Aftermarket seat installation?

[DME]

I have been an occasional lurker here, but have not had many questions - or much to contribute - because my 2000 has been completely trouble-free. I drive it 70 miles a day between Manassas VA and downtown DC (maybe 2 hours a day in the car).

I have never been thrilled with the seats but have driven some pretty hairy cars (BMW 2002s and 1600s, old Mercedes, a '65 Land Rover) and so seat comfort was always way down on my list.

However, I am now on disability leave from work due to constant back problems related to back surgery 7 years ago. I find driving any distance in the Insight to be torture, due in large part to the total lack of support of the seat. I am aware of various pads and inflatable stuff I could add, but I think a better solution would be to install a nice Recaro with manual lumbar control and some decent features.

Has anyone done such a thing? Any suggestions? My searches turned up nothing. I am in such pain that I have considered selling the car for something with better seats, which I am reluctant to do.

Thanks a lot.

Dave
'00 Insight
'65 Land Rover IIa 88"

[Rick]

I'm not aware of anyone doing so in an Insight, but we did just recently install come Corbeau seats in our 70 Camaro. What you do is use the rails on the factory seats and weld or bolt them to the aftermarket seats then install them in the car. Just make sure whatever seat you choose will fit first. Keep us posted.

[Chris]

Yes you can install different seats in your car, I have seen a ladies(The one who owns the Green Insight down the street from me.) who has Leather seats in her's, and they are nice

[b1shmu63]

If you have back problems then I would think finding a good seat would be a high prioriy. Temporarilly you could use a thin back cushion to give you more support. One other modification that may prove usefull is adding spacers to the rear springs so that the suspension is less likely to bottom out on the rubber end stops. Yves has done this and posted photos.

[Guillermo]

For getting aftermarket seats installed in your car you will need someone to make custom made brackets, or use the ones that came with the Insight seats and weld to them.
One way to get this done is to locate a local motorsports mechanic or race shop that builds race cars (not just a store that sells car stuff). They have experience making brackets for installing almost any seat into any type of car. It won't be cheap the it's well worth the investment.

[rsalmon]

doing a google search found this option. pretty pricy but they say they have brackets to fit "any" car.

http://on-trackperformance.com/orthoped.htm