Seat wedge / Back support for car

Borris123

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone has any advice on good seat and lumbar cushions/wedges for diver seat on a BMW 5 Series? I recently bought a 2017 5 Series and I'm finding that my back is twinging a little after 20 minutes of driving. I suffer from sciatica in my left leg but have been using a seat wedge when driving my existing car (Ford S Max) and it tends to do the trick. Unfortunately, using the same seat wedge in the 5 Series doesn't have the same effect at all, and unfortunately this particular model doesn't have electric lumbar adjustment. Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Eireann81

If you can tilt the base of the seat, try tilting the front of it down. Another thing I do on long journeys is slightly adjust the seat position every 20 - 30 mins so that the pressure is not always on the same spot. Stretching properly before a journey can help too.

I'm guessing it's an SE spec 5 series? I've driven both SE and Msport and I find the Msport seats a lot better. Maybe you could replace the driver's seat with an Msport version. It'd be worth trying to get a spin in an Msport version first to confirm that it works for you.

Lastly, if the pain gets too much, and you need to change car, try a Volvo. They really know how to design good car seats.

rdhma

There are aftermarket electric lumbar support kits, but there is a much cheaper option.

I fitted inflating bag lumbar support inside the seat on a 4 series.
5 series would be similar. It's an easy job for any car where the seat back is removable.

https://www.corbeau-seats.com/product/lumber-support/
Cheaper ones may be available but quality on this is good.
Pull out two plastic fasteners at the bottom of the seat back and slide it off.

Slide in the bag and use some cable ties to secure it.

Refit seat back, inflate, job done. Definitely improved comfort on long journeys.

Borris123

Eireann81 wrote: »

If you can tilt the base of the seat, try tilting the front of it down. Another thing I do on long journeys is slightly adjust the seat position every 20 - 30 mins so that the pressure is not always on the same spot. Stretching properly before a journey can help too.

I'm guessing it's an SE spec 5 series? I've driven both SE and Msport and I find the Msport seats a lot better. Maybe you could replace the driver's seat with an Msport version. It'd be worth trying to get a spin in an Msport version first to confirm that it works for you.

Lastly, if the pain gets too much, and you need to change car, try a Volvo. They really know how to design good car seats.

Thanks for that, Éireann81. I have the front of the seat tilted as far down as possible but tbh I thought there'd be a bit more tilt range in it! I might just try the M Sport for the fun of it. Thanks again ðŸ‘

Borris123

rdhma wrote: »

There are aftermarket electric lumbar support kits, but there is a much cheaper option.

I fitted inflating bag lumbar support inside the seat on a 4 series.
5 series would be similar. It's an easy job for any car where the seat back is removable.

https://www.corbeau-seats.com/product/lumber-support/
Cheaper ones may be available but quality on this is good.
Pull out two plastic fasteners at the bottom of the seat back and slide it off.

Slide in the bag and use some cable ties to secure it.

Refit seat back, inflate, job done. Definitely improved comfort on long journeys.

Thanks rdhma, that seems like a fairly straightforward solution alright! I might just look into something like that after I've tried one more lumbar cushion (trial and error stuff here 😂). Really appreciate the information, photos etc., you're very good. ðŸ‘

jlm29

Have you tried just rolling up a towel?

Borris123

Eireann81 wrote: »

If you can tilt the base of the seat, try tilting the front of it down. Another thing I do on long journeys is slightly adjust the seat position every 20 - 30 mins so that the pressure is not always on the same spot. Stretching properly before a journey can help too.

I'm guessing it's an SE spec 5 series? I've driven both SE and Msport and I find the Msport seats a lot better. Maybe you could replace the driver's seat with an Msport version. It'd be worth trying to get a spin in an Msport version first to confirm that it works for you.

Lastly, if the pain gets too much, and you need to change car, try a Volvo. They really know how to design good car seats.

Apologies, Éireann81, I seem to have accidentally reported your post by inadvertently hitting the report icon!! Hopefully this message clarifies to admin that it was an accident!!! 🙄

Borris123

jlm29 wrote: »

Have you tried just rolling up a towel?

Thanks Jlm, I'm doing all of that for now as part of my trial and error process 😉

Eireann81

Borris123 wrote: »

Apologies, Éireann81, I seem to have accidentally reported your post by inadvertently hitting the report icon!! Hopefully this message clarifies to admin that it was an accident!!! 🙄

No worries!

I didn't get any benefit from using a wedge in my car. Are you tall? My physio told me that I didn't find the wedge any good because I am too tall to get any benefit out of it in the car. I probably had the seat base too low when using the wedge so that I could see out of the windscreen properly. The rolled-up towel is a good cheap/free option to try out, and I hadn't heard of the inflatable lumbar support implants.

A friend of mine with similar lower back issues finds that jeeps/people carriers offer a pain-free seating position.

I've found that cars with sports seats give me less pain as they tend to be more supportive. Although, as I said earlier, I found Volvo (probably the least sportiest brand) the best.

If your car has heated seats, you could try cycling them on and off at intervals.

Borris123

Eireann81 wrote: »

No worries!

I didn't get any benefit from using a wedge in my car. Are you tall? My physio told me that I didn't find the wedge any good because I am too tall to get any benefit out of it in the car. I probably had the seat base too low when using the wedge so that I could see out of the windscreen properly. The rolled-up towel is a good cheap/free option to try out, and I hadn't heard of the inflatable lumbar support implants.

A friend of mine with similar lower back issues finds that jeeps/people carriers offer a pain-free seating position.

I've found that cars with sports seats give me less pain as they tend to be more supportive. Although, as I said earlier, I found Volvo (probably the least sportiest brand) the best.

If your car has heated seats, you could try cycling them on and off at intervals.

Thanks again for that. Yes, I'm just short of 6ft but I've found the range of adjustment on the S Max to be very good, and I can find a very comfortable position with good view etc. using the seat wedge.

I'll give the rolled towel a go and see what it feels like. The heated seats might be another option worth a try, as you mention.

ml100

Borris123 wrote: »

Thanks again for that. Yes, I'm just short of 6ft but I've found the range of adjustment on the S Max to be very good, and I can find a very comfortable position with good view etc. using the seat wedge.

I'll give the rolled towel a go and see what it feels like. The heated seats might be another option worth a try, as you mention.

The seating position in an smax will be completely different than a 5 series bmw, regardless of the different seats the smax seat will be much higher off the floor of the car giving you a much more upright seating position which is good for lower back pain, my wife drives an smax and I can do 2 or 3 hour drive in it no problem, I have a golf and I've had to add a seat widge to make it tolerable, I have lower back issues. When changing my car last year I tried several different cars, including bmw 3, 5 etc I couldn't get comfortable in any of them you are sitting to low, the x1 was ok but out of budget, after trying several different cars I decided to stay with the devil you know and went from a mk6 to mk7 golf, absolutely lovely car but it will be my last golf as its that bit lower than the mk6 and is not great for my back, next time it will be something with a much more upright driving position, some sort of crossover.

Borris123

ml100 wrote: »

The seating position in an smax will be completely different than a 5 series bmw, regardless of the different seats the smax seat will be much higher off the floor of the car giving you a much more upright seating position which is good for lower back pain, my wife drives an smax and I can do 2 or 3 hour drive in it no problem, I have a golf and I've had to add a seat widge to make it tolerable, I have lower back issues. When changing my car last year I tried several different cars, including bmw 3, 5 etc I couldn't get comfortable in any of them you are sitting to low, the x1 was ok but out of budget, after trying several different cars I decided to stay with the devil you know and went from a mk6 to mk7 golf, absolutely lovely car but it will be my last golf as its that bit lower than the mk6 and is not great for my back, next time it will be something with a much more upright driving position, some sort of crossover.

Thanks ml100. The difference is chalk and cheese alright. I'm going to try to remain optimistic, for now at least! 😂