Kiravans Or Exploria Swivel Seats

[Eli]

When I looked at trying to swivel the drivers seat I considered making a bracket to move the handbrake a few inches more to the centre. Have you had a look at the genuine VW campers at a showroom to see how they get around it?

Not looked at a genuine one on the California, I would expect them all to be similar

 

[JaySal]

I’ll try and look at my mates Caravelle tomorrow and take some snaps, I think he has them fitted.

 

[carlg]

I had swivels fitted to both front seats
Exploriea fitted them and lowered the hand brake.
The swivels are really good quality with no rattles or squeeks.
You could also look at sports craft they also do a lowered handbrake kit and a seat base with lowered handbrake

 

[T6downsouth]

Kiravans seat swivels today, not impressed. You need to buy plastic shims to raise it so it can clear the handbrake. When I ask them they said it was to raise the seat for a leisure battery. Pretty pointless seat swivel with out them and they charge an extra £30 for the shins for the seat to be able to work. In total it will raise 43mm which is to much for me as I am 6’3”, any suggestions?

I had a similar issue so opted for a slimmer seatbase. Bit expensive but makes the ride hight standard once a swivel it fitted. Downside is a battery will not fit under it. They come with a lowered handbrake bracket but you still need to raise the seat when swivelling.

 

[Eli]

I had a similar issue so opted for a slimmer seatbase. Bit expensive but makes the ride hight standard once a swivel it fitted. Downside is a battery will not fit under it. They come with a lowered handbrake bracket but you still need to raise the seat when swivelling.

Can you send me a link the the site please, did you have to trim down your handbrake plastics?

 

[Monkster1]

Hi guys,
we have just got our first van (waiting to collect it this week!) and are new to van life (cannot wait) and the forum.
I saw a similar discussion over a year ago so hope it is not a problem reigniting the issue.
We are looking to get some swivel bases to our front captain seats. We have narrowed it down to two: Kiravans (offset) or Exploria (more expensive).
Some people report that the Kiravans are squeaky and there is not much around about the Exploria ones. Any experience from anyone who has fitted any of those recently?
Also, any ideas about fitting a removable table (we have twin sliding doors and cannot fit it on either side)?
Cheers!

Hi mate,

I have the Kiravans central swivel seat base. It came promptly and incredibly well boxed. It is heavy - there is no way round that aspect because obviously it needs to be strong. I bought the drivers side central spin (non-offset) version. It has a large central hole for the cables to pass through such as heated seat element wire and seat belt warning. I tried to do some research but I don't know anyone with a van and not having seen one working in the flesh, I ended up taking a chance based on the detailed pictures Kiravans showed on their site. For me, it works fine but I had to resolve a couple of issues.

The Good points, - Clean laser cut steel, excellent welds, decent (4mm) steel plate construction. Good locking / release mechanism and a satisfying 'clunk' when it's back in place. It clears the handbrake when it's 'off ' but you have to get your head around the height of your seat. I have to raise it slightly to allow the plastic shroud to go past the hand brake. It feels solid in the forward position. No squeaks or rocking. This is down to a set of 8 nylon interlocking diablo shaped shims which engage together in the forward driving position. 4 top plate and 4 base plate. Clean lines, looks like it is part of the seat as it's painted satin black.

The Not so good points, - The most important issue for me was not being able to lock the seat in place once it was turned the 180°. I overcame this by cutting down an M8 Allen bolt which had a decent smooth shaft before the threads started, and drilling a 8mm hole in both the upper and lower plates. This works well but you have to make sure the holes are in-line though.

When the base is turned round, the nylon shims are unable re-align in the opposite direction and over time I think the weight of us leaning forward whilst eating for example may put a strain on the swivel point so I resolved this issue with a simple wooden chock. It sounds a bit naff but once I shaped it to fit nicely, a coat of satin black made it so it can't be seen once in place. I installed the base alone but it would be easier with a mate to assist especially when lining up holes for the bolts.

We've just been away for the weekend and used the time on the campsite as a bit of a trial for the various aspects of the van's new components / conversions. It's a standing joke in our hose that I have to modify everything but with this seat base I felt they had to be done to lengthen the life span of the base.

The vans passenger seat has a factory swivel base built in and it really is flawless. If I give the VW one 10/10, I'd give the Kiravans one 8.5/10 but I have no other experience to go on, sorry. With both seats turned round, it really opens up the space availability in the back and to me that's invaluable because you can use the front as additional storage space whilst you're on the pitch.

Oh, nearly forgot - The base goes over my leisure battery, CTEK 250SA and 240v consumer unit aswell with 10mm to spare.

I'm located 5 mins from J31 Sheffield if you want to view mine. Just PM me.

 

[Eclipse Custom Vans]

Kiravans seat swivels today, not impressed. You need to buy plastic shims to raise it so it can clear the handbrake. When I ask them they said it was to raise the seat for a leisure battery. Pretty pointless seat swivel with out them and they charge an extra £30 for the shins for the seat to be able to work. In total it will raise 43mm which is to much for me as I am 6’3”, any suggestions?

The Kira ones I believe are from SCOPEMA RIB and are good swivels but I think REIMO are better. The ones we had from Exploria were very similar to REIMO. We typically lower the entire handbrake mechanism rather than raise the seat up on the shims. The shims are the RIB spacers.

Rgds

Ian

 

[T6downsouth]

Can you send me a link the the site please, did you have to trim down your handbrake plastics?

I think I got it from Jennings Seatings. It was a couple of years ago. You will need to measure and drill the holes. I had to loose the lower plastic trim around the lever and put new leather gator in its place.