ok, so you have a base cavalier and your seats suck. your back cramps up on you after ten minutes or less in your car and you hate your car with a passion soon after.
well, I have been checking my seats out for a little while now and found a cheap alternative. if you open your door and push with your hand against where your lower back would be, you will notice the back of the seat bulge out. That is because the seat is only a cheap frame that has wires running across the back with cushion over them. if you take a screwdriver and undo the goofy cloth latching thing at the bottom of the backrest, you will be able to access the inside of your seat from the bottom and see what i'm talking about. I dont know how to post a "paint" drawing to better explain my solution but will do what I can.
go and buy some decent duty zip ties, about 15 or 20. then feel and look inside the seat from behind and underneath. You will see a cheap grill tipe thing that is wired to the main frame. This streches as your lower back hits it, producing a weak lumbar support.
what I did was ziptie that cheap grill thing tightly to the seat frame support. kinda like a spider web goes onto a a tree. I ran a ziptie around ever row of wire and tightly ziptied it to the frame like this. here goes nothin
| |
|a a|_______|c c|
|b b|_______|d d|
|e e|_______|g g|
|f f|_______|h h|
| j k m |
|____j__k__m___|
take a ziptie and ziptie between a and a, b and b, c and c, and so on. it will tighten up the grill thing and prevent it from protruding back when you sit down. it will cost about $2 and will take about 30-45 minutes.
I have a bad back and think it is well worth it. you also dont have a stupid pillow thing that you always have to adjust.
good luck,
jeremy
How to post a pic:
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Nice write-up though. Not something that I plan on doing, but still useful nonetheless.
my lower back support on my seat is hard as a rock
. there is a knob at the bottom right that seems to adjust the lower support but it seems to move it very little so something definitely broke... i just use a back cushion.. :S
if you have any pics that would be great!, very Interested this, my driver seat has the support of a beanbag chair.
i think i might try this, worse case senario, i cut out the zip ties....
now only if some one can think of a way to fix the springs that are poking me in the back!
Injection is nice but id rather be BLOWN!
there aren't actually any springs in the seat. it is just a metal grill thing that looks like it was assembled from coat hangers. The clip on mine broke, when I went to reach in my pocket. ipushed against the seat and SNAP!. then I felt the back of the seat and I had a little metal thing that bulged out. I reached up and it fell out of hte seat. These seats are really really junky. but i guess we have to make due with what we've got.
will post pics if I can get hold of a camera soon.
Later,
Jeremy
Hmmm This whole time Ive been using the regular lumbar pillow, it would be nice to have something that will stay in place when you go in and out of the seat.
The problem isn't the Rack, it's the fact that the sponge in the seat compresses over time from the weight of ur back and the sunlight and UV and all that crap. The seat is not meant to take the abuse from long drives or travelling, as the J bodies are meant to be an A to B car mainly. I have replaced many Rear seat racks in my car to not have them tighten up the seat at all. I once got my back support stuffed with High density foam that is used in upholstery and that worked out great!
Ryan1
maybe it's just me, but i've had to use the lumbar support. my wife's has adjustible one, but i dont' use it , and i dont have any back problems while driving. IDK
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i just got done doing this mod today and let me say 150% increase from what my seats were, and far better support over stock setup.
this is by far my favorite cheap mod.
oh ya, me and my brother got my seats (both) out zip tied and back in the car, in a half hour.
