Seight

For anyone thinking about alternative seats.:

After a few years of umming and aahing about what to do with my seats I've finally changed them out. I looked at having them refurbed but this was very expensive to do properly and didn't reduce weight, I bought some Carbon seats and then sold them again and so on. I really didn't want to do something I regretted in terms of looks and comfort - and being able to access the rear seats. But I did I want to reduce the weight and tidy up the interior.

So I managed to pick up some brand new carbon-fibre seats in black leather styled on the 997 GT3 seats. Theses have relatively similar shape to the 964 RS seats and not like the 996 GT3 seats with their big wings, so they suit the 964 very well. I then bought some runners and side mounts with seat-belt attachment. When I pulled the old seats out I just couldn't believe how heavy they were (I weighed them at 26kgs each with runners/motors etc) and the new ones are 10kgs including runners/brackets etc. So a 32kgs weight saving and boy they look great.

The best bit though is driving. It has transformed the whole feel of the car and makes you want to hurl it into corners and through sweeping bends even faster. Fantastic supprt and control but still enough padding to be comfortable though obviously not as soft as the originals. I spent 5 hours in the car last Sunday and felt fine.
I would wholeheartedly recommend the change.

First pic is the old seats (with my son some 5 years ago) followed by the new versions:

Alex

ratbag964

Wow, those look fantastic? Where did you source them from? I'm looking at swapping mine for some Recaro Pole Positions with the Southbound mounts, but these look fantastic!

Matt

Sifly

Nice, would look wicked if you had them re-trimmed in linen leather to match the existing trim?

or it may be cheaper to replace the rear seats with black items?

newsboy

The seats look great. Is black the only color available? Could you provide info. on where you got them, and the cost if you don't mind. Are these manually adjusted? Could they be done with electric seats?
Sorry for all the questions.

Seight

I got the seats from a chap who bought them and then never fitted them - at a bargain price! Howevere, they are available from the PORSCHESHOP:

http://www.porscheshop.co.uk/acatalo...ort_seats.html

The seats are fixed but I can manually slide them back and forth on the runners for access to the rear.

It was the whole Linen vs Black thing that was one of the things that made me take so long to finally do it. However, as most of my carpets are black, along with door tops, rear parcel shelf, dashboard, headlining and paintwork I reckoned the black would look OK. I think it does.

Alex.

sml

Wish that was legal in Oz.

boxsey911

Nice job Alex....did you get the runners and sliders from Southbound by any chance?

Seight

Thanks Steve. I actually got the runners and the side mounts(with seat-belt attachments) from porscheshop.co.uk in Ilford.

911Jetta

I recently drove a car with similar seats and you are right it really transforms the feeling of driving the car. Plus the weight loss (thanks for posting the numbers), that's a big chunk of weight!

You mentioned having access to the back because of the sliders...do you mean access to put a small bag back there or is there enough space for a small person to still get into the rear seats?

Has anyone seen seat sliders with a tilting option that would still work with this type of seat? I've seen tilting sliders that work with the older classic car seats (longhood era). Like these: http://www.classiccarseats.com/tilting-brackets.php

I'd love to have seats like these with normal sliders on the driver's side and tilting sliders on the passenger's side.

Seight

Hi 911jetta,

there is just as much room in the rear for small passengers as there was before, it's just the access that is reduced due to the seats not reclining. Using the sliders I can still get large bags etc in and out, but not quite as easily.

nidon

Looks very nice have been pondering myself over those seats, have the same colour inside. Looks nice with the black. How well do the seatbelts fit, are they fine going over the top of the side of the seat?

UncleRemus

I just installed ROTec GT3 replicas in mine and I agree they are pretty neat.

elbeee964

911Jetta,

With the "kids in the back" requirement now firmly in place, anything less than your tilting-slider (working beneath a fixed back seat) would be the only thing keeping you clear of cranky, limbo-proficient ankle biters.

In other words [sigh] - kids in the back? - only folding-back seats need apply.

911Jetta

Lonnie,
I think you're right. The GT3 seat are much taller than those old retro seats that the folding sliders are designed to work with. Thank goodness, as I'm sure the GT3 seats are much safer. Plus I'd probably damage the headliner if the seats tilted?

I'm still tempted by the retro seats though (I love the R Gruppe retro look)...light weight also, but the bolster design is probably not as good...they sure look cool, but probably not in a 964? More seats here: http://www.classiccarseats.com/st-seats.php

Sorry Alex, back to the topic of your awesome seats...

Akerlie

Really like your seats Alex

If you guys take a look at the site Alex linked to they also offer reclining seats.

Was thinking of going for something like those GT3 seats myself but the lack of reclining possibility kept me from doing it, when i came over some reasonably priced sport hardbacks i jumped in them