Racing Seats: Educate me

I know very little about racing seats and whats involved. I've search a lot on here and love all the setups but I'm getting overwhelmed. I'm trying to figure out whats right for me and what is involved. The biggest weakness of my car are the cloth seats. The car looks how I want, rides great, handles even better but the seats are a downer. Rather than going with leather covers that will crack eventually, I'd rather go with racing seats.

I'd like something comfortable and supportive. I love those new Ford Racing ones, are they out yet? With any racing seats, I'll have to install the bar behind them for the seats belts, correct? What else?

Thanks!

If this is the wrong section for this, I apologize and please move it.

Well there are a great many number of variables, do you want a 1-piece FIA homologated seats? Or would you rather have a reclining racing style seat? Do you daily driver your car or is it going to be used for the track mostly? Do you want the seats on runners or to be bolted in place? Alot of track organizations won't let you have runners on your seats. You don't have to install the support bar unless you get a 5pt harness. That raises another question, do you want a multi-point race harness? Gotta think about these things when potentially buying a racing seat. My car will see light street duty but live most its life on the track therefore I got homologated 1-piece seats with SFI rated 5-pts. I probably didn't give you the answer you wanted but I can't tell you what you need because only you know that. Give us more information and we can help you more accurately.

I do not daily drive my car but it doesn't see much tracking(any) yet. It will at some point. I'd like to start getting into autocrossing if that means anything.

If you don't run a 5 point harness, you don't use the stock seatbelts right?

As far as the runners, doesn't matter to me. I want something finished nicely. The car is not a track only car. I'm doing this because I'm happy where I am power wise, all the suspension is just about done so I'd like to finish the interior. If I have full Saleen seats, I wouldn't bother. But since I have to cloth, I'd like to upgrade.

Reclining would be nice but if the non-reclining are comfortable I wouldn't pass on them.

When you homologated, whats the other choices and what does that entail?

I appreciate all your help. Bare with me

I'm assuming you read this thread: http://s197forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59691

I'd lean toward a supportive reclining seat and a CG Lock for your stock belt. I've been using a Recaro Speed seat and a CG Lock for the past three years.
The more time the car is used on the streets, the more you want to stay with the factory safety systems IMHO.

I'm running cloth seats and a CG Lock on the track and feel pretty well held in. My cloth seats have side airbags which I ordered specifically as an extra along with the cloth seats.

Up to now you lose side airbags if you go to a "racing" seat so that was something that bothers me as I am more concerned about getting T boned on the street than risk in the track. It looks like the new Boss 302 seats from Ford will have side air bags and thus are of interest to me. The price may be a deterrent.

If you go with seats with a 5 point harness then IMHO a well designed and installed roll bar is mandatory and some sanctioning bodies also require them. The risk is that in event of a roll over with 5 points you will not be able to duck down if the roof collapses.

I should clarify: I dont mind cloth, I just want to upgrade from my factory cloth seats.

Has the price been posted for those FRPP Boss seats yet?

This is going to be tough

Jeepngli said:

I should clarify: I dont mind cloth, I just want to upgrade from my factory cloth seats.

Has the price been posted for those FRPP Boss seats yet?

This is going to be tough

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IIRC, they are going to be very expensive. For you I would say just pick up some nice reclining recaros or corbeaus, if you are just autocrossing then don't bother with a rollbar or 5-pt harness, you can keep the stock seat belts and just get more supportive seats.

The stock seat belts with still work those seats? Maybe I'm not visualizing it correctly

as with stock/OEM, the belt should be still wrapped around your body at the appropriate points and should still make contact with your lap and your chest. most bolsters on aftermarket seats (not including the kirkeys) do not come above the midplane of your thigh, so the belt will still contact your body and "cradle" you to the seat itself in the event of an accident.

i would recommend to replace them with a reclining seat since you are not tracking the car regularly. check out sparco or recaro. if you are lucky you may be able to pick up a set of mitsubishi evo seats(recaro's) from ebay or craigslist, they were light, manual and adjustable and IIRC still used the recaro bolt pattern and were a factory long wearing seat.
also corbeau has some nice seats but beware as some people have found flaws in the design. i have not switched over yet but i do have corbeau's seat brackets and forza fixed back seats ready to go once i get the balls to install a cage in my car. im sticking with my oem seats till i get another weekend vehicle as i already have a crappy beater DD.

Jeepngli said:

The stock seat belts with still work those seats? Maybe I'm not visualizing it correctly

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The stock belt will work with a reclining seat but not most fixed back seats. Fixed back seats have high sides with slots/openings in the sides for the lap belts to fit through. The stock belt will not work with these seats because you either sacrifice the lap belt if going over the sides or the shoulder belt if running through the belt slots. Neither of which is good. Reclining seats have low sides where the base and the back come together so either stock belts or harnesses (if the seat is equipped with shoulder belt and sub belt holes) will work. My Recaro has both shoulder harness and sub belt holes.

Going to a better seat and CG Lock makes a huge difference in the amount of effort required to drive the car. It is much more relaxing when you don’t have to expend as much effort bracing yourself to stay behind the wheel. It’s still not like having a full harness (I race on a LeMons team and the car has a cage, fixed back seat an 5 point harness) but it’s at least 50% there.

As Sleeper mentions, the other thing to consider with harnesses is neck protection. The air bag(s) will do you no good when belted in with a harness. A Hans device is good for the track but will do no good on the street without a helmet… Unless you’re track only, I’d recommend a reclining seat (with a seat back brace if you have a roll bar or cage). You can still use the stock belts for the street and a harness for the track.

I’m most likely going to install a Maximum Motorsports roll bar and harnesses over the winter. I’m going to keep the stock belt for the street and use a harness with a Hans on track.

Wow, a lot to take in. I appreciate everyone's help. Sorry for not responding, busy at work.

As much as I'd like Fixed back seats, I think you guys are right that reclining seats may be better for my application. The more I look at the Ford Racing Boss ones, the more I like them. I know its pricey, but it would go with my preference for OEM looking parts. Will they work in our cars you think? Can't find much about them.

So for other brands with Reclining seats: Recaro and Corbeau, anything I should stay away from? How about Sparco?

In my experience going from best to down Recaros, Sparcos, Corbeau etc. There are some seats used in the tuner cars like Bride that might be good but I don't have any experience with them.

IMO you are making the right choice in going with an adjustable seat. I have fixed back seats with harness bar and 6-pt in my track car. For the most part the only street duty it sees is driving to/from track events. There are several problems with a fixed back seat for street duty: as mentioned above, the stock seat belt will no longer work properly. You can wear it in a compromised fashion or you can wear the harness. But the problem with the harness on the street is you won't wear the shoulder straps - after a while it is just to much a PITA, they take to long to put on and you can't lean forward to see at intersections and such. So again safety is compromised because you end up wearing just the lap belt. Also you fit really snuggly in a racing seat, there is no room to move your arse around. It can get really uncomfortable on a long haul because you just can't adjust. So IMO, anyone who does frequent street driving shouldn't go with a fixed back seat.

As far as which reclining seat to go with - I have used the Corbeau A4s and they are ok. They are a decent dual purpose seat. But I wouldn't say they are real high quality. For the price they are a good option but you get what you pay for.

What about buying a seat that you can switch in and out ? If you only do 3 or 4 track events a year like me, would it be a big deal ? I hate permanent things.

Stock seats unbolt easily (4-bolts), and you have to unplug the wiring harness for them (these vary depending on how your car is equipped: side air bags, etc.). Once out, you'll likely get a dash light warning you that something is amiss, but it's easy enough to ignore.

I've seen some folks able to swap in race seats in 10 minutes or less...but they've done it a lot. I'd say the viability of this sort of option really depends on your tolerance for monkeying with the car before and after an event. Like you said, if you're only doing 3-4 events a year, it seems more favorable.

Best,
-j

Philostang said:

Stock seats unbolt easily (4-bolts), and you have to unplug the wiring harness for them (these vary depending on how your car is equipped: side air bags, etc.). Once out, you'll likely get a dash light warning you that something is amiss, but it's easy enough to ignore.

I've seen some folks able to swap in race seats in 10 minutes or less...but they've done it a lot. I'd say the viability of this sort of option really depends on your tolerance for monkeying with the car before and after an event. Like you said, if you're only doing 3-4 events a year, it seems more favorable.

Best,
-j

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Dumb question, but if im playing around plugging harnesses there no change of deploying the stock airbags right?

Is that a typo? Did you mean to ask: There's no CHANCE of deploying...? Or did you mean to ask: There's no CHANGE in how they deploy?

In either case, I don't know for sure. =)

My suspicion is that they won't deploy if unplugged (and you're getting a dash indicator light). However, Ford may have programmed in a fail safe mode that will deploy them under a generic setting if the computer senses there's a short in any seat sensor. I honestly don't know, and nobody has offered their car up for testing.

Although...there was a recent incident that "should" have deployed bags but didn't; and the guy had race seats in his car. So again, my hunch is that the bags are disabled w/o seat sensors plugged in.

Best,
-j

ha, yes. Damn T9 autocorrect on my new phone. Yes, I meant CHANCE of them deploying.

So I definitely like something like the A4's or even these:

http://www.corbeau.com/products/reclining_seats/lg1/


So my questions are: I can retain stock seat belts on these right? What else do I need for installations? I need adapter tracks or something right?

What would be the Recaro or Sparco equivalents? A few guys seemed to love those LG1's

Ugh, these Bride Reclining seats have got me hooked. Anyone know of a vendor who sells them at a half way decent price? They look to be a fortune. Love the look tho, even it they are JDM

I think the new BOSS recaro seats would be a perfect choice. And they might keep the airbags too.

No prices or release date on these as of yet.