Lotus Seats! Who has them?

[Brosiedon]

Hey everyone!

Been a registered lurker here for a while over in the Rockwall area. Getting out of my 99 last night I determined that I am fed up with my stock seats. I'm tall, so I did the "foamectomy" which partially fixed my height issues, but it has made the seat very uncomfortable.

I've begun my search for a solution; specifically a solution that is comfortable and snug and even gains me some room, rather than half assing it. I've seen lots of posts online about the Elise/Exige seats...

So my question is; who here has them in their cars and is kind enough to let me meet them somewhere to sit in them? Your help would be very much appreciated, and I thank you in advance.

Or; does someone here have another seat they think would fit the bill that they would be willing to let me try with my behind?

[POS Racing]

I think MC70 had some at one time. Can't think of anyone else who has had the Lotus seats.

[OZMDD]

I have an Elise seat. Not currently installed in a car, but I'm sure we could figure out something for you to test.

[modernbeat]

I had them. I'm 6'3". If you are really tall, like over 6', you don't want them. While they will give you more headroom, they do it by a combo of reclining and pushing the pelvis forward, reducing the leg room.

Best solution for a tall guy is to do a double foamectamy (bottom and back) on the stock seat. Any other solution involves cutting the seat mounts off the floor.

FWIW, I've caged and put race seats in plenty of cars. There's no easy solution. The Lotus seats are great if you are 5'8", but not if you normally have the stock seat all the way back.

[modernbeat]

You'd think there's more room there, but the position sucks for tall folks.

[Brosiedon]

I had them. I'm 6'3". If you are really tall, like over 6', you don't want them. While they will give you more headroom, they do it by a combo of reclining and pushing the pelvis forward, reducing the leg room.

Best solution for a tall guy is to do a double foamectamy (bottom and back) on the stock seat. Any other solution involves cutting the seat mounts off the floor.

FWIW, I've caged and put race seats in plenty of cars. There's no easy solution. The Lotus seats are great if you are 5'8", but not if you normally have the stock seat all the way back.

Jason, thanks a bunch for the info. I'm 6'2" and mostly legs so this is great info. It's really hard to judge from the pictures how it will put your rear end.

I've tried the foamectomy, did just the seat bottom first, and then went back a few months later and took out more...and the seat back which only seemed to make the seat uncomfortable. To be funny I sat in the car with just the bottom, and that was perfect leg room haha. It's highly possible I just sucked up the foamectomy.

It sounds like I am going to have to think more on this. Still want to sit in one of those seats to be sure, at least just to confirm. I know an Ultrashield seat will work for me (stopped by Trackdog a while back), but I don't see myself being able to drive to work in it a few days a week.

[865]

Send a PM to forum member Ziggo. He is tall and had to do something drastic to lower his seat enough so he could fit in his NA.

[ken o]

Race seat, no sliders.

[CosmosMpower]

+1 for Ken, Lotus seats suck they don't provide support unless you're a very big guy. I'd go for a race seat bolted straight to the floor.

[whoswatchingme]

I had a set and even my fat butt, 42" waist/16" at thighs, fit in them but even after just fifteen minutes in them the lower seat at my thigh was digging into my thigh so bad i removed it the next day and sold them.

I ended up with a Marrad LX1 which is based on this seat but a little bigger, 16" inside before padding/etc and about 14.75" vs the lotus which was 13.5" iirc, had better bolsters and SO MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE! Even on a 3+ hr trip it was comfortable and i have a messed up back. Also it gets lower than anything else while still retaining sliders. I highly recommend them, you can get them directly thru Marrad or Goodwin Racing. Even my wife liked it more than the oem 97m seats.

I don't know how many people i have seen with Lotus seats that end up getting rid of them mostly because they were not comfortable but Adam aka Revlimiter did a write up on replacing the foam and said it made a dramatic difference in comfort.

[Brosiedon]

-whoswatchingme

I've seen the Marrad seats. Looks like his current model is on the way out and a new aluminum one is on the way in. Maybe I will just have to suffer until some reviews come in on that. It looks like it will be a good product.

And on the race seat comment; I could just stick a TDR Ultrashield in and call it a day, but I do drive my car to work 2-4 days a week and I see the difficulty getting in and out getting on my nerves. The guys at TDR even suggested against it.

[CosmosMpower]

-whoswatchingme

I've seen the Marrad seats. Looks like his current model is on the way out and a new aluminum one is on the way in. Maybe I will just have to suffer until some reviews come in on that. It looks like it will be a good product.

And on the race seat comment; I could just stick a TDR Ultrashield in and call it a day, but I do drive my car to work 2-4 days a week and I see the difficulty getting in and out getting on my nerves. The guys at TDR even suggested against it.

I'd rather put my nuts in a vise than daily driver in an excuse of a seat called an ultrashield.