boss351

My stock seats and three point belts leave me and passengers moving around the car way too much at the track. I had decided at the last event I'd get some sports seats (have to be recliners) and use a harness bar/6 pt at the track, revert back to 3 pt for daily use.

I wanted seats that were first functional and safe, but second would blend with the car interior well also.. The options are more limited than I'd imagined with the 996 as the fit is very tight on stock seats.

The top of the pile as far as I have been able to determine are Cobra Misano's

Similar seats are the Recaro Sport Topline (electric adjust and heavier, manual adjust wont fit), Recaro Sportster CS (shoulder holes too low in back for me), and then Corbeau A4 (not comparable quality).

I haven't been able to see the Cobra's first hand but have been in touch with a few guys that have and they vouch for them in all aspects.

I would just like to hear from anyone on here before pulling the trigger if they have any input on Cobra seats.

Thanks.

chrisp

Cobra seats are good, I have two in my car. I spoke to them extensively before buying mine.

I don't have any input relative to your specific model except that if you are progressing up the DE food chain I would seriously consider fixed back seats. A harness bar combined with a recliner is a recipe for disaster in my mind.

boss351

From another owner of the Misanos, he told me that he was impressed over the back rigidity compared to any other seats under load. Also, from Cobra's reps here in the US, I have been told that the Misano features a Keiper Recaro mechanism that is the strongest on the market.

mglobe

I've got Cobra fixed back seats in my race car, so nothing negative to say about Cobra's per se, but I would be worried about fitment. Having put Cobra's in my 996, and watched a friend put Recaro's in his, I've come to believe that putting anything other than Porsche seats into a car that's mostly for the street, is not the best idea. If your car is a daily driver, and you feel the need for harnesses for the track, I would go with the Porsche GT3 seats and give up the reclining feature. Either that or just go directly to a dedicated track car and save yourself a lot of time, money, and effort.

boss351

These seats are 20.5" wide at the tightest spot for the fit, stock are just over 19" at the same spot and there is about 1" clearance so these will be tight but will fit.

I need a recliner, kids in the back seats every day.. I wouldn't mind having two cars, one track, one daily, but the dual purpose is just right for me right now.. In a year down the road I may be looking at some spec car that I can start racing in....

mglobe

Again, I have no experience with these particular seats, and I'm not saying that they won't work. In general the big fitment issues tend to come not so much with the exterior size of the seat, but with the position of seat rails relative to the seat rail mounting bolts in the car. If these don't mesh up, you end up dealing with adaptor brackets and/or welding of stuff. Just make sure you talk to someone who REALLY knows if these will fit (unlike me).

boss351

They have an extensive range of specific brackets/sliders for different cars, 996 being one.

TheOtherEric

I have a pair of Imola seats, which I like a lot. Two big problems with Cobra, though:

1. Seat sizes make mounting extremely difficult, and you'll probably need to customize some type of adapter plates. This was ludicrously time consuming for me, as my std imola is too narrow for the factory rails and my wide imola (for the passenger) is too wide!

2. Their primary US distributor (Sube) has no idea how to make them fit and gave me absolutely zero help when I explained that their expensive adapters were useless. They even stopped selling to 911 owners for a while since they realized they wouldn't fit and had no idea how to make it work. Unless they somehow got it together, they're bad news.

Whoever you buy from, ask what the side-to-side hole spacing will be on their side brackets where they bolt into the car. If they won't/can't answer, look out. Recaros are plug&play, BTW.

Dave 86 930 Fl

I have the Cobras in my 930 track car and I'm very happy with them. I still drive the car on the street when it's cool here in Florida, but the car is slowly being transformed to a dedicated track car. I installed the schroth 4 point harnesses with the ASM technology (flame away) and I feel very secure in the car. The alcantara inserts in the seat do a great job of gripping your behind and wear seems to be a non-issue so far. I'd like to modify the seat bottoms so I can upgrade the harnesses to a 6 point (flame away), but otherwise thte seats are a great comprimise between a street seat and a hardcore track seat. Here's a picture.

Regards, Dave

mglobe

S'what I've been trying to say. I'm not sure the problem is specific to Cobra either. I have the impression that after market seat are in general a PITA to fit in a late model Porsche. I have a friend who had hell with a Recaro as well. I think his issues were with seat height rather than rail spacing.

stuttgart46

From a quality standpoint the Cobra's are great. We put a Suzuka in our SPBOX and I love it.