be sore. I'm very bony myself (but I don't weigh much).
However, it did take a little time do find the perfect seating position. These seats lock you in pretty well so if your position isn't good you can't shift around much.
You may want to try experimenting with your seat and driving position. At first mine was a bit too upright, or I'd compensate by rocking it too far back. There's a happy spot for your ***, too, I'll bet!
The left side switch cover has a small platform the left seat bolster rests on. It actually pushes it up slightly. The cover is snapped in place in the center on a small metal bar. I reached under the seat unhooked it and pulled it out slightly. This allowed the bolster to lay flatter. For me problem solved. I still have to decide what to do to get the cover back on correctly. Either cut out that bracket or cut in to the foam at that spot.
Mine inflate those also. The switch on the seat (3rd front the left nearest the back) controls the side bolsters and the seat cushion independently on my 2019 GS 3LT. You can move the switch up-down and then side-side to control the 2 independet movements.
One direction controls the seat back side bolsters while the other direction controls the seat back lumbar support. There are no controls to adjust the seat bottom cushion.
12-12-2018, 12:21 PM
Competition seats so uncomfortable - any solutions?
Robert
