DupaHead

I noticed Maxspeed motorports is selling aftermarket GT3 seats on ebay. They caught my attention because of all the variations (red/white/orange stitching, leather, cloth, alcantra), as well as the price.

Does anyone have any experience with these aftermarket seats (Maxspeed)? How is the overall quality?

iLLM3

I know the aftermarket GT3 replicas were garbage in general, someone I know put them in an M3, and in a hard turn the side bolster came apart from the bucket. I would be weary in such a high performance car, just my honest opinion since GT3 OEM seats got damn cheap as it is.

The different color stitching and alcantara is cool, but not worth poor quality!

DupaHead

Is it possible to get OEM GT3 seats with red stitching?

iLLM3

I believe so... I know you could have ordered them customized from Recaro, not sure if you still can do it, but it would be pricey :/

Suncoast porsche has the seats for like 2100 as a pair!

ltcjmramos

Speedware has had a "special" on the Recaro versions, deviated stitching, brackets, and sliders, a little north of $3000. I'd been tempted to sell my Euro seats, and get a set with deviated yellow stitching, but am reinstalling the Sport Seats now, and selling my Euros.

ltcjmramos

$2595

http://e-partssales.com/Merchant2/me..._Code=996seats

iLLM3

Ahh My apology.. Thought it was cheaper, still an awesome price from when WE were buying ours a few years ago lol...

DupaHead

Which Recaro version do you know?

ltcjmramos

Same as the Porsche OE seat.

Juha G

I bought these as the real deal OEM seats were on a three month back order and the track season was in full heat.

Would never buy again! The add said they are leather, bull crap! They were vinyl and came apart in just 10k miles. = garbage!!

Get OEM or if you don't want to spend that much, get some brand seats like Sparco etc. The replicas are just that, replicas. You're not driving a replica Porsche so don't sport replica seats either...


Edit: Here's some photos (courtesy of the new owner of my GT3, who threw the seats away. ):

DupaHead

Thanks for the advice and the pics! I guess I'll keep searching for some OE seats with red stitching.

ltcjmramos

Do the OE seats come with deviated stitching? I haven't looked for anything like that, but know I've never seen a set. The Recaros do per my above posting.

DupaHead

I believe at some point I've seen some OEs with deviated stitching. If I recall correctly, someone told me to give TRG a call as they can be ordered.

perfectlap

does anyone know what the OEM seats are made of that makes them safe(r)?
I know the higher end racing seats are made of kevlar and not pepsi cans like the replica, low end momo, sparco lot.

Juha G

The OEM seat frame is made of Carbon fibre and the replicas posted in this topic are made from Kevlar. It is practically same material, Dupont has just patented the Kevlar as their product name.
The methods for making the frame are most propably identical (vacuum bag + oven) but one would expect better quality assurance from the OEM manufacturer than from a replica factory somewhere in Asia.
With regards to safety, the biggest difference is probably in the construction, i.e. how the fibres/mats are laid and how they are designed to break apart when it's tome to give in. The replica manufacturer propably has put no tought into this issue...