"Sport" Seats

[Lomac]

So my experience with sporty seats are limited to OEM applications such as the stock Recaro's in my old Volkswagen GTX


or the weirdly designed seats in my old Nissan 200sx (the passenger seat):


or simply stock sporty-styled seats in my MX6.

Now, I'm searching for an aftermarket solution that will suit my needs better than my current basic seats. I'd like to stick with Recaro because it's a brand I'm familiar with, but I don't have a problem going with another brand. I'm looking for a seat that is very supportive in hard turns, but it also needs to be comfortable enough for long drives without giving me a backache.

I'm currently looking at the Recaro Speed / Speed S

and the Sparco Torino 2

but can't find any local shops where I can test 'em out.

Just curious if there's anyone with driving experience in any of these seats who is able to tell me how comfortable or not they are. Or, if anyone has any other suggestions on similarly priced and designed seats.

[IMASA]

If you want a shop that you can try out seats, Driver's Edge Autosport has a few in their showroom, but they only stock OMP seats. http://www.driversedgeautosport.com
They have a few that are similar in style to those. I think Frank still has this one in the show room that you can try which might give you an idea.

[Berzerker]

Overseas Auto has seats in their showroom or at least they used to.. they stock Recaro I believe as well.

Berz out.

[marc0lishuz]

Wait for the REVscene Summer meet and befriend people who have them in their cars

[death_blossom]

please list out your weight, and waist size. that will help to determine what will fit you.

I've owned a couple of sport seats before. So here's my two cents.

First seat being a replica of the Sparco Torino. The shoulder bracing was extremely good for me as I have wider shoulders. But the leg support was really lacking. Even for a huskier person such as myself, it was way too wide and the leg support didn't rise up very high. I'm sure Sparco designed the leg support as such for daily driving use and ease of getting in/out of the car. But my seat was a cheap imitation that broke after a year and a bit of usage. This led to my second seat.

My second seat, and the seat I am still using after almost 3 years is my RECARO SRD. It's a much much better seat in terms of comfort and holding power. The cushioning is soft and comfy. The leg support is excellent, but the shoulder/lumbar support is a tad on the tight side for me. On a thinner person, I'm sure it would hold them in very very well. It's still an excellent seat and I don't regret paying over $600 for it (used). The Recaro SPEED you post up looks to have the same torso shape as my SRD, but the leg support seems to be lacking. My SRD raises up higher.

I've sat in other sport seats as well, and I'll throw in those reviews here.
Bride: Not sure which Bride seat it was, but it was a reclineable seat. Me being the big guy that I am, it was too tight for me. I was able to get into the seat, but it didn't leave me any wiggle room to move my legs. However, I could feel the excellent holding power of this seat.

Recaro "Sport" - The looks of this seat is similar to what you find on the STi or Lancer Evolutions. The fitment on this seat is looser than an SRD/Speed, but to me it fit me the best. I didn't have very much wiggle room at all and the seat seemed to wrap around me perfectly.

Another piece of advice that will give everyone is to NOT cheap out on seats. Don't buy those lame imitations. They feel like cardboard, and they'll break.

[kookoobird88]

Originally Posted by Berzerker

Overseas Auto has seats in their showroom or at least they used to.. they stock Recaro I believe as well.

Berz out.

was in there not to long ago and they have a good amount of them that were on the floor

[boatcaptain]

i have recaro pole position and is reali comfortable n supportive,im pretty fat so i tried out many seat,n this is the onli one tat fit me lol

[TOPEC]

if u want reclinable seats, get the brides, they are very comfy, if u want nonrecline buckets, any brand will do.

[JackyJai]

Bride Brix II.
Better support than both seats in hard turns and still very comfortable.

[Rich Sandor]

+1 for Driver's Edge and Overseas Auto.

I also highly recommend Speedware in Redmond, WA. They have every Recaro/Sparco seat in stock on the shelf. I think I sat in like 20 seats before I picked out mine. Very trick setup down there. That's also where my Arai GP5W came from.

[Rich Sandor]

PS, who sells the BRIDE seats, and how do I tell if I'm getting a REAL Bride or a Replica? Do they sell rails & sliders that fit euro cars easily? (because I'm thinking 99.99% of the JDM seats are meant for JDM cars, whereas Recaro and Sparco have rails & sliders to fit domestics AND imports)

[JackyJai]

Originally Posted by Rich Sandor

PS, who sells the BRIDE seats, and how do I tell if I'm getting a REAL Bride or a Replica? Do they sell rails & sliders that fit euro cars easily? (because I'm thinking 99.99% of the JDM seats are meant for JDM cars, whereas Recaro and Sparco have rails & sliders to fit domestics AND imports)

A lot of places do, DHP, AJ, GarageFive etc.
The real seats have bride logo on their adjusting knob where the fake ones don't. You just need to google iy.
As for the rail I think you can use Sparco or Recaro rails and sliders on Bride too.

[death_blossom]

also, Bride sells actual brackets/sliders as one piece for each individual application. their slider catalogue is very vast so I'm sure they have applications for most european cars. the Japanese love their euros too.

speaking of brackets/sliders, I didn't like the fact that Sparco and Recaro only sell generic sliders. they leave the bracket part of bolting in the seat to your car up to you. you need to source out a bracket through a third party, or custom make your own.

[Shun Izaki]

on a serious note, bride group buy? im down lomac...need to replace the stock seats in my car...

[turbos86]

How to check for fake Bride seats


Also, if the selling price is way below MSRP, it probably is fake. Real Brides are all Made in Japan, if it's Made in Taiwan, it's fake. Also, the overall quality of the seat, how good the stitching is, if the logos are centered and evenly spaced are all good indicators.

As for seat recommendation, Bride Digo gets my vote. It's similar to the Recaro SRD in both pricing and performance, but it's tighter as it's designed for skinny people.

Digo


Digo type-R, better support all around

[Overseas Auto1]

Originally Posted by Berzerker

Overseas Auto has seats in their showroom or at least they used to.. they stock Recaro I believe as well.

Berz out.

we have Recaro available. We have some in stock. We have other cheaper brands as well.

[Overseas Auto1]

Originally Posted by death_blossom

also, Bride sells actual brackets/sliders as one piece for each individual application. their slider catalogue is very vast so I'm sure they have applications for most european cars. the Japanese love their euros too.

speaking of brackets/sliders, I didn't like the fact that Sparco and Recaro only sell generic sliders. they leave the bracket part of bolting in the seat to your car up to you. you need to source out a bracket through a third party, or custom make your own.

Recaro has 2 kinds of sliders. Recaro and Wedge Engineering make brackets to fit most cars

[brute_4s]

i have momo racing buckets for sale and ur welcome to come over and test them if it helps u...they are fully adjustablke and the fold forward for access to the back seat

[1990TSI]

u're not worried about losing side airbags?

[death_blossom]

Originally Posted by Overseas Auto1

Recaro has 2 kinds of sliders. Recaro and Wedge Engineering make brackets to fit most cars

so, does Recaro make their own application specific brackets?

I had contacted Wedge Engineering in the past as they seem to be one of the biggest makers of application specific brackets. I heard some mixed reviews of their brackets, mostly being that their brackets aren't always 100% level. not sure what type of experience your shop has had with them though.

[prelude_prince]

I have Recaro SRDs/Recaro Speed/SRIIIs in my car. They were great in terms of support and comfort. I would definately choose reclinable over racing shells in a daily driver. I could even sleep in them reclined. The only problem is getting in and out of them (As with all sport/racing seats, your gf/lady will hate you for them).

Those are aggressive enough for me at least. If you want something more aggressive but yet not a total racing shell, I suggest the Bride GIASs

[Roach]

I have Recaro DC-5's, an OEM seat out of RSX Type R I think.

I'm 6' tall, 195lbs with a 36 waist.

Wanted Brides but just couldn't fit comfortably in them.

Kev

[kc1337]

sick OEM seats