Hi all, just was looking at aftermarket seat options for our cars and came across a few questions. I did search, but couldn't find any solid answers for my first two questions, the third is more of a generality in asking for your advice.

1. What aftermarket seats, that are reclinable, have good comfort and support as well as being DOT certified? I was looking at some of the options from RoTtech and while they look great in pictures, the fact that they're not certified worries the hell out of me in the scenarios that you never hope to find yourself in. I will NOT track the car.

2. What effect do aftermarket seats have with the passenger airbag sensor? It's in the belt buckle iirc?

3. Any general feedback on experiences would be greatly appreciated. Would hate to buy something online and not like it


The reason I ask is because I'm considering doing a trade on my tiptronic for a 6 speed, and the one I'm looking at has GT3 buckets in it. Will find out soon how I feel about those, but I can't imagine my wife being a big fan of them... The only other thing, sight unseen, that I'm not really wild about is that the car has a grey interior (not much contrast against the white paint). I guess I'll see what it's like, but I wanted to get the ball rolling here to see if the trade had any legs to it.


if it makes a difference, I'm a hair under 5'11" and 215lbs with a muscular build. Wear a 33 or 34 pant, and ~45 jacket off the rack depending on cut.

Thanks guys!

 

1) I don't think many aftermarket seats are DOT certified. More often you see FIA certification which I would guess is more stringent than DOT (not sure, though). I got Rottec buckets. I wanted them as buckets but also didn't want to chance aftermarket seatback adjusters failing. The construction of my seats seems very good and strong. The rails, on the other hand, I will probably be upgrading.

2) I had no issues. The only electrical connection that remained with my new seats was the seatbelt connectors.


My guess is you have pretty wide lats which would mean the Rottec seats I have would be too narrow for you.

 

Hi,

I have just completed the exchange of the seats for 997 GT2 carbon seats. 996 cable connectors and 997 seats do not fit. You have to solder a bit and I just put in a plug on both sides (car and seat).

The driver side has a belt bucket sensor cable, the passenger side has not (2002 996 TT).

GT3 buckets are narrower. The 997 two-piece carbon seats are a litte wider, but have a perfect shape. I like them a lot.

If you buy either the Porsche 996 GT3 or the 997 GT2 seat you have a original Porsche part that will have no DOT issues. For the same reason I did not want to buy aftermarket.

GT3 seats are a big weight saving. The 997 carbon seats are heavier (35 lbs complete - still a lot less than the 52 lbs OEM sport seats)

Andreas

 

I think you would find that Recaro seats are TUV approved which is the German standard and I understand a tougher standard than DOT. They come in a variety of types from full out race to very comfortable soft ones. Recaro also has the sliders/adapters for the 996 as a line item. Check out their website.

 

Thank you very much for clearing those question up, but I believe I put the buggy in front of the horse with this thread

So I looked at the car today, just was not what I had expected it would be...interior was much too rough of condition and I don't think it was cared for after somebody sunk a bunch of money into it and sold it. Mismatched tires and all kinds of tell tales that it wasn't a good idea to get into that car.

The seats weren't as bad as I expected, but I don't think I could enjoy a fixed bucket car for long amounts of time or relax when stuck in traffic with them. Or, the more realistic problem, convince the wife they're better LOL

 

here is a set of ROTtec seats I picked up in alcantera with carbon shells. I made the sub bar mount myself.

 

What about buying Porsche OEM sport seats when someone else swaps to aftermarketf? Might not be relevant if you're passing on the car anyway.

 

What do you think of the rails? I think I'm going to swap mine out for some other aftermarket rails.