My family has owned several W124's and we've always been impressed by the seats. Very comfortable on a long trip. I think the W124 seats are better than the W210 seats.
Both my wife and I have back problems and we've never had an issue with the seats in the W124.

Are you sure your seats don't have another problem?

They appear to have nothing 'wrong' with them. Meaning I don't list to one side when sitting in them or feel a spring poking up through and I don't sink in the seats. One thing I've noticed about my driving style is that I tend to sit straighter than other drivers and maybe that curved my lower back area out to cause the sciatic. I've also noticed that MB seats in general are oriented in a lower sitting position than other cars. When I first bought the car I was driving ~ 700 miles a week for 2 years - enough to cause the sciatic I guess. I'm going to make my own cushion for now and look into the MB ortho seats.

I've owned and driven litterally hundreds of MBs and have never found the seats to be worth a *****. The big old living room seats that were in the old 220SECs were fairly comfortable. The seats in the $65,000 flagship 560SEL I used to own just killed my back. A very good friend asked my advice a while ago about what he could do to help his son in law. He has a long daily commute in a 123 chassis. He took my advice and bought a nice pair of Toyota seats from a bone yard and made them fit. The guy is so happy. Those fancy seats that Lino posted have two problems that I can see. First they are way too expensive for an average car and secondly those side bolsters are way too radical. They become a pain in the ass as you get in and out of the car each time. You can get a nice pair of Toyota seats for dirt cheap, have mounting brackets fabricated, and drive comfortably in some of the finest seats made.

Peter

Why does it seem that '80's W124's of whatever mileage have more confortable seats then '90's W124?

I thought it had to do with age difference or mileage, but that isn't the case. The early W124's were very comfortable. The late model W124's are like sitting on granite.

how to stiffen sagging seat springs
 

To
all concerned: Try hog ring clips on sagging and broken springs. coil or flat. By clipping these together, you will stiffen the seat substantially, try it it works (and lasts). Abe G

Super Seats
 

This is the most comfortable and supportive seat that I have ever had the pleasure to sit in. This is my favorite seat of all time. I just can’t believe that someone would complain about these awesome seats.

What a great seat
http://forums.mbnz.org/gallery/pics/W124_56350.jpg

I went from a 2000 Grand Cherokee Limited, to a 90 300E. I thought what in the helllll just happened????? My Jeep was like sitting in a 900 dollar ezchair. you could falll asleep. My Benz was this, hard, no padding, i thought whats the big deal about MB????? i have had the car two years, and let me tell you, they fit like a glove. Awesome seats! it took awhile to get used to them, well the whole car for that matter, but now, i will never drive another car- i hope

dtf,

I am also 6' 1", but slightly heavier than you at 175 pounds. My car has 278,000 miles and the seats are still as firm and functionally as new.

Mercedes INTENTIONALLY puts firm seats in their cars. They have always done this and they claim that a firm seat is less fatiguing on long drives.

Have a great day,

BMW says that their seats are firm so that drivers don't fall asleep during long drives and obviously to be anatomically seated correctly. I read that in some of my old early '90s sales brochures.

Well, the seats on my W140 S 500 L are by far the GREATEST seats I have ever had the pleasure to sit in, and I have driven ALL types of Mercedes, BMWs, Volvos, Lincolns, Cadillacs, Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs, Chevrolets, Lexus, Infitinis, Mazdas, Toyotas, Citroëns, Peugeots, Seats, Alfa Romeos, Fiats, Maseratis... ... ...

The infinite adjustment settings provided by these seats combined with their huge size makes them unique and perfect.

My only regret is its leather upholstery. As I said before, Mercedes seats are much more comfortable when they are upholstered in their standard CLOTH or optional VELOUR. The problem is the market heavily penalizes the value of a W140 when its not upholstered in leather (a shame!).

Here's an eBay picture of tha seat frame from an early 124. seat


My mistake, no coils in the back. You can see the vertical "angles" along the edges. These would be tough to "hog ring" back together. It's right in the sharp point of the angle that they break.

HTH,

The problem might not be due to the seats but the combination of sitting position, and stresses.

First my former TE had multi-contour seats and I found I liked them less than the traditional W124 seats. At the time I had the TE I thought there was a defect in the seat as being in it for more than an hour caused my leg to hurt. So I had the seat pad replaced, the seat springs rebuilt and…….the problem persisted. The guy who did the work on the seat pad said at the outset there was nothing wrong with the seat, springs or pad. Even with hundreds of different seating positions, accompanied by an almost infinite adjustment due to the multi-contour seats, there was no solution. Well I was on a vacation, driving a non MB and after about an hour, lo and behold, the same problem occurred! It was after that i turned to a doc who found I had a minor nerve pinch at my leg.

After about a year of exercise that problem went away. Well, about a year ago (several years after the issue above) another problem started where after about an hour in the car (now a 400e) my lower back will get sore and then numb, my hip hurts and the pain extends downward to my knee. If I get outta the car and walk for 5 minutes the pain is gone, but will come back after another hour in the driver’s seat. Again I tried all different positions offered by the power seats. Here’s the odd part, when I drive my SUV, never a problem. So I asked a doc about this, he did some tests and found that I have the early stages of arthritis in my hip, and when my seating position is just so (as it is in the 124) the seating position puts stress on the hip. Well it isn’t the hip exactly. Between where the hip bones come together to form a joint there is what’s called a bursa. This is a fluid filled sack that acts as a cushion that allows the tendons to move over the bones. When the bursa becomes inflamed (due to seating position, amongst other things) the discomfort appears.

So the long and short of it is that, in my case, and I suspect the initial author of this thread is that there might be a medical malady which is the source of the discomfort. A book I found has gone a long way to alleviating the discomfort. The book is called The Healthy Back Exercise Book

Welcome to middle age…………………….

A. Rosich,

Admittedly I haven't spent much time in a W140. Maybe those seats are better. I agree that velour is tha way to go, but as you say not popular in the U.S. It is warm in winter, cool in summer, and extremely durable. It is also very quiet. It doesn't make all the strange noises that leather and MB Tex do.

Lebenz,
You may have hit on something. After an hour or so of driving, my left leg starts falling asleep. My back gets so kinked up that I get out of the car like a cripple. It takes a few seconds before I can stand up straight. All I ever drive is MBs so maybe the seats are just not right for me. I don't recall having this problem a few years ago on vacation in Europe. We rented a Renault for 2 weeks. Maybe I should consult a Doc.

Peter

Some people get very different reactions from these seats. I think they are extremely comfortable, well bolstered. Others who sit in them find them to have no lower back support. We have had Volvo's for years, and really they have exceptional seats. The Range Rovers have very nice seats too. But the Benz is comfortable. I prefer power seats over manual. Velour is nice to sit on, but not as nice looking as leather. Our 1982 Volvo has blue velour, and the seats are like new. They are also very comfortable. Ford makes crap seats, by the way. Our Limited Explorer with leather has complete junk for seats.

I've been on long trips in the W124 and have always been impresed by the seats. I also really like the optional orthopedic seats on the W210, which never hurt my back. My dad, who has some arthritic problems, also loves the W210 seats. Our old E38 7-series BMWs had the optional 16-way power adjustable 'Comfort seats' option. Those seats were just about perfect if adjusted correctle, but it certainly took awhile for each individual driver to find the correct position for them. The memory seats on those cars were a very often-used feature, since there seemed to be about 1 million uncomfortable positions and only 1 that was just right. But, when adjusted properly, those seats were excellent, with the best feature being an independantly movable upper portion of the backrest, which could be adjusted to aid shoulder support.

Overall though, I absolutely love the seats on my current daily driver, an '85.5 Porsche 944. They seem to support my frame just right, although larger passengers have complained that the seats are too narrow. The seat frames were built by Recaro, and hold you in place during aggressive driving, but are still comfortable enough for long highway trips. At a 944 gathering last summer, I opted to sleep inside my car instead of pitching a tent- the seats are that good!