the Recaros gave me back ache after 150 miles

From XK Racer and Frog

In my 2004 XKR vert which I recently bought, has Ivory Recaros and I am finding the back of the seat to be hard (not enough cushioning)and my back ached after a short trip...I have never tried the standard fit, with seperate headrests to compare.
As somebody said previousy, I will look for some sort of orthopaedic cushion.

 

From XK Racer and Frog

In my 2004 XKR vert which I recently bought, has Ivory Recaros and I am finding the back of the seat to be hard (not enough cushioning)and my back ached after a short trip...I have never tried the standard fit, with seperate headrests to compare.
As somebody said previousy, I will look for some sort of orthopaedic cushion

 

The Recaros are one of the few aspects of my car that disappoint. They promise so much, but they're a massive fail in terms of real-world comfort and support, particularly when you consider how much they cost.

 

I'll say it again. The Recaros are amazing. Way better than the standard seats, IMO.

I'm 5' 7", but I love mine. I love them so much, I might upgrade to nicer ones. The Recaros that come with the Evos are pretty nice, at least looking from pictures.

 

The standard seats must be seriously bad then.

 

The seats on my 97 feel like bench seats. They feel flat to my ***, after an hour or two of driving, I would start to get numb. The newer seats with adjustable headrests are a bit better. A bit more cushy.

I'm 5-7, I was about 220 lbs when I got my XKR. I'm about 170 lbs now, and they still fit me wonderfully. I know many of the people who don't like them are taller.

I think people hate the Recaros more because of the name and expectations that come from it. They aren't the bee's knees, so to speak, but I like them because they're more bucket feeling (though nowhere close to race recaros).

I agree, they're not the best seats I've ever driven but I personally believe that they are upgrades in comparison to the OEM seats.

 

I have the standard seats and find them comfortable enough. Several long drives (500 miles +) also proved them suited to distance.

Having said that, they offer no grip for anything approaching spirited driving. I have to use my knees on the sides of the car to stop sliding all over the seat. Had the same issue with the XJ's I owned, but they were not exactly meant to be sporty in nature. A GT car like the XK should offer better seat side grip.

 

That's why they offered the Recaro option, IMO.

 

I currently have an 04 XKR Convertible with the recaro's, previous to that was an 01 convertible with with standard seats. Truly the recaro's are firm, sit higher, and do not go as far back. I am 6'3" and with the recaro's my hair barely rubs, thus I sit lower down and my back begins to ache after about 45 mins... They sure do look great though...

 

Nice option.


However, if you remove your seats, take them to the interior automotive shop, they can do some awesome things with the seats.

A xk8 was there and he had two tone leather, MEMORY foam for extra comfort, and Jaguar stitched on the top of seat area.

 

I added them to my car after having them recovered in leather on all surfaces.

 

If anyone is selling their seats, stock or Recaro, in beige (SDZ) or black, let me know. The leather on my driver seat is cracked although soft. Passenger seat looks fine but leather feels hard.

I agree with XKRacer. I have to say the stock seats were great on my inaugural road trip with the car over 700+ highway miles for hours at a time. I'm 5'9", 150 lbs, and my butt never fell asleep. Three months later I took a similar trip in my 2003 Lexus LS 430, and my butt fell asleep after 2-3 hours.

 

I find the removing my wallet from my back pocket helps on long trips, which is never a problem a Jaguar as it seems to have a real knack for picking pockets.

 

I agree ccfulton. I keep my wallet in front left pocket, but its getting heavier not lighter due to the Jag. Same thing though. How? Because of the credit card receipts that have accumulated to the mechanic.

 

How soon we all forget. Like most 'sports cars' almost all street driven XK's are not road racers. If you want to start ripping apexes or do well at some world famous race course I suggest that you run a brace across and in front of the foolish 'back seats' and mount a proper five point racing seat belt harness to it so as to keep snug in our lounge chair equipped XK's. Cinch those belts down nice and tight [until they start to hurt a bit] and then see if you can pull one G on your favorite on ramp.
The seats in almost all of the sports cars I used to track gave me about as much lateral support as an ice skating rink. That said, when properly belted in I never worried about support or having the car out corner my butt - I just concentrated on working my way to the front of the pack. By the way those competition belts cost a lot less than anything Recaro has ever brought to market.
An added bonus that a five point harness brings to the party is that many people at the shopping center you have just arrived at will think you are a professional race driver when they see you all belted in while you're looking for that elusive safe parking space.
Don't get me wrong, I wish my XK8 had the Recaro's but not because I'm worried about falling out of my seat during a spirited drive but because I find the Recao's both comfortable and very attractive. Sorry if I offended anyone with my take on 'sport seats'.
RB

 

Forget what the people at the mall might think when I park there. Now the valet guys might wonder what I am smokin'...

If I slide around in the Canyons in a few weeks I will be asking where to get some.

Porsche seats hold you quite well though...

 

I agree. The Porsche seats aren't bad at all. To me the difference in feel between your XKR and almost any Porsche is that a Porsche feels nimble while a Jag feels substantial. Make sure you leave the paint on the Porsche and not a canyon wall when that hard to ignore aggressive romp impulse starts to tease.
RB

 

Does anyone know how hard it is to replace the factory seats with aftermarket ones.? Can I keep the stock brackets for the new seats or do I have to buy after market ones? I can't seem to find them for the jag.

 

Check out post 176:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...t-82601/page9/

Because of the shape of the floor you will likely need to keep the stock seat track, motors and control box (assuming you want a power seat).

The difficulty comes in that the wiring harness is not just for the seat bottom but runs into the back as well for the headrest, tilt etc, so you end up having to tear down the original seat for parts and hack up the wiring.

It can be done, but takes work.

And if you have the airbag in the seat, which I think your year would, then there is additional effort to keep the SRS happy.

There was another member that did a manual seat conversion, which seemed a great deal easier, but he also had an earlier car without the airbag.

 

I just did the seat conversion. I used a set of refurbished Recaro Ergomed seats. The seats actually fit on the stock rails though you'll have to drill them to match the seat's attach points. The new seats only need power but we ended up having to put in solenoid switches so the seats would be powered when the doors are open and when the car is on not all the time otherwise the little lights in them run the batteries down. I should have gone with new Ergomed seats as it likely would have ended up being cheaper. One of the reasons for the older seats is they have both heating and cooling but honestly the cooling isn't that impressive. You'll find you'll lose some forward range because the console intrudes into the seat line. You could overcome this by shifting the driver seat towards the door but that would complicate installation. Now, in theory, you could have the computer still work the forward and backward movement of the seat for memory but you'd have to get more creative than we did with the seat switch. You do leave the seat module in place to assure the steering wheel still works on memory.


This is what it cost me for the mod. $3,200 for the refurbished seats out of Germany (new ones are about that each). $1,400 to have them recovered in leather and monogramed. $3,200 to have them fitted and installed (I might have been able to do this myself but didn't want to risk frying one of the computers so used a restoration specialist for the work).


Result is really nice. The seats are amazingly comfortable, recline much farther back, have far more adjustments and hold me like a mother's loving arms.


Were I to do this over again I'd use new seats in leather and avoid the recovering charge and make the installation easier (no lighted switches).


I had the Jaguar Recaro seats before and these are night and day better, particularly on my back side.