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Old 11-20-2018, 10:10 PM   #19 (permalink)
Bee370Z
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Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Texas
Posts: 31
Drives: 370z
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I’ll try to be more detailed and or organized at a later date, but wanted to get an update out quickly. I’m doing this with thumbs from my phone, I apologize in advance.

Pros:
-Beautiful in person, pictures don’t do justice. It was a game changer to see at first glance.
-More comfortable than stock. Supportive, stiff overall feel, but somehow plush at the same time.
-Feels SO sporty, immediately gave the car a whole new vibe. Holds you in place through corners.
-Airbag!!! Plug and play.
This was a must for me. This was the ONLY reason I went this route and didn’t buy new recaros from a dealer. BTW, I spoke directly to the Recaro dealer in Houston thinking I could buy an airbag version of the Sporster CS. The person I spoke with claims there are NO recaro options with an airbag. He claimed the “airbag” option you see online is a lumber support option that uses an air-bag. Not to be confused with an SRS airbag. Honestly the photos online look like SRS airbags to me. But this 20 year veteran dealer claims otherwise. I have no idea, but at the EOD I found these Nismos and the problem was solved.
-Easy install, don’t be told otherwise! I’m not handy at all, I’m just obsessive about researching everything.

Cons:
-Seat is too high with sliders. I may remove them eventually. I would’ve saved the money if I was doing it again. Costly to remove and remount, so the sliders are staying for now.
-Helmet might be an issue. This isn’t the Recaros fault, it’s the seat brackets in general which should be made lower. This probably effects all Afternarket seats when using sliders.
-Less leg room, I would’ve expected the opposite with the seats thin profile. To my surprise, my seat is as far back as it goes and it just fits right. In OEM seats the pedals were too far when the seat was fully extended. I’m 6’0, if I were any taller or longer legged it may be an issue.
-Leather is fragile. It’s extremely quality feeling, but way too delicate. I made a bad scuff and tiny tear the first day. You need to be extremely careful getting in and out, no laziness...Ever. So consider how this may get annoying if you like your stuff in good shape.
-Expensive!! But, not any worse than buying new Recaros.

I’ll admit, I panicked a little after buying the seats because all the information was scattered. There’s also some scary claims of 20 hours custom fabrication.

Just hang tight and don’t worry about any of that! I promise. NO custom fabrication is needed if you follow my recommendations!

1. Juke seats: < $2000 (don’t pay more or it may not be worth it IMO).
2. $380 Recaro Baseframe
$190 Shipping baseframe from Poland (no getting around this, I tried).
3. $100+ Sliders (I would skip these so the seat is lower, honestly a mistake).
4. $300 Planted Technology 370Z specific floor brackets.
5. $100 Planted Technology spacers for floor bracket. A must if you use sliders. Contributes 1/8 inch to height of seat. Again, save money, SKIP SLIDERS if you’re the only one driving the car. You won’t need these spacers.
6. $15 hardware for brackets. I got planted’s hardware and it was not long enough when using the spacers. Should be fine if you direct mount seat to the floor bracket. My shop luckily had longer hardware in hand.
7. $100 Airbag bypass. This is a module that tells the airbag a passager is always present. No flashing airbag light, but in the event of an accident, the passenger airbags are going off, passenger or not.
8. $3 - $20 Seat Belt clip. Keeps the seatbelt light off. There’s no beeping noise so this is not a must have.
9. $300-500 Installation. I really wanted to do this myself and save the money. It seemed easy but I’m very happy I had a professional handle this, it was a legit shop and it took them 4 hours. Got multiple quotes for the same timeline, and lots of people turning down the project because they won’t mess with custom builds that involve airbags.

My total cost:
$1565 + Seats = $3465

How and where to purchase?

2. Recaro Baseframe.
This is the ONLY tricky part to this process, BUT, the most important. This is where custom fabrication would be necessary if you didn’t get this baseframe.
Contact “Recaro Max” on Facebook. He’s a extremely nice, responsive, and reliable guy who answered my endless questions. He shipped the hard to come by base frame. There are not many other options. Recaro US will not sell you this part. End of story, I tried. So, get the baseframe lined up before you buy the seats.
Option 1: Recaro Max (Recommendation) amx-performance
Option 2: take your chances with this site: https://www.capitalseating.co.uk/sea...e-sportster-cs

3. Sliders: Recaro Max will sell these for $100. I recommend buying elsewhere since you cannot send them back. Quality was OKAY. Very durable feeling but aesthetic issues.

Again, I’d skip sliders. Authentic Recaro sliders, or wedge engineering sliders would be my preference otherwise. Recaro Max’s sliders were more economical, however.

4. Brackets:
Planted Technology (PT). Gritting my teeth at the expense when I bought the PT brackets knowing I could spend half the price. But, based on word of mouth that they are the “lowest option” I got them anyway. I have no comparison that they truly are lower than wedge but in photos it does appear that way. They require the additional spacers for $100 and adds an additional 1/8th of an inch in height. The hardware is extra dough too.
The main PRO to this bracket is they are universal for all types of seats, resale would be easy. Recaro recommends these brackets and they are definitely quality.

Wedge Engineering is by far the economical option. Like 200$ or so. They weld the spacers for free (make sure you specifically point out that you have Sportster CS seats and need that spacer). This alternative is half the cost of PT brackets. I believe they include the hardware for free.
Resale may NOT be easy, the brackets are only designed for a Recaro Sportster CS seat. I’ve heard good things, but I was concerned about height.

6. Hardware to mount the floor brackets to the sliders or to the seat is all you need. Sliders should come with their own hardware. All other hardware is used from the Juke Recaro seats and the OEM floor bolts.

7. Airbag bypass. https://airbag360.com/nissan-350z--3...ator-472-p.asp

8. Seatbelt clip: You can pass on this. https://www.amazon.com/CarNeed-Buckl...MV8J1E22VTR16V

Conclusion:

Despite some flaws you will have to get used to, the seats are AMAZING!! Truly worth the cost. It makes the car look and feel much more expensive and of higher quality. I personally did not care for the OEM seat design at all, so I am bias.

I am not regretful of the money or time invested in the mod. It really is worth the cost, being that it’s a direct connection point to the user. This is something I see, feel and enjoy every moment I’m in the car. Most important, I retained the seat mounted airbag.

This modification will not be difficult if you follow the steps above. Removing the Juke baseframe and installing the recaro base frame is extremely easy. I did it myself to shave installation cost. See the previous post I made.

I enjoyed this process and I hope that this thread helps save someone a bunch of research time.

Enjoy!

-Brandon

Last edited by Bee370Z; 11-21-2018 at 01:06 AM.
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