Head Rest Too Much Forward Tilt issue: DIY Fix! :o)

[HalfMoon]

Curious, are you guys setting the seat up with the back pretty vertical?

At just about 6' tall I have to recline my seat a good amount to feel comfortable in the car, and when that is the case the headrests are not an issue.

I tried making my seat back more upright, which makes me feel less comfortable with my distance to the steering wheel and head to roof clearance and I think I see how you might have an issue. In that position it did seem a bit too forward.

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[gpphantom]

To get the headrest to where it's comfortable, especially on a long drive, I have to recline the seat a notch or two further than I prefer. Other than kyphosis (hunchback) I can't imagine the headrest adjustments ever being used(?) I wish the headrest had been designed so that I could use the adjustments.

 

[gpphantom]

Let's find a solution...

 

[davekro]

I found a solution

I created a fix. I'll post the details tomorrow with lots of pics of the mod process. Now I adjust 5 of it's 10 clicks forward to get to the stock 'chin pushed down' syndrome.

 

[davekro]

See Post #1 for DIY fix for head rests

EDITED POST #1

Go to the first post of this thread for the 'How To' fix I just added with lots of pics and a full explanation.

5/8/15: added ‘How To’ on fixing the
Head Rest Too Much Forward Tilt issue…

I hope this is helpful.

 

[OxfordGT]

Not to necro this thread, but thanks so much. I just got done with the cutting and it feels a thousand times better.

 

[davekro]

You are welcome. Myself, I SURE enjoy the seating position more after cutting some foam away.

How much did you cut away from headrest? I did not do my passenger side (well yet). Did you do both sides?

 

[GJarrett]

Update

Thought I'd join this thread with an update. I was nervous cutting the foam thinking I'd make a wrong cut that cut not be reversed. I decided to do basically the same thing by working from the back of the headrest instead of the front. That way, I would not be altering the contour of the front of the headrest. I thought I would share to give another option should someone prefer trying another way.

Once disassembled the tube support inside the headrest is attached with some sort of silicone seal. I took a knife, serated knife, pliers, and assorted other tools to methodically remove all of the seal until I could remove the foam from its tube frame. The tube sits in a preformed valley section of the foam that positions the tube frame about level with the surface of the foam.

I started digging out the "valley" to make it deeper so that the frame would sit deeper into the foam, essentially moving the headrest farther back once it sunk much deeper around the frame.

The first photo shows the frame in the foam, the second is a side view showing the frame is set deeply into the foam instead of at its surface. The last photo shows the modded headrest on the drivers seat with the stock headrest on the passenger seat for comparison. It does not look like very much difference, but does make a large difference in actual feel when seated. I can now tolerate the headrest.

I hope this helps and contributes. I suppose if someone wanted to make a more signficant modification to the headrest position they could do both: cut foam off the front and also do what I did. I think that would make quite a change.

 

[davekro]

Thought I'd join this thread with an update. I was nervous cutting the foam thinking I'd make a wrong cut that cut not be reversed. I decided to do basically the same thing by working from the back of the headrest not the front. That way, I would not be altering the contour of the front of the headrest. I thought I would share to give another option should someone prefer trying another way.

Once disassembled the tube support inside the headrest is attached with some sort of silicone seal. I took a knife, serated knife, pliers, and assorted other tools to methodically remove all of the seal until I could remove the foam from its tube frame. The tube sits in a preformed valley section of the foam that positions the tube frame about level with the surface of the foam.

I started digging out the "valley" to make it deeper so that the frame would sit deeper into the foam, essentially moving the headrest farther back once it sunk much deeper around the frame.

The first photo shows the frame in the foam, the second is a side view showing the frame is deep into the foam instead of at its surface. The last photo shows the modded headrest on the drivers seat with the stock headrest on the passenger seat for comparison. It does not look like very much difference, but does make a large difference in actual feel when seated. I can now tolerate the headrest.

I hope this helps and contributes. I suppose if someone wanted to make a more signficant modification to the headrest position they could do both: cut foam off the front and also do what I did. I think that would make quite a change.

Another option, great. Did your mod move the headrest to a place you really like, or somewhat lees obnoxious but liveable? How far would you guess the headrest's head contact point moved back?

Thanks for posting this alternative method.

 

[GJarrett]

I wouldn't say I really like it, but it is completely liveable now. It is fine in the rearmost position but I wish that was the center position not the rear; I plan to track it next year and will have to figure out something all over again when I'm wearing a helmet.

I don't know how much farther back the contact point is but would say somewhere around 3/4". I carved out as much foam as I was comfortable doing without risking punching all the way through to the front. One other thing I did was refrain from reinstalling the padding, which gained a little more relief (and made it a whole lot easier to slip on the leather headrest cover too LOL).

 

[davekro]

I never went to the trouble to do the passenger side as I (almost) never sit there. As far as how much clearance I now have... When I wear a baseball cap where the overlaping velcro straps are at the back of my head, that is enough thickness to bug me just a little. :headbonk:

 

[1stBluesCup]

Yet another update: I did what davekro did about carving off some foam, but I used a belt sander w/ 50 grit belt to "sculpt" away the foam. It works great!! Just put one rod in your bench vise and go to town w/ the sander. Using the blue tape to mark your extents is also a good idea. Also carved a slight "valley" in the middle of the head rest to allow my head to nest into the face of the rest . And with removing a bunch of the foam, the padded leather cover became softer and gave more cushion- something that I need since this PP suspension is so dam springy-stiff. I have cervical spondylosis- fancy term for neck arthritic degeneration. When there's compression in my neck from muscle tension or bouncing from stiff suspension, it friggin hurts. So resting my head on a softer, more supportive headrest is kinda nice. Plus it gives more room for the track day helmet. But I didn't want to remove too much foam, so while the cover was off, I put each rod in my bench vise and took a little curve out of each elbow- just enough to give the headrest a little more lean-back. When it was all done, I sprayed some 303 Protectant on the foam to allow the cover to slide over a little easier. I realized you don't want to take too much off without testing after each pass. Like davekro said, he started w/ 3/8" and then went to 3/4" removal. We're not talking about removing a lot of material so be careful.

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