hey guys, I've got a 98 with the cloth seats. I've put 50k miles on it since I bought it a year and a half ago. I currently have an hour commute to work, and an hour back. Plus on the weekends I drive about 1.5-2 hours each way to go mountain biking. The seat is absolutely killing my back. It's gotten to the point that it starts hurting after about 30 minutes of driving, and if I drive longer than an hour, I have a really stiff back when I get where I'm going. It's not helped by the fact that I work in an office and do a lot of biking, both of which are hard on your back, but man...that seat is so uncomfortable. any ideas? Has anyone switched out your seats for something better?

The first thing I would do is start stretching. There is a group on Instagram called Original Strength. They have unusual stretches that reset your body.

Biking really tightens your thighs. hips and hip flexors. Eventually it will affect your posture if you get too tight. I would also stretch your posterior chain.

Having back issues since 1994 I have found that if my lower back starts to give issues, I am tight and need to stretch.

I highly recommend Original Strength. They have one where you are on the floor rocking. It looks like nothing but I guarantee when you do it you will feel your issues.

One more thing. The only thing I found that fixed my back was kettlebell swings and assorted kettlebell training. Strength and stretching cures all.

I've been doing yoga. It helps some. I still think I need some sort of ergonomic solution for my seats.

I 100% agree with Swipter: while the seats can contribute to back pain the core strength (especially for a cyclist) is probably the bigger culprit. I've been living with spondylolisthesis (look it up) for the last 10-15 years and whenever I start doing my core workout again, I'm good to go.

Kettlebells are great, but I'd highly recommend working with a trainer for those because you can really screw up your back. Bonus on kettlebells is your MTB handling will increase.

Find great Psoas stretches too.

Next, Look at how you're sitting in your car/truck. I'd say 99% of people do not sit in their vehicles correctly: both on an ergonomics stand point and a safety aspect.

Agree with seat position. I am tall, 6' 3ish, and found I needed to bring the seat closer where my knees were almost 90 degrees to keep my lower back and hips from tightening up. Sometimes they are 90 degrees. I also adjust the back to almost straight but lower the rear.

It was a process but now i know what i need for any car. I have tried seat cushions and the like. They only worked for a little bit, like minutes little bit.

Try the Original Strength. It's not yoga.

Add in another old fart with (prior) back issues that found solace in strength training and stretching. But, the 4runner seats ARE torture devices too, 30 minutes and I'm screaming to get out where I'm closer to 3~4 hours in several other vehicles.

You can swap in other seats. There's a thread on using BMW seats I've seen fairly recently, and I've seen mention of Subaru seats and I think Honda too. So there are options of using better quality seats, nevermind seats that are less than 20 years old. At least one person simply replaced the foam, but the cost for those 4 pieces is more than most seat seats... maybe worth it if you're looking to maintain a 100% original/correct 4runner, though I don't know why anyone would bother (not a collector car).

FWIW, this is my core exercise program: 4 For The Core

I combine that with weight training (which changes, more a maintenance thing than anything else) and stretching for whatever seems tight.

There are multiple types of cloth seats (sport and regular). The regular seats are pretty bad, the sport seats are better. They are direct swap and might be worth trying before getting more involved in modifications. I have a set in my garage that I need to clean up before installing in my 4Runner...

-Charlie

I have had a 2002 SR5 for about a year now. Previously I had a 2006 TSX that had great seats, and I could do 10-12 hours in the car with no problems. My 4Runner has the sport seats, and early on I found that after 250 miles my back and bottom were hurting. This is a vehicle I wanted to take on on long trips. I am also a kayaker with a tall back, and have a pretty strong core.

I could not find a truly comfortable position after fiddling with the lumbar adjuster on the seat, tilt, and leg distance. I happened to have some curved medium firm foam pieces from earlier lumbar projects. I wrapped this with some black stretch fabric and made a pad for my lower back. Much better. I will probably get grins for this, but I also bought some sheep skin seat bottoms, and slid a Thermarest seat pad under the drivers seat. Driving has been bliss. I did a nonstop 12 hour trip about a month ago and felt great, at least as good as in the TSX.

These are old vehicles, and possibly the seats have 'settled' some. I would suggest finding a manufactured lumbar pad to try as one option, but one without too much curve.

I agree completely! The regular cloth seats are NOT good on the back. I have some serious back pain (herniated disks, flattened spine, etc.) and see the chiropractor on a regular basis.

The sport or bucket seats though are quite nice, they are the most comfortable seats I've ever owned in a car. Swap these in and you'll feel a difference from day one. You can also swap out the seat foam if you need a firmer seat, I'm fairly tall & thin so I don't need to. The adjustments that help me the most are to set the lumbar support past halfway, straighten the seat up more and adjust the headrest back so I'm not leaning back and I'm sitting pretty straight and sit as far back in the seat as possible. My chiropractor helped me find this position and it makes a huge difference on long drives.

OP for work, try using one of these guys: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1. You can either sit straight on it to act as a wobble cushion or put it in the curve of your lower back as a lumbar support pillow. I'm using mine right now as I type this. Highly recommend it, you can also use it as lumbar support in your car seats. Basically, if you can keep the curve of your back and the curve in your neck loose and healthy, a large amount of back pain will go away.

I didnt notice extreme discomfort with my factories but they were torn up pretty good so i swapped in some i picked up on craigslist as a temporary solution and ended up loving them.
The guy didnt know the model but from what i can gather they are from a nissan murano.
They are night and day more comfortable(possibly because so much newer) than my stock ones and they have Butt warmers as well as electric driver side.




Also, i have a few back issues and these seats seem to help me stay comfortable longer if anything. I have bad posture but can sit up straighter in these and endure long trail runs with no back issues whatsoever.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You're commuting 2 hours a day in a 3rd gen? You poor soul ...

I'd have swapped to a car after doing that once.

I have SR5 cloth seats. I used to find them uncomfortable after 30 minutes of driving. I am 6’4”.

I did a 4” seat bracket extension and usually sit with the seat about 2” further back than it goes from the factory. That makes a HUGE difference. I also added a memory foam pad under the cloth in the seat bottom which helps too.

I can now take multiple hour road trips and it’s perfectly doable. Not really any worse than riding in any other passenger car.

I really wanted to say that too Absalom: I wouldn't do a long commute in my 4runner. Not because it's not comfortable but the MPGs

I guess everyone is different shape - I find my 4Runner with the Limited seats to be extremely comfortable.

I frequently make 700 mile RT drives to the Bay Area, and I used to get nasty piriformis spasms when using my my other vehicles. But I never had them when taking the 4Runner, so for whatever reason, its seats must be the perfect geometry and softness/hardness for me.

When I had to commute 150 mi a day for work best thing I did was not have my wallet in rear pocket made a world of difference. Ha, in 3rd Gen when gas was $2.00/Gal.