Thanks, Kathy. I do have to get back to doing the daily stretching exercises. I'm always bad at that kind of stuff so I guess I've only got myself to blame. Keep thinking I'm still young and don't need to worry about it. Wrong! I've let myself get out of shape so maybe this'll be an incentive to get going.

Alan

 

It's the quiet little muscles we take for granted, that take care of us. Look into pelvic thrusts or crunches for back-sciatica pain. Done like clockwork they'll have you comfortable even in the drivers seat of a tank.

 

FSOJ, I have similar problem, I have chronic Pelvic pain and recently (after purchasing the MINI) my pain increased to the extend that I abandoned the MINI and only driving it on weekends, in six months I only put 3300 miles on it and for daily commute I am using my 96 Mitsubishi (The car is so crappy but what a comfortable driver seat).

I should say I am not a doctor nor specialist in this field but only can give my opinion based on my 10 years of dealing with my pain, I find a pattern that aggravates my pain despite of shape, angle, length and width of the seat but it directly relates to the firmness of the seat cushion, MINI seats by far are the firmest seats that I had in any car that I owned and what happens is when you have an injured nerve/muscle, it is sensitive to environment and minimum outside unwelcoming environment can agitate the nerve, in my case what happens is that the nerve pinches between the body weight and the seat cushion that is not so much forgiving and that equals with Pain.

I have done a lot of modifications to driver seat from raising the front of it to put washers to let the upholstery shop redo my cushion with no luck I also discovered the firmness of the seat in sport and non sport seats are exactly the same the only difference is the sides of the cushion which is not that high in Non S I can assure you with that because I spent $500 and bought a complete Non S cushion and replaced mine with it for couple of days and didn't make any difference.
see my thread:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...irm-seats.html
I red someone mentioned about a custom made cushion top pad, I did that and it helped a little but did not resolve the problem.

the only thing that I have not tried yet is Recaro seats but my budget is not in that point that I can spend $2k on it.

for now I stopped messing with it and probably in next few months will start to shop for another car

 

I must say that I agree with you re: the firmness of the seat leading to more discomfort. My most comfortable car is my 1962 Sunbeam Alpine and its seat is nice and soft. It seems most cars nowadays (at least the sporty ones) seem to have the very hard sport style seats which are killers for folks with sciatica type pain. What the heck happenned to the nice old fashioned plush seats of the sixties!

 

I don't remember Sixties since I wasn't around that time but I do remember my father's cars from 70's where the seats where much softer than the ones that you can find today. I did a lot of test drives before buying my MINI but I guess I was fooled with the shape of the seat rather than it's firmness. one car that I sat in after I bought my MINI and think it could be kind of comfortable was VW Golf 2.5 or TDI not the GTI because GTI has those deep Bucket seats, I kind of find it softer than MINI's seat but still sporty.

 

Let's hear it for Sunbeams! I made a wood dash overlay for my MG's instrument binnacle, and I think I got the inspiration from seeing too many Sunbeam Tigers, etc., with glossy wood panels.

As for the MINI seats, has anyone tried a memory foam pad? They're apparently good enough for NASA... we added one to our Select Comfort air bed at home, and the combined effect is amazing.

I find the MINI seats quite comfortable, but I know this varies with every user. My only beef is that I lean slightly to the right all the time, but that's not the fault of the seat. I'm 55, and a bit lopsided.

Spridget

 

It's funny you should mention a Golf as I've always liked these (my son just bought an old Cabriolet that's a lot of fun to drive). Maybe I'll give them a test drive.
Thanks,
Alan

 

Lets hear it for Midgets! My Alpine is black as well (bugger to keep clean!).
I never thought of memory foam. I wonder if they make seat cushions out of it? Worth looking into.
Thanks,
Alan

 

The guy who did upholstery repair for me did offer me to do memory foam but since I did not have successful experience with add-on memory foam cushions I did not took that rout, for some it could be the solution, but before tearing apart your seat you may ask the shop to make you an add-on memory foam cushion (pillow) to the size of your bottom cushion.
I did made my own pillow from regular 1" foam and got all my material from hobby lobby, I cut it to the size of bottom cushion and then cut the areas that I did not want extra pressure and then glued another layer of 1" on top of it, so far this is the best solution that I had, it is not fixing it but it makes it bearable to drive short distances.

 

I've decided to sell my Mini and get a sedan or cross-over of some type. It's been a hard decision. After I drove some larger cars, I realized that I need a smoother drive overall, not just a different seat. I feel every bump in my Mini, and I never minded that, until my injury. I'll probably go with some kind of Volvo, since they are known for comfortable front seats. I feel like I need to put my Mini up for adoption, rather than just "sell" her. I want to interview and screen any potential owners, since she was made just for me. My husband thinks I'm a total flake. She's oxygen blue and so cheerful and cute. (Big sigh.)

 

I've also heard that the run flat tires make the ride more bumpy. Just fyi.

 

There's nothing like the comfort of an Audi.Seats are phenominally comfortable and the leather is one of the softest around.I've had a couple and if it weren't for the mileage getting up there I would probably still have it.The lure of the MINI captured me and I will probably never look back.An awesome gas saving,fun and spirited drive.As most have commented on back pain in their MINI's I have heard that the memory foam is a good alternative along with seat adjusment.Go to your local upolstery shop and ask for a piece and try it.Also combine that with the Wet Oakley seat covers and you just might have a fix...who knows.

 

I too love my MINI but sometimes think of selling it because of the dang seats. At first my left leg and two smallest toes would go numb. Raising the seat height with the crank helped a lot. The left leg bolster still digs into my thigh but it's more tolerable now.

With my base leatherette seat the lumbar support was horrific. At first I used a small pillow filled with some kind of seed husks--bought it at an Asian grocery store. That helped but was a pain positioning every time I sat in the car. I then installed the MINI lumbar mechanism (search NAM for it) which made a huge difference and is my best mod yet.

In an attempt to improve my left thigh problem tonight I tried the spacer mod to raise the front of the seat. I wanted to raise the front my 3/8" but couldn't find a long enough bolt that would allow the spacers and allow the bolt to fully screw in. An M8x50 is needed. I want a Grade 8 strength as someone mentioned above. Home Depot sells a long enough bolt but it is not strong enough. So for now I put just two small washers on the stock bolts. I will continue to search for a fully threaded M8x50 Grade 8 bolt.

When working with the spacers (aka Grade 8 washers), I wanted to add seven but was having a terrible time trying to stack them between the floorpan and seat rail. The space was just too tight to stack them. One even got wedged between the carpet and metal of the floorpan. So I taped them together with Scotch tape. Worked like a charm.

 

Get the bolt at McMaster-Carr.

 

Would love an update on this-has anyone found a solution for their sciatic pain? I have 2012 Countryman with the sport seats and about a year into owning the car new, I had horrible sciatic pain which travels to my calf, making it throb with pain. Not sure what to do-I'm in shape-that's not the issue. Tried obus forme cushion, which didn't help. My physio therapist suggested a rolled up towel under my sit bones, which worked initially, but not now. My husband is suggesting having the seat built up, but after reading the 2011 thread, it doesn't seem like this solved the issue for some.

I have raised, lowered and moved the seat in various positions and that hasn't helped. Lumbar doesn't seem to impact it either way.

If there are some owners out there that managed to solve this issue, I'd love to hear from you!! I've driven my sister's Mazda 3, which despite it's lack of character compared to the mini, has the most comfortable seats ever.

Thanks for any advice/suggestions you have.

 

I find the Countryman seats to be pretty comfortable and less bothersome to my back woes as most other cars. Best solution is being in good shape, while you say you are maybe certain core muscles need more work, frequent weight lifting and other forms have helped me a lot. Also getting that lumbar support in the back of the seat fixed helps as well. They tend to break in these cars.

Driving our Golf VW with its lower seating and legs more flat out is really bad on my back after an hour of driving. For long rides, get out and stretch as needed, don't just wait for gas refilling.

Since our bodies weren't designed for driving cars and the positions we put ourselves in, I'm surprised that some people have no issues at all.

Best of luck, hopefully you find a way to ease the pain.

 

Are you sure you're in a good driving position? Reaction has some great videos on that on YouTube. Also, when was the last time you had an adjustment? That always helps my sciatica.

 

I was on a long road trip with my wife recently, and my lower back was starting to hurt after a few hours of driving. She suggested I remove my wallet from my right rear pocket. I did so, and the rest of the trip was pain free! I know that someone earlier in this thread tried this to no avail, just saying that it worked for me, and maybe will for others. The simplest fixes are the BEST!

 

That should be "Recaro", not "reaction." Stupid spellcheck.