Two seat bases review

[Andyxin]

Long story short, my back hurts when I sit in the stock BRZ seat and it also doesn't hold me very well on track. So I bought a Recaro Sportster CS which is also used in many OEM applications like Focus RS and Mini Cooper JCW. From owners reviews, it is one of the most comfortable aftermarket seat. Like most of other aftermarket inclined seats, it is bottom mounted, which means the seat is directly mounted to the rail. The rail then attaches to the Seat base and seat base is mounted to the chassis floor.
The problem it causes is you have no ability to adjust the level of your hips and knees unless the seat itself has this function. Just want to show which adjustment I’m talking about. Knees and hips don't have to be level though.

The first mounting combo I bought is Planted seat base and Recaro seat rail. This combination is a disaster..... My thought after installing them is I can't believe this company Planted is still in business..... Here are the issues I was running into. You can skip this part if you only want to know the seat position.

First is the mounting hole. There are four mounting holes in the chassis floor. Two in the front and two in the back. Really straight forward. When I finished installing everything, move the seat into the car and ready to put in four bolts for the final step, I found out I can't put in those bolts... The two mounting holes in the back were covered by seat rail even though I already moved the seat to the most forward.

I Had to take off the rail, insert bolts and install everything back again. After screwing two bolts in the back(They were not tightened and seat base can still move a bit ), I found out that the front two holes on base were barely aligned with holes on the chassis floor... I wiggled the base and spent about 20 minutes getting two front bolts in. I was worried that those holes on the floor might be threaded.

The second thing is seat belt mount interferes with the side of the seat. It is shown clearly.
The first picture is the most backward I can move my seat with seat belt acceptor mounted. The second picture is how far I can move back when there is no seat belt accepter.

After these troubles, I finally finished the installation. When I got into the new seat, I felt like I just wasted 1700 bucks because it was not comfortable at all... Nothing like other Sportster CS owners said. No matter how I adjusted the seat back, I always felt my back was in stress and also my neck. My hair touched the roof and I couldn't even press pedals comfortably with any seat position.

I thought it was the seat’s problem and the seat base was too high. Last week I ordered a Bride Type RO seat rail hoping that it is lower than the planted one. Bride seat rail has flanges welded to it so there is no need for seat base.

The installation for Bride seat rail is faster than taking the old Planted one off. Fitment is great and there is really nothing that requires creativity.
Installing four bolts to the floor. This is what should have on the Planted one.

With Bride seat rail on, I feel like it is not the same Recaro seat I had before... No exaggeration... This is the comfortable seat position I always wanted.

Here is the important thing, the bride seat base is actually a bit higher than Planted base plus Recaro rail. Especially in the rear. However, this is where the Planted base is not good for button mounted seats. The front two holes on floor pan are on a chassis structure bar and are higher than the rear two holes. When it combines with planted base’s two higher flanges in front and two lower flanges in the back, the seat is too tiled. In order to have a comfortable position, I have to adjust the seat back backward a lot. Now my neck stresses because I need to look forward. I also have trouble shifting since my upper body is too far from steering wheel and shifter now and my arms are not 2 meters long.

Does the Bride seat rail solve the problem that sitting position is too high for me? Yes and No. I still seat higher than I wanted but it doesn't bother me anymore. I misunderstood the uncomfortable feeling before. It is not caused by seat height but overall seat position.

In conclusion, I would recommend Bride seat rail or any seat base that has same height of flanges all around for button mounted seat. I'm not an experienced mechanic or a racing driver so I can’t one hundred percent sure the issues I mentioned here are all valid. However, why not buy an engineered and more idiot proof product instead of buying a product that can turn a normal people into an engineer.





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[steved]

@Andyxin did you gain any head/helmet room with this seat combination over stock seats?