Seat Suggestions for Street

[Lelandjt]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

Serious questions. Why do you have such a big focus on weight?

Because weight creates inertia. If I didn't have a fondness for the lightest, most nimble vehicles I'd have bought a M2. From my perspective what the twins offer is the lightest RWD car I can fit a bike case in. I kind of want different material on my seats in a different color, and I'd love to not have such a thick seat back, so instead of only looking into reupolstering I thought I'd consider replacement seats. If I'm going to do that I might as well see how much weight can be dropped at the same time to lean into this car's strength.
However, it's sounding like what I want doesn't exist so I'll probably stick with the stock seats or reupolster them.

[KillerBMotorsport]

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

Recaro Sportster are a very good and popular option for folding seats. They're kind of the benchmark, and also ~1500 bucks each seat and not including rails/sliders.

- Andrew

^ this right here. $1,500-$2,500 depending on how you have them optioned.

Have these seats and would put them in every car I own if I could justify it. Fine for 600-mile trips, and the bolsters are aggressive enough for track use and a harness.

I doubt you'd save any weight, the stock BRZ seats are all manually adjustable, correct? I know our shop mule is. If we were talking about an AMG or CTS-V where the seats are a bazillion way electrically adjustable, the seats are 70-90+ pounds and there's decent opportunity for weight savings. Even going to a high-end seat like the Sportster CS, you'd gain some additional comfort, performance capability, convenience, and cool factor points, but little to any weight savings. If you went hardcore fixed back, non-adjustable you would save some weight (not a lot), but the comfort and convenience goes out the window.

[Yoniyama]

It's perfectly ok to want a different seat for any reason. Hey, some people think US$4 is too much for a cup of coffee, but don't ask anyone at Starbuck.

Corbeau makes (relatively) inexpensive after-market seats. Recliners weight about 26lb, a little lighter than OEM stock. Not sure if it is more comfortable than stock, though. And not sure it is available in tan leather.

Cobra also makes recliners, at about 26lb, and it comes in tan leather. But the cost is higher.

Bride makes compact recliners, but I don't have info on weight. Price is even higher.

Don't know if any gives more back seat-room.

Good luck seat hunting.

PS I was thinking about getting after-market seats before, but then I have grown used to the OEM seats. I think they are more comfortable than the optional sport seats on my 2016 Cayman. They actually made the GR86 OEM seats lighter than before. Please sell me yours if you replace them with after-market ones.

[Pat]

When buying seats, being able to test-fit can be very important. And the more performance-oriented the seat is, the more important it is.
Fortunately the best in-stock seat selection I've ever seen is 15 minutes from me near Park Meadows. Next time you're down the hill, go check out Wine Country Motorsports.
I'm considering doing something like you are. The Sportster CS is at/near the top of my list. If they don't have what you want in stock they may be willing to order it for you. And they are likely more willing to order it if they know there are multiple people that would consider buying it.
It's not cheap to ship seats, so the more you/we can do to lower their financial risk on a custom order the better off everyone is.

[Sapphireho]

Difficult ingress/egress is one of the big points of racing seats.

[vindiesel]

Originally Posted by Lelandjt

My reasons for wanting new seats are:
Much lighter weight (carbon?)
Thinner back to maximize rear knee/cargo space (carbon?)
Tan leather type material. I was going to have the stock seats reupolstered but decided to go thinner and lighter at the same time. This'll look great with my BRG wrap and bronze wheels.

Considerations are I need tilt, prefer bolsters that aren't radical enough to be annoying getting in & out, and it'd be nice if installation is simple enough I can do it. Not crazy expensive.

Run stock seats

And

Take a big shit

Lose weight yourself

Drive on 1/4 tank of gas or less

Remove spare

Gut interior

All equates to not buying an expensive seat for weight reduction

Weight savings minimal from a seat put money towards paying car off or track time

You have no input to my actual question of what seat why are you here? Don’t tell me what to do with my money! Just buy underglow lights the fad is coming back

Because practical

[Bodalenko]

Have an expiry date IF used in sanctioned motor sport. If used for a daily then no reason they won’t last as long as any OEM seat e.g. The life of the car..

[Sapphireho]

Originally Posted by vindiesel

Run stock seats

And

Take a big shit

Lose weight yourself

Drive on 1/4 tank of gas or less

Remove spare

Gut interior

All equates to not buying an expensive seat for weight reduction

Weight savings minimal from a seat put money towards paying car off or track time

You have no input to my actual question of what seat why are you here? Don’t tell me what to do with my money! Just buy underglow lights the fad is coming back

Because practical

And move the front seats up a click when you need that much more room.

[Lelandjt]

EDIT: My Google-foo improved. Stock seats weight 40lbs-ea. That's light for an oem airbag seat. I bet the carbon looking things that come in BMW M cars weight more.

Can someone measure or closely estimate the thickness of the seat back in the middle of your back? My Mazda 3's are more than 6" thick and there's been many times that a thinner seat back would have made it easier to fit something in the cargo area (usually bikes). A couple inches can make a big difference sometimes.

[Pat]

Originally Posted by vindiesel

Lose weight yourself

Lelandjt, I don't know how you stayed away from this one.

[Pat]

Originally Posted by Lelandjt

Can someone measure or closely estimate the thickness of the seat back in the middle of your back? My Mazda 3's are more than 6" thick and there's been many times that a thinner seat back would have made it easier to fit something in the cargo area (usually bikes). A couple inches can make a big difference sometimes.

It's difficult to measure that without large calipers, which I don't have. But I just put my hands on the front and back of the driver's seat, trying to estimate the thickness. It's surprisingly thin. I would estimate two to three inches. When I compress the seat back between my hands that distance is probably decreased by about an inch. I don't think you're going to gain much space by going to a different seat unless it's a Tillet or similar.

[Lelandjt]

Originally Posted by Pat

Lelandjt, I don't know how you stayed away from this one.

I've been a pro bike racer for over 20 years and pretty into the technical side of the sport and making my bikes really light (we call it being a weight weenie). I've heard the "take a dump" and "lose weight" plenty of times, but only on the internet, never in real life. Anyone who meets me sees there's no weight left to lose and when you see a bike with Ti bolts everywhere and carbon parts shaved down you know that person doesn't leave the house without stopping in the bathroom for a final "weight savings". I'm currently riding for Scott and love working with them because they're just as obsessive with making every detail perfect and shaving every last gram. Check out my new ultralight trail bike. How clean does that look?

[Lelandjt]

Originally Posted by Pat

It's difficult to measure that without large calipers, which I don't have. But I just put my hands on the front and back of the driver's seat, trying to estimate the thickness. It's surprisingly thin. I would estimate two to three inches. When I compress the seat back between my hands that distance is probably decreased by about an inch. I don't think you're going to gain much space by going to a different seat unless it's a Tillet or similar.

Thanks for taking the time to do that. That's great news! Depending on the exterior color I settle on I'll either reupolster the stock seats or leave them alone. I'm ordering the car in silver and the two wraps I'm considering are BRG or that Porsche "chalk" color.

[Breezer]

I also haul a bike, and the modifications I've done to the BRZ are mostly about weight reduction. I removed everything but the side panels from the rear and covered the flooring with thin padding and carpet. You have a dropper seat post, which solves one of the trickiest parts of snaking a bike in through the trunk opening.