2016 FiST, stock cloth seats.
In kind of a weird spot, hopefully you nerds can help me.
My FiST is my only car. I just took a job that will have me driving between 20-30k miles a year. In addition to that, I live about a 3.5-4 hour drive from the corporate mothership, where I have to go 8-10 times a year for meetings.
Problem: my back is super fucked up. My SI joints (in the lower back where the nerves for the legs pass through the pelvis) are dysfunctional. This makes sitting for a long time painful and driving a stick makes it even worse. The lack of lumbar support from the stock seats doesn't help. I'm seeing a chiropractor and in physical therapy, but the nature of the problem is such that there is no quick fix. Enough pain medication to make me able to comfortably sit in the car for 4 hours at a stretch would render me totally incapable of driving, so right now I'm just gritting my teeth and powering through. I have a high pain tolerance, but between the drive and sitting for the meetings, I'm not sure I can handle it.
The plan is to eventually buy a cheap used hybrid as a second car to use for work so I don't have to put so many rough miles on my baby, but I don't want to pull the trigger on that for 6mos to a year. I bought a lumbar pillow, but my hopes for that making much of a difference are... limited.
My question is this: Is it possible/reasonable to buy a more comfortable aftermarket driver's seat as a replacement? I know I probably won't be able to get one with an airbag but I'm willing to sacrifice safety for comfort at this point. I've been searching for the FiST Recaros for over a year with no luck, so that won't work unless someone near me wrecks theirs without deploying the airbags, and I wouldn't hope that on any FiST owner. I have access to a creative and skilled mechanic so out-of-the-box solutions are welcome, but I'd prefer something that bolts on fairly easily and that I could swap back eventually.
Is this an insane plan? I have to go to the mothership next on the 20th and I'm seriously considering renting an automatic luxury car, but that is not a sustainable solution and would probably be as expensive as buying and installing a new seat.
If you've read this far, thanks. I appreciate any input. And if you know of anyone anywhere near Maryland that's selling a low-mileage hybrid that's not a Tesla (I'm not a complete idiot) send them my way.
In kind of a weird spot, hopefully you nerds can help me.
My FiST is my only car. I just took a job that will have me driving between 20-30k miles a year. In addition to that, I live about a 3.5-4 hour drive from the corporate mothership, where I have to go 8-10 times a year for meetings. Problem: my back is super fucked up. My SI joints (in the lower back where the nerves for the legs pass through the pelvis) are dysfunctional. This makes sitting for a long time painful and driving a stick makes it even worse. The lack of lumbar support from the stock seats doesn't help. I'm seeing a chiropractor and in physical therapy, but the nature of the problem is such that there is no quick fix. Enough pain medication to make me able to comfortably sit in the car for 4 hours at a stretch would render me totally incapable of driving, so right now I'm just gritting my teeth and powering through. I have a high pain tolerance, but between the drive and sitting for the meetings, I'm not sure I can handle it.
The plan is to eventually buy a cheap used hybrid as a second car to use for work so I don't have to put so many rough miles on my baby, but I don't want to pull the trigger on that for 6mos to a year. I bought a lumbar pillow, but my hopes for that making much of a difference are... limited.
My question is this: Is it possible/reasonable to buy a more comfortable aftermarket driver's seat as a replacement? I know I probably won't be able to get one with an airbag but I'm willing to sacrifice safety for comfort at this point. I've been searching for the FiST Recaros for over a year with no luck, so that won't work unless someone near me wrecks theirs without deploying the airbags, and I wouldn't hope that on any FiST owner. I have access to a creative and skilled mechanic so out-of-the-box solutions are welcome, but I'd prefer something that bolts on fairly easily and that I could swap back eventually.
Is this an insane plan? I have to go to the mothership next on the 20th and I'm seriously considering renting an automatic luxury car, but that is not a sustainable solution and would probably be as expensive as buying and installing a new seat.
If you've read this far, thanks. I appreciate any input. And if you know of anyone anywhere near Maryland that's selling a low-mileage hybrid that's not a Tesla (I'm not a complete idiot) send them my way.
