Seat play: a loose or rocking driver's seat, and sitting lower

A driver's seat that rocks

In 2016 an owner found his seat rocked slightly forwards and back and the star-shaped bolts were as tight as they would go. The replies narrowed it down.

Things to check, in order

• The two nyloc nuts under the seat. These fix the base of the seat to the runner joining plate. Two owners said this was the cause both times they had it, on two different cars. You have to take the seat out, with the runners still attached, to see them.
• The four bolts holding the runners to the floor, and the bolts at the side near the angle of the seat.
• Don't over-tighten. One owner warned that the bolts go into aluminium and that the chance of stripping the thread is very high. Another said they actually thread into steel: weld nuts on small steel strips inside the hollow chassis beam at the front, and steel reinforcement plates bonded into the beam at the back. It can still be stripped if you are brutal.
• The runners themselves. Another owner said that usually the rocking is not in the bolts but in play in the slider mechanism.

When it is the runner

• One owner described the rail as a steel channel running inside a steel channel, with no hardened bearing surface, so it wears quickly if you keep moving the seat. Sideways play can be improved by pinching the outer channel in a vice. Up and down play is taken up by pressed indents along the top of the outer channel, which wear out for people who move their seat a lot.
• Temporary fixes suggested: knocking the indents in a little further, putting hard rubber blocks between the channels, or stuffing really firm foam behind the seat (which also stops things falling underneath from the shelf). For a lasting fix he suggested a ball-bearing type runner adapted to the frame.
• An owner said a German forum once did a group buy of slightly larger steel balls for the slider. He fitted the first oversize at the rear, as the front ones would not go in, and cured the rattle, but the seat then only moves with someone sitting in it, which makes it awkward to slide forward to put the soft top behind the seats.
• An owner said that everybody gets the problem sooner or later.

Refitting the bolts

An owner who took both seats out said undoing the bolts was one of the most frustrating jobs he had done, and that the refit was worse. The tricky one is the front left bolt on the passenger side. The tips are in the seat removal guide.

Sitting lower in the standard seat

A 2018 owner with a long torso found his head touched the hard plastic panel above the seat and had to slide forward, leaving a gap at his lower back. Suggestions from the thread:

• Take padding out of the seat base (an upholsterer can do this and re-cover it).
• Elise S1 seats sit about two inches lower, according to one owner, who also said they are very hard to get out. The cushion is much thinner, but the shell and mounting points are different too. You can use the VX runners but have to drill new holes in them. The S2 seats may also be a little more reclined.
• Remove the rear plastic headrest panel behind the seat. Its rear edge is held by Velcro, and the rest by three 10 mm nuts. Two owners did this and a third removed the metal part too, which gave more headroom.
• Tilt the seat back. Two owners put 10 mm spacers under the front of the runners with longer bolts, which reclines the seat and gives more headroom. One of them, 6 ft 2 with long legs, said it made a world of difference.
• One taller owner had used gel foam behind him to suit a slouched position, and a washer to raise the front.
• One owner said he has to take the roof off when wearing a helmet, which is not ideal for damp track days, so extra headroom would help him.

More ideas are in Seat comfort, padding and back pain and Replacement seats.