Can I add lumbar to sport seats?

[sdearman]

New member with a "new to me" 2000 Carrera (Certainly much nicer than my 68 911s I owned years ago)....Original owner added Aerokit / 19 inch wheels and Sport Seats when optioned. Car looks great and is great to drive, but really missing any lumbar support in the seats! (and think my shoulders may be too wide for the batwings :-) )

Anyway, Sport Seats are heated but other than that pretty basis. I noticed the central section of the seat back seems to allow you to get hand in between it and backrest? Wondering if anyone has added additional lumbar in behind? Realize there are heated segments but not sure if there are in padded seatback or behind the leather segment in the seat back? Anyone offer any suggestions, or ideas? Appreciate any help anyone can provide!

[Dharn55]

The heat is in the center leather section in the foam pad. Putting in OEM lumbar support would be very involved and expensive. Simple/non-adjustable solution would be to put a folded towel or pad behind this center section.

Or a little more elegant would be this inflatable one which you can see is being installed in standard comfort seats in a 996.

http://www.sportsimportsltd.com/inseluinairc.html

[sdearman]

THANK! Thats perfect and easy enough to adjust....just ordered one....Appreciate quick help!

[fbgh2o]

I just bought one of them for my sport seats. Bought on amazon.com and they are shipping it to Canada.

I am anxious to install it, given that I regularly try to do long trips and may be headed to Florida from Ottawa next month.

[sdearman]

Got to improve the comfort for the long drives! Nice to see some other Canadians on the forum

[msaif]

First and foremost, congrats on your 996.

There were not any 996's, both 3.4 or the 2002 onwards 3.6, offered with 19" alloys so they must be after market. As for the Sports Seats, they can be modified for a more 'snug fit' by changing the inner sponges. This was option code 'XSU' when the car was new, it was called 'Lower Seat Option' and it consists of a 10mm thinner sponge for the base of the seat. I had the same problem when I fitted Sports Seats purchased on ebay in my 2002 carrera, I felt like I was sitting on top of them and the back was a bit tight so bought the actual 'XSU-Lower Seat Height' sponge from my local official porsche garage and had it fitted and now I sit lower and feel less restricted. Worth looking into. The parts person took a while to find it in their system but he did eventually and I paid about £70 for the XSU sponge. I posted an in-depth article on this when i had it done about 8 months ago so do a search.

Good luck with the car

[sdearman]

Thanks, will look into the XSU kit, it may indeed be the key as right now the seats seem to force my back round with my back sitting on the wings, rather than hold me in place. The wheels look like the BBS LM style (tried to post car pic but wont load picture? ) Will do a search for your post and appreciate the tip

[fbgh2o]

Do not buy the LumAir Plus from Amazon. It is not a bladder, but rather a pillow and bladder. It does not fit behind the seat back.

I will be going for plan B now.

[sdearman]

Tks for the heads up....mine from http://www.sportsimp...seluinairc.html is on the way, will let you know how it works....size is a bit smaller than yours shows, and it is show going into a Porsche seat so hopefully will fit better,,,,,also going to look at Msaif solution of lower bottom portion.

[sdearman]

Ok the lumbar from http://www.sportsimp...seluinairc.html arrived today, FAST ship and works PERFECT Nice size and seems to give enough lumbar to make a difference but yet fit well behind the cover....tks again to Dharn55 for the tip!

[Robert_Daniel]

Dahrn55, you probably won’t read this given I’m reviving an 8 year old post. Regardless, many thanks for the heads up. 

 

It’s really as good as what the others have written. Having suffered a collapsed disc in the past, the seats in the 996 have given me lots of trouble. I can truly say with the sportsimports inflatable lumbar support,  it makes the drive extremely comfortable. Posted from US to Hong Kong in 2 days, and installation took about a minute. Highly recommend it to anyone with back problems.