GT3 Seats...final ?'s...(probably)

I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on the GT3 seats, but before I spend 3 grand there are two things I wish I could resolve first. First, it was Nathan I think, who said that spacers and longer bolts were available as an accessory from Recaro to raise the seats slightly in car, but the guy I'm buying from in Europe has no information in his Porsche parts book on this. Nathan, would you have specific info, like the name of the Recaro dealer who said they were available? Second, I've seen the seats in pictures and in person, but have not actually SAT in them. Am I nuts to consider spending $3000 on seats I haven't sat in? The responses to my previous post spoke to swapping the seats back and forth with the stock seats which leads me to suspect that for some, at least, the GT3 seat is not great for everyday use. I don't really want become expert at seat swapping, so for those of you who said that they change seats back and forth, why? I realize it's hard to rely on someone elses subjective opinion, but unless I find someone who has them in their car, that's all I've got at this point. Help talk me through this!! Thanks to all Mike

Mike, The only draw back to daily use of the seats to me are the high side bolsters. They are great at holding you in, but are tough to climb in and out of. I initailly planned on swapping the seats just for track days, but I like the fit of the GT3 seats and the way they hold you, so I don't plan on swapping them out. The weight saving is a plus.

Personally, I'd be leery of buying a seat that I had not at least sat in. People and seats are all shaped very uniquely. I found the sport seats in my BMW Z3 to be very comfortable. My wife, who is only 2 inches shorter than I am, found them to be very painful on her back and had to have an extra cushion whenever she drove it for more than a short distance.

I have the GT3 seats and find the perfectly comfortable for daily use. However, I don't use my back seat at all, so that fact that they have a fixed back that makes it difficult or impossible for even children to get into the back seat doesn't bother me. For the people that do swap, I think it's mostly so they can continue to use the back seat, not for comfort reasons. I am 6'2" and 210lbs. I've driven on trips up to 6 hours straight and have been perfectly comfortable the whole time. They are a little bit harder to get in and out of but once you do it a few times you work out a semi-graceful way to do it. Karl

Recaro does indeed make spacers for the seats. My best parts guy (a guy named dayton over at performance products) is no longer working at the place he once was.. I actually tried to contact him for this exact reason. He had a part number and a price. The spacers are 1" tall correctly (bolts are included and of course longer). As for comfort.. I had never tried them before buying either, but had been in other recaro seats. They are a bit harder to get into (of course), but makes for excitment the first time a young woman needs help into the seat! Honestly I'm 6'1" tall and about 185 lbs on a good day and find them to be very good and keep my posture good while driving. I feel of the 3 seats (I've owned all 3) standard factory leather powered seats, factory leather sports seats, and the Porsche Bucket Seats the latter are by far the best. Give you a nice boost in performance as you shed some 140+ pounds, they keep you from sliding and lastly what no one has mentioned is that you can actually place small cushions into the seats. Each cushion is simply velcroed (spelling) onto the back. You can place small cushions under the larger ones (2 come with a set). I would never ever go back.. Last note, I unfortunely had to have my dealer reset the computer as it did read an error once you disconnect the power portion of your stock seat. Not sure if there is a way around this or not. nathan

Ah! The fact that they come with 2 small "adjusting" cushions that can be optionally used is a very good thing. One should be able to adjust the cushions to get a comfortable back support arrangement -- which, unless the seat is just way too small or large for a person, is usually the main place for discomfort. Thanks for the information, Nathan. Would it make sense to only change the driver's seat? The driver is the one who'll need the additional support for DE or autocross-like events. Then the rear would still be mostly usable via moving the passenger seatback.

To follow up on my original post, I received an e-mail response from the Canadian Ruff distributor http://www.weissach.com . He had a set of the GT3 seats at a competitive price and offered to bring them down to the Ruff display at the Concourso Italiano in Carmel, during the Monterey Historics weekend, for my inspection. He will also have Ruff prepared cars, which all come with the GT3 seats, for me to sit in, which resolves my biggest concern. I bought the seats subject to approval and should have them by next Friday if they are what I expect. My experience so far with these folks has been good, (the gentleman I spoke to was helpful and knowledgeable) and when the seats show up as advertised, I will be delighted. Thanks to all on the board who gave me input on this. Mike

Hi Guys... I got a couple of e-mails (last week I think on this topic.) Sorry I did not reply..I was swamped with "red-alert" e-mail. I have these seats in my car. I love them but would not take a drive from Orlando to LA in them. But they are fine for up to 10 drives (for em anyway.) In-and-Out in a snap!!! No problems...It's only a pain the first time you do it because you have to learn all of the little tricks. (4) Torex (Socket) bolts per seat. (1) Very weird plug under seat that took me a while to figure out how to "unplug". Once you know how the seats pop out in 30 min (both of them!) just as fast to put them in. Yes, they are great for everyday! And you get great back support. any questions ask...for those who wrote me please re-send as I blew away a lot of mail do to the bug. TTFN (TaTaForNow)

Just the fact that the GT3 seats have spaces for a five point harness is a major selling point for me. Plus, I'm always looking to shave a few pounds off of my car (every ten pounds = one HP). But I wouldn't go with just the drivers side. I think that would look a bit Canadian...