Probax and Alcantara

[speedracergirl8]

I bought my 2005 Elise with the base interior back in 2004, before the probax seats came out.

I still do not want leather seats but I am thinking of recovering my cloth seat section in Alcantara with probax undernieth as these base seats leave much to be desired in comfort.

Is it worth buying the probax if I can get it from Nubax or should I use Temper Pedic foam or any other memory foam that is available?

How well does Alcantara wear? My cloth sections are looking worn and I have less then 15k miles on the car now, I am not going to ever sell this car so I want it to be as comfortable as I can make it and also have it look nice too!

Suggestions??....

[...m...]

...i've heard that alcantara has wear issues under abrasion; how about a wear-resistant outdoor fabric like pfifertex instead?..being a non-leather person myself, i'll be looking into some manner of heavy fabric reupholstery once my current seats wear out...

[Ol'Racer]

Originally Posted by speedracergirl8

How well does Alcantara wear? My cloth sections are looking worn and I have less then 15k miles on the car now, I am not going to ever sell this car so I want it to be as comfortable as I can make it and also have it look nice too! Suggestions??....

Real Alcantara wears well. I believe there is only one outlet in the U.S.(located in Florida) that sells real Alcantara that is stamped with the Alcantara logo on the back. Anything that doesn't have that stamp is Ultrasuede which isn't UV rated and usually stretches. It will not last nearly as long as the real stuff and will fade.

Most shops don't even know that they are using the faux swede/alcantara and will swear to you that it's the real stuff. It's best that you buy the material yourself, take it to a shop and have them cover your seats/interior with it. That way you'll know that you have the real Alcantara.

[knucklehead]

I have an '05 too and have tried all kinds of padding to help with our seats. The one issue the Temper Pedic has is when it's cold out. With low temps the material gets hard as a rock. I'm saving my pennies to get the Hurricane seat. It has way better lateral support than any of the OEM seats. The cup car seat is also very good.

[peck555]

There is also a thread on Lotustalk about a seat rebuild with Kemmler foam,many seem happy with it.
Seat Rebuild with Kemmler Air2Gel Foam

[FLuXeXigeS]

to OP: buy a set of used exige seats, im pretty sure someone here has some just laying around their house...would you want a pair or just the drivers side?

[speedracergirl8]

I have contacted the Alcantara rep in Florida, they are in Tampa, Gulf Fabrics, they will sell to my trim shop so I will be certain of getting the real thing.

The hard part seems to be getting the Probax, thus far I haven't gotten a reply of my email to Nubax. I don't have to worry about cold weather and Tempur Pedic Foam or any of the knock off brands as I live in Florida and have no real desire to drive my car anywhere that is cold anyways!

I could get by with just the drivers side though I would prefer to have a matching set and I still don't want leather in any of the seat options.

[LARRY]

I just bought two Probax seats from an '07 Elise.

They are so much better than my stock '05 seats.

Excellent.

Let every local Lotus dealership know you are looking for them.

[speedracergirl8]

I could let every dealer in the world know I am seeking probax seats, the problem is that Lotus no longer makes them in cloth isn't it?

I have never seen cloth seats beyond an 05 Elise, and even then it was pretty unusual to order a car without the touring package which came with the leather seats. Besides I don't want the same cloth again either! What I am seeking is probax covered in Alcantara, since I already have a seat it would be much cheaper to just buy the probax material and cover that in Alcantara, it is such a small center insert anyways, it couldn't be much in materials or time to do that at a trim shop I would think....Hopefully I will hear back from Nubax soon as to if I can buy the Probax material, if so my problems are solved!

[ChrisB]

If your Probax material plans don't work out, you might contact the Lotus Trim Shop and see what they can do for you in supplying new Probax seats upholstered the way you want.

I believe the '06 onward cloth seats are all cloth (i.e. no leather surround), so if you want to keep the leather surround, used Probax cloth seats are not a good option.

I too have an '05 with the base interior and experienced the visible wear within a few thousand miles. I replaced the cloth with cloth of my own choosing and have had it there for about three years and 20K miles with almost no visible signs of wear. I did not try to convert to Probax because it didn't exist at the time and I really like the adjustable lumbar support (which I guess you could keep, if you wish, even with the Probax update).

Let us know how your project works out.

[speedracergirl8]

I have the leather surrounding the cloth on the seats and really like that look too, I was unaware that later models did away with that bit of leather, another reason to just redo the seats I have.

I also like the lumbar pump, and was hoping to keep that in place behind the probax, all the support I can get theory...Another big reason I didn't want to just buy or trade for newer seats with the probax as they don't come with the lumbar pump.

I still haven't gotten a reply from Nubax, I may just try giving them a call tomorrow and same to Bell and Colvill in the UK, they have helped me get the matching black perforated leather hide I needed to cover the "perforated look" dash parts, something I doubt any local or US dealer could pull off, so maybe they can get me the probax material used in the seats too!

I will post pictures of my interior when I get it finished to how I want it verses how it came, though I have to say Lotus does go far beyond any Japanese or American car company in ways to customize your car right from the start or afterwards thru their trim shop, I just prefer using my local shop so that I can keep costs down on shipping and not have my car disassembled for weeks on end.

[ishmael]

Keep in mind Alcantara absorbs moisture which is important if placed near any component prone to rust/corrosion such as the seat runners.

[speedracergirl8]

This was my reply from Nubax, the makers of Probax :

Thank you for your enquiry.

Unfortunately, the technology is currently not available for purchase by
private individuals, mainly because it is integral to the seat and as
such it has to be fitted at the manufacturing stage. We are currently
developing the technology with a number of global car manufacturers and
would hope to see it appearing in the seats of these cars in due course.

Lotus was the first car manufacturer to adopt the technology and it is
currently in all of their models. We do receive an enormous amount of
positive feedback about the seats from people who drive a Lotus,
particularly people with back problems. Perhaps you could test drive one
to see if you can feel the difference!

Please do keep in touch with us and also monitor our website for
information about future developments.

Kind regards,
Susannah Maynard.



Susannah Maynard
NuBax Limited

SO it looks like the only way I can get probax is to buy a new seat from Lotus and see if they will recover it in Alcantara for me, I will follow up with that idea at least for the drivers seat and have the passenger seat remain as is but cover it in matching Alcantara locally.

My question to those that have sat in probax seats is it that much better then the earlier seats with the pump as far as comfort/cushioning/length of seat time etc...????

Or would I be just as fine with any of the memory foams out there such as Tempur pedic or clones of such??

[Rat27]

The Probax seats are much better. I've spent many hours in both the '05 seats and the Probax seats. The Probax are just more comfortable. Lotus does offer a cloth Probax seat but not many cars come with it. Lotus Cars USA actually has a program in place where they have seat shells in inventory and the Trim Shop in Hethel sends them the custom Probax covers so the shipping is less expensive. You can get pretty much whatever you want in the way of seat covering with the Probax padding.

Regarding other foams, be aware that Probax uses multiple foam densities in different areas of the seat to get the pelvis to sit correctly in the seat. It's not just memory foam like Tempurpedic.

[Rat27]

Originally Posted by knucklehead

I have an '05 too and have tried all kinds of padding to help with our seats. The one issue the Temper Pedic has is when it's cold out. With low temps the material gets hard as a rock. I'm saving my pennies to get the Hurricane seat. It has way better lateral support than any of the OEM seats. The cup car seat is also very good.

Cool seat, who makes it and will two of them fit in an Elise?