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Uncomfortable seat mods

Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2020 3:05 am
by ReVo
Hi guys,

Is there anything I can do to make the seat more comfortable?

Are there any other headrests that fit? I hate the foward-pointing whiplash headrests that i comes with, pushes my head forward.

Thanks

Re: Uncomfortable seat mods

Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2020 1:26 pm
by veteran
I find them very uncomfortable too. The ones across the back seats are the worst. I find the rear ones dig into my upper spine, and until they're raised ridiculously high they stop my back from properly resting against the seatback. I find I have to adjust them upward to quite a large amount, doing it from outside the vehicle (due to the built-in latch, which has to be released). That's otherwise extremely difficult to do while you're sitting on the seat.

I'm less aware of the forward-biasing on the front pair.

I'm not sure why the car manufacturers have now all moved to fixed, forward-biased head restraints. Maybe official testing has demonstrated a need to reduce head-to-restraint distance in order to lessen whiplash in frontend shunts and crashes and the only way of doing that was to forward-tilt the restraint? On the front seats you can, of course, reduce the uncomfortableness of the head restraint by tilting the seatback further back, but that in turn compromises the fit of your back into the seatback and opens out that head-to-restraint gap again.

I have particular spinal issues and have had to adapt my Polo's front seats to some degree to make long journeys reasonably pain-free. I never had these problems with my old Mk3 Golf's 'comfort' seats.

Re: Uncomfortable seat mods

Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2020 4:22 pm
by ReVo
How did you adapt the seat?

Re: Uncomfortable seat mods

Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2020 6:30 pm
by veteran
Nothing sophisticated. And was not intended to improve the headrest problem. Instead, it was the acquisition and use of a memory-foam seat cushion (for the seat-squab, the bit you actually sit on), designed particularly for people like me with back problems. Using that made the ride more comfortable.

At one stage I contemplated replacing both front seats completely for much better-designed/made ones but that's easier said than done.

Re: Uncomfortable seat mods

Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2020 11:28 am
by ReVo
So does anyone know if any other headrests will fit?

Re: Uncomfortable seat mods

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2020 4:28 pm
by veteran
I regretted losing the 'Comfort' seats and headrests of my old Mk3 Golf when I sold that Golf just before buying my Polo three years ago. Those Golf headrests were just lovely and were tiltable as well as being up/down-adjustable in the seatback. So, a suggestion I have is that you maybe visit a breaker's yard and see if the breaker has any headrests from old Golfs. You'd of course need to get them in a suitable colour.

I suspect that the diameter of the rods of the Golf headrests were a little bit larger than is now found in the Polo 6R and 6C, but don't take that as fact, as I might be wrong. The length of the rods would need comparing too. The ideal would be to find a friend, neighbour or relative driving an old Golf/Audi/Skoda/Seat with headrests that are not fixed in that annoying forward tilt and ask them if you could try a swap, just to see if theirs will fit in your seats. If you succeed in that, you could then try a breakers, or maybe just order a pair of the old headrests from an Audi/VW agent (if they still make them and are at an agreeable price).

Re: Uncomfortable seat mods

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2020 7:22 am
by amer6R
Does anyone know from what cars can we retrofit the bolstered seats?
Do golf mk5 gti seats fit? Like are they bolt on?
These seats sit a bit to high of the floor for my liking and offer bad support.

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Re: Uncomfortable seat mods

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2020 8:03 am
by SRGTD
The seats from a mk5 Golf (or mk6 Golf, which was a heavily facelifted mk5 Golf) will be bigger than the Polo’s seats. Therefore, I’d anticipate the seat rails will be different, and if so, it wouldn’t be possible to do a straight swap; you’d need to get a set of custom seat rails made or modify the Polo’s existing seat rails, if that’s possible. There might also be issues with the seat airbags (the connectors might be different). If it was necessary to deactivate the seat airbags because of different connectors, then in the UK that would be likely to have insurance implications

Wouldn’t it be easier to find a pair of front seats from a Polo GTI? They might not solve the issue of the seats sitting too high, but with the Polo GTI’s seat having larger side bolsters, they should provide more lateral support than your current seats if that’s what you’re primarily looking for.

Re: Uncomfortable seat mods

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2020 10:21 am
by amer6R
In cant source the polo gti parts in my country none of them in parts.
Only golf gti

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Re: Uncomfortable seat mods

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2020 11:54 am
by SRGTD
amer6R wrote: Thu Mar 05, 2020 10:21 am In cant source the polo gti parts in my country none of them in parts.
Only golf gti

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How about the optional Alcantara sports seats that were available in both the 6r and 6c Polo? These were available as an extra cost option in most models within the Polo range and may be more readily available in your country that the specific Polo GTI seats.
12B94541-C95F-4D16-8002-765FAE87FC69.jpeg

Re: Uncomfortable seat mods

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2020 1:08 pm
by ZahariGeorgiev
Try audi S1 seats:
download.jpg
download.jpg (7.68 KiB) Viewed 4789 times

Re: Uncomfortable seat mods

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2020 6:25 pm
by SRGTD
ZahariGeorgiev wrote: Thu Mar 05, 2020 1:08 pm Try audi S1 seats:
download.jpg
I dare say S1 seats will be quite expensive compared to a pair of Polo seats.

@amer6R; bear in mind that if your car is a three door, the front seats from a five door car aren’t really suitable, as the seat backs won’t tip forward to allow access to the rear seats.

Re: Uncomfortable seat mods

Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2020 11:41 am
by amer6R
I have a 5 door

Re: Uncomfortable seat mods

Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2020 8:01 am
by lebjos
I'm trying to replace my VW Polo 6C front "whiplash-optimised" headrest, as I don't like the way it tilts forward.


I measured it and the spokes are 15cm centre-to-centre, or 17cm end-to-end.


So far I have only been able to measure a Passat headrest, which is 15cm centre-to-centre.


I was hoping whether it would be possible for someone to measure their new Polo headrest for me, so I know whether it will fit?




Thanks in advance