How to Add Sport Seats to a Car

Adding specially designed sport seats can offer comfort, style and even performance to your car. A well-made sport seat offers more support under grueling conditions, keeping you firmly in place around tight turns and quick maneuvers.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Socket set or adjustable wrenches
• Vacuum

1. Choose sport seats that will actually fit your car. Measure the existing seats in your car, and look for sport seats that are roughly the same size for the best fit. Remember, you cannot "modify" a sport seat to fit into a space that is too small.
2. Find sport seats that conform to the shape of your body, especially across your lumbar area. While most sport seats have been designed to hold you in place during dramatic driving maneuvers, too much pressure on your kidneys over extended lengths of time can become quite uncomfortable. Be sure to give your sport seats a thorough "test sit" before you add them to your car.
3. Remove the existing seats from your car. Most stock car seats are simply bolted onto a rail and can be removed with either a wrench or a socket set. Note the exact method used to attach the old seats to the rail, since you will probably use the same method to add the sport seats.
4. Vacuum the floor area thoroughly before you install the new seats, since you may never have access to all the nooks and crannies again.
5. Check to see whether the sport seats will fit properly onto the existing seat rails of your car. Most sport seats come with adapter kits that will allow you to complete the installation, regardless of the existing shape of the rails.
6. Install the sport seats onto the rails, and tighten all hardware. Push the seat around with your hands to see whether the seat wiggles or moves excessively.
7. Sit in the sport seats, and move your body around to detect any looseness in the seat or any strange noises coming from the rail. Use the reclining feature on the sport seats to determine whether you have enough room to adjust the seat properly. Test any special features, such as lumbar support adjustments, to determine if they are working properly.

Tips & Warnings

• Think about long-term comfort when you add sport seats to your car. A firmer seat may actually be more comfortable during long trips, while a softer, more plush seat may actually cause lower back pain after a couple of hours.