Lumbar Support

[john erbe]

Has anyone experience installing any of the aftermarket lumbar supports in your 116? The seats in my 6.9 are unbearable. Recaros are pricey and the cheapest model has the manual pump-up which insulting for that price. Any ideas?

 

[Styria]

Hi John Erbe, are you talking about both front and rear seats ? If you have leather, as you have probably noticed by now, the cushion in the back is very much prone to bad wear. The fibers turn to dust, and also the calico that is stitched to the underside of leather pleats, also lets go and you have a very unsightly, loose and uncomfortable cushion for passengers to sit on. That's the back seat - the remedy ? A new horsehair (fiber) pad which can be procured from GAHH in California.

The front seats -fairly similar situation, but the pads last a bit better. You still get the problem of the calico separating from the stitching, and thus the pleats just flatten out and you lose all support - the whole seat just sags and makes it very uncomfortable to sit in, especially on longish trips. Your remedy would be a visit to a good Motor Trimmer who would be able to repad your seat with good quality foam, or alternatively again you can buy the fiber pads from GAHH. It takes quite a bit of doing, and I would imagine the all up cost would be in the hundreds. The situation in my 6.9 (Gleaming Beauty) is reasonably similar. With the back seat, I have had both the back and the seat re-padded and re-stitched, but the fronts have not suffered to the same degree. A little of the cushioning has been lost, but the fitting of sheepskin covers has greatly, in fact almost completely, eliminated the problem/

Your other alternative should be front seats from a W126. Generally speaking, they seem of better quality and more durable, but the sewing pattern is different. As well, I am not totally sure if they would be interchangeable with 116 seats. I think they are. Hope this helps a bit. Regards Styria

 

[john erbe]

Styria: I dont think new padding or foam is going to solve the problem. For lumbar support you need something ridgid in there to keep the padding or foam from simply being pushed in with time. mpmorris from the m-100 site told me to use seats from a 124 as they have adjustable lumbar but they need to be without memory as the electric becomes complicated with the memory function. However after talking with dealer it appears that only the
'86 vintage came non-memory. Can anyone confirm?

 

[Styria]

John, I just can't quite advise you on the 124 seats, nor can I elaborate on the memory function of the seats. I have just an hour ago returned from a 400 kilometer round trip, starting at nine in the morning, and we arrived back home at 17.30 hours. The car I used was my 420SEL, with electrically adjustable front and back seat - obviously, I did not sit in the back. I can in all honesty say that I arrived in thoroughly refreshed condition, despite having had a broken left femur pinned, screwed and plated - that was in May of this year, and I still do suffer from some pain even after all these months. I suffered no discomfort from the driving, and I also feel that the seats in my 6.9 would be equally as comfortable.

Don't forget, one can buy various grades of foam, and especially the variety that has a 'memory' is long lasting and does not lose its shape nor firmness. Sure, you pay a little extra, but it is worth it, and it will in fact work. Your main cost is the Motor Trimmer. Why not let us have a couple of pics of both front and rear seats ? We would then be able to advise you accoringly. Regards Styria

 

[Oversize]

There seems to be two posts on the same subject, so I'll re-post what I said on the other one:

No experience but it sounds like a damn good idea! What are your bases like? Unfortunately the springs often sag and cause the seats to be horrible. Maybe you could try fitting electric W126 seats? But you'd still have to find an upholsterer to fit aftermarket lumbar support. I think the first MB with factory lumbar was the W140 and you don't wanna go there my friend! Maybe some W124 seats have standard lumbar support, but I really don't know if they'll fit...

BTW the W126 seats don't have a memory, so it should make life a bit easier. I don't recall W124s with electric front seats here (Australia).

If you're going to retain the original ones I'd be checking the springs before you look at the padding and materials. And note that heavy duty bases were available for some models (W116?), because spring failure was common. I'm not sure if they're still available or how much they cost.

A good upholsterer should be able to do anything and custom padding with lumbar support would be on my wish list. But I'd also like the leather to look factory-ish, as I've seen some horrible custom jobs that just don't look 'right'.

 

[abl567]

Late W126 seats have memory, 1991 on IIRC, maybe only std on 560s

 

[WGB]

When I re-upholstered my 6.9 seats four years ago or so I added extra padding to the lumbar area and it certainly is better than it was.

I have owned 126's and 124's and don't remember any of them offering much usable lumbar support.

Try the multifunction seats with air bladders in my E500 - you can get anything you like except when the small Thai girl is off on her lunch break

Bill

 

[john erbe]

Showed the after market lumbar made by Schukra to trimmer and he said that wont fly because it goes in the back and would be pushing against horse hair. Hence we may go with the low end Recaros and then put on the after market power unit.