Interior Exterior
Q:
hmm, thats interesting i've never been comfortable in chairs with the lumbar bulge thing, like the herman miller dotcom ones, i've always removed the lower part, and the service mechanic pumped up the one in the elise , i let it down, maybe thats why i like these ones so much
A:
E-Mail from Lotus
Dear Brad
Probax seats were introduced for '06 model year, but can be fitted to
federal cars built prior to '06 MY.
They are 651.50 GBP each in leather, and can be ordered through your local
Lotus dealer. Note that they are not handed, as they have no lumbar support
inflators.
John Hostler - Technical Service
So , let see here
651.5 gbp = $ 1133.67 us x 2 = $ 2267.34
A:
Since they are not "handed", that means they don't come with the seat rails, which you would also most likely have to buy. If you want both seats to be adjustable (fore/aft) then you will need to get driver's seat rails for both sides(the Elise passenger seat is fixed in place). I don't recall if the driver's seat rails are symmetrical, or not. If not, and you want the passenger seat to be adjustable, then you would need to order a RHD driver's seat rail. As best I recall, though, I think the LHD driver's seat rails looked like they would work on either side.
A:
I don't understand why Lotus continue to use these clot abrasive parts on the seats!
I got them since 2 years ago in my Elise and them have dismantel a lot of my shirts and sleves!
I hoped that after 2 years Lotus changed it!
But them are still installed...
A:
When I talked to Nubax, they said that they do not sell the seats themselves. So unfortunately, you cannot buy directly from them.
Scott
A:
Hold on I may know someone who may need to change to the Elise seats.
Peter
A:
Wow, nice to see large chunks of threads getting deleted again. So was mine deleted because I said I liked his Pantera, or because I offered help on where he might be able to get the seats? Or because I told him some of our sponsors like Lotus Garage may have them? One of the first actually usefull posts in the thread. Nice.
Anyway Peter nice car, and best of luck on those seats.
A:
Ya, how about all that edit action,,
o well,, hay Daddy d , can you post some pic of your MG that you have for sale.
Thanks
Brad
A:
I don't have any with me right now on this computer, and just checked my photobucket account, none there either. I'll try and remember to post some some day when i make it home.
A:
I don't understand why Lotus continue to use these clot abrasive parts on the seats!
Aren't they there for the high wear areas? From sliding in and out?
A:
I have been communicating with Donna Jackson of NuBax. Below is an email I just received and my reply:
Ian,
Thank you for your attention to the owners of pre-NuBax Lotus Elises! I am very pleased that Lotus will be offering the refit option.
My relationship with http://www.EliseTalk.com is just as a member. Randy Chase randy@elisetalk.comt is the creator of the site and would, I am sure, be interested in working with you.
I am certainly interested in any information that you can provide such as price, date of availability, form of the refit, etc. My understanding is that the ProBax seats are on the same seat frame as the '05 seats, so I am hoping that an upgrade "kit" to my existing seats at a reasonable price will be available.
I look forward to further dialog.
Mike Roberts
-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Moore [mailto:ian.moore@nubax.com]
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2006 4:13 AM
To: Mike@roberts-engineering.com
Cc: Lovelock, Neil; Donna Jackson; RTickner@lotuscars.co.uk
Subject: ProBax refits from Lotus
Dear Mike,
Donna has passed on your details to me and I know you have been having a regular dialogue regarding the availability of ProBax seats as a refit option to Lotus vehicles in the US.
I am most pleased to announce that Lotus will be offering this service and I have copied in Mr Neil Lovelock, from the Lotus Head Office at Hethel, who is in charge of this programme.
I think it may be helpful to explain to Neil and Rob Tickner (also copied in and in charge of Corporate Communications) your role in Elisetalk.com etc. This would be an excellent opportunity for some positive media exposure for Lotus, NuBax and your site, if well co-ordinated.
We welcome any questions you or visitors to the site may have and look forward to further correspondence.
Regards
Ian
Ian Moore
CEO - NuBax Limited
Abbey House • Wellington Way • Weybridge • Surrey • KT13 0TT
Telephone: +44 (0) 1932 268 677 • Fax: +44 (0) 1932 268 667
e-mail: ian.moore@nubax.com • www.nubax.com
A:
I would be interested if this could be worked into a group buy. i would like some seats for my Esprit. If they had the Lotus logo that would work too!
Shah
A:
I would gladly pay a reasonable amount $$$ to get replacement probax padding - and either install it myself or take it to a auto seat place... no real need for completely new seats...
A:
Well, the mystery continues. I forwarded some ProBax logo pictures to my dealer and they say the '06s they have do not have the logo. He was not sure what to make of it. He did point out that they have not received any '06s in the last couple of months, so the '06s they have are early ones.
Has anyone taken delivery of an '06 without the ProBax logo? If so, do you think they are ProBax seats? How can you tell? Knowing Lotus, they could have been out of logo tags, or NuBax did not deliver seats in time for the early models.
I have set up my one year service for March 8. Hopefully, they will have a newer '06 or an Exige in by then and I can do some seat testing. I will be driving across for service once again since KC still does not have a dealer. I was thinking about using a local dealer, but I just got my shifter recall notice. I had thought that I had the later, updated shifter.
A:
well i'd imagine if lotus didn't have the probax seats ready, they may use 05 stock which would mean they'd have that pump up lumbar support on the drivers side, the probax seats don't have those.
A:
The service guy at MidRivers says they do not have the bladder pump or the logo.
A:
The service guy at MidRivers says they do not have the bladder pump or the logo.
The Probax seats do not have the pump, logo or not that would make them the newer seats.
Mike, thanks for the legwork on this. I would be interested as well if the $$$ is right. Although, I am in lust with the exige seats. Do you know if they plan on selling the probax seats singularly or as a pair.
A:
maybe someone fell in love with the probax seats and pulled a fast one and swapped them out lotus has a couple of different sets of seats they use, i don't know if they all have the bladders (pre probax)
A:
Mike, nice write & & leg work. Keep us informed if we can get a group buy. I have a 12 hour trip ahead this summer for vacation and these would be huge for the trip!!!
Bruce
A:
I received an email from Ian Moore, CEO of NuBax. He said he had spoken to Lotus and they would be supplying seats to the US. They would contact Randy and me when logiistics were finalized.
That sounded like it might take a while, so I contacted my dealer about lowering the lumbar bladder. The guy there guesstimated three hours to do the job. That seemed like a lot to me, so I decided to tackle it myself.
It actually turned out to be pretty easy. I did make a trip to O'Reilly to pick up some 3M spray Super Trim Adhesive 08090 ($17.99 and way more than I needed) and some new plastic pins.
Once I actually started on the seat, it took about an hour. I did not remove the seat from the car. The top of the center section of the seat padding is attached with plastic friction pins. Just work your fingers under the edge and gently pull until it comes loose. This part is not glued to the seat frame.
Then gently peel the center section down to the base of the seat. It comes loose pretty easily and the contact glue Lotus used is not very messy. The lumbar bladder is a black rectangular piece glued to the frame. Peel the edges of the upholstry back to remove the bladder and then peel the bladder away from the seat.
The one problem I had was that the tube from the pump to the bladder goes through a small hole in the fiberglass seat. There is also a small indentation in the fiberglass to hold the connection from the tubing to the bladder. The best solution would be to disconnect the tubing, run it through a new hole, and reconnect it. I did not see an easy way to do that. Fortunately, I had enough tubing next to the pump that I could move the bladder down and kind of "S" the tubing down the side of the seat. I originally planned to lower the bladder about an inch, but the tubing felt more relaxed with it two inches lower than stock. Note the picture.
I then masked the seat to protect from overspray. The spray adhesive was suprisingly easy to control. You spray both surfaces and allow the adhesive to dry for five minutes. Then you place the bladder back where you want it. You don't have to be perfect on your first try. You can pull it loose and try again. I did trim about a half inch off the non-tubed side of the bladder (I had about an inch and a half of seal on that side) to allow the bladder to move slightly away from the tube hole to keep from kinking the tube. I also found it easier to place the center of the bladder first, then smooth it out to each side.
After resetting the bladder, I sprayed adhesive on the bladder, waited the five minutes, and replaced the upholstry. You do need to work the loose edges of the side upholstry back down and smooth. I did not have any problems reglueing the upholstry. You can see a slight bulge in the side upholstry in the last picture where the tube enters the bladder since it is below the indentation where it is supposed to be.
Everything seems to be fine. The bladder pumps up and goes back down. And it seems to be much more comfortable for me where it is now. I will update this opinion after my three hour drive to St. Louis next week for service and shifter recall.
I suspect I am still in the market for a ProBax upgrade, so I will also keep EliseTalk posted on that.