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Have been looking at LWBS seat insert upgrades with different fabric and foam options. After watching Gary's video on changing the material and installing the seat cushions, I got the idea of inserting a little extra foam on top of the standard Porsche injection molded foam. Ordered the foam and did one seat last night. Very happy with the results. The seat looks about the same and it is definitely more comfortable. Still firm, but now my butt and spine mold into the seat better.
Was looking for memory foam, but it was hard to find the real stuff. Lots of junk on Amazon that is advertised as memory foam, but not the real thing. Found a speciality foam company "Foam Source" with a very informative sales person and she helped me out. First off they did not have 1/2 inch memory foam, they only went down to 1 inch of thickness. I wanted the thinnest foam that would add a little extra cushion while still fitting under the stock fabric covers. She also stated that such thin memory foam would likely be too soft for this application. She recommended high density foam, but in the soft and or medium firmness. You don't want low density foam as it will not last as long and is of lesser quality. So I ordered some of each from them. High density foam in soft firmness ILD-16 for the back rest, and medium firmness ILD-26 for the seat portion. The denser material has more cushion for the weight of your behind, while the softer material allows your back to better conform to the seat since there isn't as much pressure pushing you into the seat back. So far after a morning drive that strategy has worked out well, and I am pleased with the results. This of course won't be as comfortable as a full memory foam seat cushion upgrade from one of our well known vendors, but it is an option for those who like to make simple cost effective improvements. The foam was $46 with shipping and I made sure I had enough to cover any redos. The foam quality is excellent and the medium version almost feels like memory foam.
Foam material:
white is the soft foam with an ILD-16
yellow is the medium foam with an ILD-26
for reference there are three other more firm foams with an ILD of 35, 41, or 61
Since the base OEM material from Porsche is likely one of these higher numbers, we just want a thin layer of relatively compliant material to make our seats more comfortable.
Seat cover removal:
Just a few pictures of the process. Once open, you just cut and trim each piece to fit over the different sections of the seat. You do not want to totally remove the whole seat cover. They are held in place by the velcro under the cross stitching. The bottom insert has one velcro divider, which I just left in place to keep the seat covering in its original factory alignment. For the backrest insert, I did the bottom section first, closed it, and then open the top portion and peeled back the upper velcro, then did the middle section, put the velcro back in the groove, and then did the top section. I also chamfered the top edges of the foam, but this is not necessary. Please see Gary's video for more details on this whole process. I did not feel in any way that I was over stretching the material to cover the extra foam, but I do believe anything thicker than .5 inches of compliant foam will not likely fit well under the stock seat cover. The whole thing took about 90 minutes for the drivers seat. I am going to leave the passenger seat stock for now to allow friends to compare the differences.
Also did the TPC seat recline brackets for the drivers seat as well. Easy install and the perfect angle for me. One inch higher in the front. Now my LWBS fits me better and is more comfortable. Both of these mods feel totally like OEM upgrades. Here are few pictures of the stock and completed seats. Kinda hard to see much difference, but they definitely feel different. Just the way I like it.
OEM Stock Passenger's Seat:
Upgraded Driver's Seat: TPC brackets with extra foam. Notice the angle and how much higher the front of the seat is compared to stock. The seat inserts look almost the same, except they are a little more puffed up.
Foamsource.com
From the main page just curser over "Custom Foam" in the header and click on "Price & Order Custom Foam Online". Then you can place your order to the following specifications or whatever else you may like. These are my recommendations below. I spent 10 minutes talking with one of their representatives to come up with this order.
Foam Source Order Summary:
This allows for plenty of foam to get the job done. Shipping and handling was a flat rate of $15, so the whole deal costs $46 plus whatever your expenses are for some adult beverages, and of course some of your time. Not a bad deal! Hopefully this will help anyone who is on the fence about ordering the LWBS, as this offers a simple option to make them more comfortable if necessary. We already know that there is always grumbling about the comfort of the LWBS on the forum, so this may also help some of those who already have them. Simple, cheap, reversible, and maintainable. If after a few years, the bottom cushion under your butt feels like it needs refreshing, then it can be easily changed out again. You could also upgrade one side and leave the other side stock, and interchange them as you see fit.
Good Luck on anyone who decides to try this upgrade.
Last edited by lovetoturn; 12-20-2020 at 06:25 PM.
Yes the P1 Design's memory foam inserts are great. They have a full inch of memory foam in their design. A step above this process in terms of overall comfort. You ride a little higher in the seat to get the softer feel though. This simple upgrade keeps you lower in the seat, but without quite as much cushioning. Just depends on what you are looking for.
Will likely add some aftermarket seat covers (911R black and silver fabric) at a latter date.
I did the same mod as OP, but used it for inserts from Garry at Classic FX. These are the black and silver OEM material. I find the LWBS comfortable. The extra foam makes them even better. Happy I did this easy mod and thanks to OP for sharing.
Front of insert cover Back of insert cover I cut 3 pieces of foam for the seat back (2 for bottom) My foam cut outs on top off factory foam. Final Crappy light. But trying to show shark blue paint with the seat inserts.
Last edited by FourFourTwo; 10-10-2021 at 09:11 PM.
Coincidentally did the same mod on my sparcos QRT performance seat. I saw the Amazon listings for “memory foam” and had the same reaction reading their reviews and specs. I cannibalized a not being used mattress topper which we had bought after a lot of research and knew it to be comfortable. I replaced the whole sparco cushion (2 inches) with 3 inch memory foam. The memory foam is more compressible so there is not effective change in height. I haven’t done a long drive test ( okc to Dallas kind), but driving around town felt less pressure on the posterior.
next is figuring out the lumbar support cushions and back but that’s likely going to be different density foam as OP mentioned. thanks for sharing your source of foam!
I did the same mod as OP, but used it for inserts from Garry at Classic FX. These are the black and silver OEM material. I find the LWBS comfortable. The extra foam makes them even better. Happy I did this easy mod and thanks to OP for sharing.
Front of insert cover Back of insert cover I cut 3 pieces of foam for the seat back (2 for bottom) My foam cut outs on top off factory foam. Final Crappy light. But trying to show shark blue paint with the seat inserts.
STUNNING!!! - SIMPLY STUNNING! - I have shark envy!
STUNNING!!! - SIMPLY STUNNING! - I have shark envy!
Shark blue in the sun is stunning. I love the pops of paint color against the black interior you see through the windshield while driving. I’ve had several cars with black wheels and wanted something different. I love my silver wheels with shark blue.
Questions for those who have done one of these fabric changes: does the fabric breath better than the OEM?
In my experience, I do feel the OEM pepita fabric breathes better. Less sweat on a hot day with top down. The material is very comfortable against the skin. Thumbs up from the wife too.
Also, swapping the insert covers with the OEM foam is really easy. You don’t need to pay Porsche tax for aftermarket inserts with foam, unless you must have memory foam to make the LWBS comfortable. So, I feel Garry’s price point is a better value compared to others out there.
Last edited by FourFourTwo; 10-13-2021 at 08:51 AM.
Thanks for the report FourFourTwo. Those are the exact cushion covers that I have been thinking about getting from Gary or P1 Designs. They look great in you car.
12-20-2020, 02:23 PM
LWBS Cushion Upgrade
