Maybe your neighbor has one, or a retired uncle. If not, you`ve surely seen them as you drove along Interstate 95.Wooden, beaded car seats. In South Florida, retirees swear by them. In New York, they`re the cab driver`s best friend.Are they more comfortable than they look? Can sitting on a bunch of beads feel better than sitting on crushed velour and foam rubber? What do the car seats do to your back?With those questions in mind, four members of the Sun-Sentinel consumer panel -- and one panelist`s wife -- strapped them inside their cars, and drove off.Before getting into their findings, here are a few words about how the car seats were purchased and what they looked like new.The panel tested beaded car seats sold by Wal-Mart, for $8.99 apiece. These were not top-of-the-line car seats. Some retailers advertise beaded car seats that cost $25 to $30 apiece.The car seats came packaged in clear plastic bags, with no instructions on how to install them. That`s the consumer panel`s first recommendation: Only consider a brand that provides instructions.

The car seats came with short pieces of thin white string, to attach them to the driver`s seat. Most Readers Rate panel members needed more string to fasten the beaded car seats to the seats in their cars.That criticism sets the tone for our test. By a 4-1 vote, members of the Readers Rate panel gave thumbs down to the beaded car seats they tested.Their specific findings:Criticism No. 1: Even with extra string, keeping the beaded seats securely fastened to the seat in the automobile was difficult. Three of the five consumers who tried the seats said they came loose.Criticism No. 2: Panel members were concerned that the seats would leave permanent marks on the seats of their cars. Boca Raton`s Dorothy Covington, owner of a late-model Saturn with leather interior, would not install a beaded car seat for that reason. No one who participated in the test reported any damage, however.Criticism No. 3: The car seats were tough to fasten at the top, around the headrest of the driver`s seat, and had little value near the headrest anyway.

Once they were attached, they tended to grab the hair of women who took part in the test.Criticism No. 4: The car seats stuck to, and occasionally pinched, the legs of people who drove on them while wearing shorts or skirts.Indoor Waterproof Light SwitchCriticism No. 5: Durability. Used Furniture Delaware OhPanel member Mark Dennis Smith, of Boca Raton, said his car seat fell apart three days after he installed it.Indoor Water Fountain DiyNot every comment was negative. Panelist Lisa Johnson, of Loxahatchee, enjoyed the ride on her car seat, although she, too, had a problem with hair getting caught in it.``I was really surprised by how comfortable the car seat is,`` Johnson said. ``I also thought the beaded car seat made my (car`s) seat a little cooler.``Smith concurred that the seats had shock-absorption qualities.

He said they might benefit truck drivers and others who drive great distances.``The only time I thought it might be a good investment was the first time I sat down on it. The pressure was good,`` said panel member Diane Soja, a Delray Beach resident. ``After driving just a short distance, you didn`t notice that any longer.``Four months after they were given out, Johnson is the only panel member who still has her car seat. Johnson`s is on permanent loan to her mother.---- The Readers Rate panel may have future vacancies. If interested, please send your name, address, phone number and a short note about why you would be a good choice to: Consumer Department, Sun-Sentinel, 3333 S. Congress Ave., Delray Beach, Fla. 33445. Can Bosh, Wade break out of their funk?Do nicknames on jerseys go against Heat "sacrifice" mantra?Does Wade retain edge on Stephenson?Do Heat appreciate magnitude of Game 5?Could Heat find value in NBA free agency?Would Heat give Peace a chance? Black Car Wooden Bead Massaging Seat Cover Four Seasons

Four Seasons General Use cool and breathable comfort massage function. Premium ice silk material. Easy installation,easy to clean. Multi-purpose , can be placed in the car, can also be placed in the office and ease your driving and working pressure. 1 X Seat CoverThey've even made it to the seat of justice - Common Pleas Court Judge Berel Caesar has been using one on the bench for about six months, to the occasional befuddlement of onlookers."Beaded comfort seats," as one direct-mail seller touts them, are made of wooden beads the size of olives, strung together with nylon thread. And while ergonomic seating experts and automotive designers may dismiss them as a bum steer, the public has embraced them as the answer to a gridlocked driver's prayer."We've sold more of them in the last nine months than in the three years before that combined," said Joe Risch, a merchandising executive for Pep Boys, who claims to have worn out his own beaded seat. "You have to sit on one to understand.

It may look like torture, but it's great."Bead buffs swear that the odd-looking seat covers help keep them cool in summer and warm in winter, reduce driving fatigue, prevent backaches, even keep their clothing crease-free. "It's like Magic Fingers," enthused one user, "like getting a little roller massage all over your back whenever the car moves."(Suitable clothing is advised, however. "If you sit on them with walking shorts on, they'll really do a job on the back of your legs," warned the buyer for one mail-order house.)Long popular with cab drivers in Asia, the seat covers, most of which are produced in small factories in mainland China and Taiwan, made their American debut six or seven years ago, when New York cabbies started snatching them up at flea markets and out of the trunks of vendors' cars at LaGuardia Airport.The pitch then was straightforward: "They were supposed to keep you from developing hemorrhoids," said Risch, whose company stocks only one model now, at $12.99, but is introducing three more versions for Christmas.Passengers who spotted the covers apparently figured nobody knows more about the bottom line than a cabbie.

They started asking about them at auto accessory stores, and auto store executives pressured their distributors, who began importing them in the late '80s.The product has come a long way from its underground beginnings. Today, while you can still buy one from a street-corner vendor for $10 or $15, you can also order one from the tony mail-order outlet Hammacher Schlemmer for $32.95. Or you can select from five colors at Carfare Ltd., an upscale travel and automotive accessory store in Chestnut Hill that stocks such things as hand-knotted Oriental floor mats for $160 each."People either like the tan one - the color of wood - or they try to pick one to coordinate with their car's interior," said Carfare owner Steve Bass, who charges $19.95 for the seats. "Usually they buy two. If they only buy one they usually come back in a few days, when the passenger starts complaining."The upscale Orvis catalogue began carrying a $24.50 version in January. Carol Wright Gifts, a direct-mail operation, introduced a $9.95 version in February 1990 and has so far sold more than 93,000.

The company even recently introduced a sheepskin cover for the beaded seat.Brookstone doesn't stock them but only because they haven't found one up to their standards, said a spokesman at the King of Prussia store: "I wish we did - you're the hundredth person requesting them this week," he added.As perhaps the ultimate mark of mainstream acceptance, the seats have even been advertised in The New Yorker magazine."My typical customer is middle to upper class, upscale . . . a lot of outdoor people, people interested in hunting and fishing," said Clark Bromfield, manager of the Orvis stores in Center City and Chestnut Hill, where the covers sell out the minute they arrive. "We don't get a lot of truck and cab drivers.""They really hit people right, because so many people have trouble feeling comfortable in car seats," agreed Bass, who said Carfare began stocking the seats four years ago, considering a cab driver's recommendation ''unbeatable."That's what Michael Dzuba thought. Dzuba, 45, a clinical social worker from West Mount Airy who commutes several times a week to Wilmington, had begun suffering from backaches after the drive.

Then he saw ads for beaded seats."I was intrigued that they were taxi driver-tested. I thought it was worth a try. After all, it was a minimal expense, not like a real expensive office chair."Now Dzuba swears by his tan-and-maroon beaded seat cover, which has taken up permanent residence in his 1986 Toyota Camry. "It really makes a difference. I don't get out of the car in pain. And because it's raised above the seat, there's much more ventilation. I don't perspire as much in hot weather."Dzuba said his children hooted at the seat at first but have come around. ''My daughter thought it would be uncomfortable, sitting on all those balls, but now she says she doesn't even realize it's there."It's impossible to guess at how many of the beaded seats have been sold, but with everyone from street vendors to department stores getting into the act, the number could be in the millions.Demand increased so dramatically last year that the operation came full- circle - a whole new generation of vendors showed up, offering knockoffs of the more expensive seats.

Merchandisers point out that the seats - which either drape over the headrest or rest on the auto seat - vary in quality. Some of the first imports were held together with plastic rather than nylon cords and broke easily, said Pep Boys' Risch."Also, they weren't double-tied, so if one bead fell out it was like a necklace breaking," he said.Not everyone even agrees about the most basic selling point - that the seat increases driving comfort, particularly for people with bad backs.Carol Wright claims its product is "orthopedically designed"; Orvis that its cushion "alleviates those grinding head-to-toe backaches." Indeed, said Carfare's Bass, many people ask him for the seats on advice of their chiropractors.Others think any improvement may be in the users' heads, not their backs."You know what the value is? They're pretty - you can get them to match your upholstery. They provide a little ventilation and give you a superficial massage, and that's it," said Lenny Pfeffer, an ergonomic seating specialist and owner of Backworks, a Center City store specializing in various back aids."

But they don't give support to the lumbar region like a back support cushion would. They're just a drape - they assume the shape of whatever youput them on, and that doesn't help a person with a bad back."Pfeffer said he gets at least 10 requests a week for the cushions but won't stock them. "We only carry things that work," he said.Dave Rees, an interior design expert with the Ford Motor Co. as well as a man with chronic back trouble, said passenger comfort depends upon many factors in addition to the contour of the seat - the shape of the lower cushion, the position of the steering wheel, the location of the controls and so on."So it's not just the seat, it's a whole host of elements," said Rees, whose four-year redesign of the Ford interior was recently unveiled with its 1992 line. "It seems to me that adding a covering of beads or whatever to the seat will not change the contour of the seat. If the seat's wrong to begin with, if it doesn't provide support where the back needs it, I frankly don't see any advantage to covering it with beads."