seats in 230sl : mounted mirrored?

[Rodolfo]

My dear pagoda friends,

The driver seat in my LHD car tended to be softer at the right side (door side). I thought it might have been the springs of the seat. I dismounted the. The seat springs looked quite good.
It seems that the left side of the driver’s seat is a bit stiffer because it is leaning on the middle console.

Now I think that maybe the seat cushions in the past are mounted wrong: I think that they mounted the seat of the right seat on the left seat and vice versa.

I am not sure of that. One side of the seat seems to be wider than the other: the seat cushion is not symmetric, I mean. Now the widest side is to the center of the car and so touching the middle console. I think maybe they should be mirrored: changing the cushions to the opposite seats, I mean.

I took two photos of the situation now.

Are they mounted wrong?

It is a 230 sl from 1966.

Thank you in advance.

Rudy

[w113dude]

Rudy,

I don't see anything unusual other than regular ware, the driver side gets a lot more use specially the door side backrest as you get in and out of the car you tend to lean towards that side more to get out, I have the same issue with my 300CD, changing the inner padding of the backrest will take care of it.

[Garry]

As an interim rather than a total rebuild, you could always do the noodle trick.  Do a search under 'seat noodles' and you will get the gist.  It makes the world of difference for tired seats

Garry

[manz376]

I think they are mounted incorrectly, the wider part of the seat base should be nearer the door.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[georgem]

I agree with manz - swap them over - another test might be the seat slide lever - on mine it is inboard next to the transmission. I also seem to remember a discussion re this a year or so ago.

[Alf]

Just checked my car and your are definitely the wrong way round

[Rodolfo]

I also think they are mounted reversed. Now my only concern is: all people who confirm drive RHD cars, I suppose (UK and Australia). Could someone a LHD confirm as well that the seat slide handles are inboard next to the tunnel?

If indeed the cushions are wrong placed, it will be some work: since the tilt levers are on the good side: door side. But the slide handle and cushion are apparently not.

[66andBlue]

Seats in LHD cars also should have the slide handle inboard next to the tunnel. Although I must admit I have put mine on the outside 
... since it is a lot easier to reach them up front and move the seat. I cannot get any points subtracted for that since I don't show my car. 
Yes, you will have to open up the seats and place the tilt lever at the same side where the seat cushion is wider.

[J. Huber]

It may very well be they are in backwards -- but what I notice is how the seats seem to really be encroaching upon the center console. This could be the reversed-seat issue but is it possible the seats themselves are wrong (over-sized in some way?) If you reverse them, you may have clearance issue on pocket side.

I looked at mine and they too might be transposed? Although I am not 100 percent sure about this. The slider-guides are both inside as they should be -- and one of my covers has equal width on both sides of the cushion. At my measuring point its 5.5 inches. However, the other seat has a slightly wider cushion band 6 inches on one side, 5.25 on the other... Wide side on tunnel side but I have good clearance on both sides...

These are replacement seat covers from Miller's purchased about 10 years apart from each other.

Confused yet?

Sorry no pictures yet...

[J. Huber]

And...I just thought of something. I recall hearing that the early cars had a different seat shape than later ones (something we must specify when buying new covers.) Maybe yours being a 66 and mine a 63, the seats are patently different. Then it makes sense that your style with the curvy side need to be swapped around -- mine have a fairly straight edge on each side -- they may be wrong too but the transposition is not so dramatic...

So, having a nice conversation with myself here... thx J

Sure
J

[Rodolfo]

Today I excahanged the seats. They were indeed mounted mirrored . Was quickly done. Much beter now. I also included the "pool" thing.

Many thanks for the good advices

Rudy