Aftermarket bucket seats

Had anyone replaced their stock seats with lightweight aftermarket, fixed-back buckets? So many options but I believe I have it narrowed down to Recaro Pole Position and Sparco Evo. Both seem to be similar with composite construction, 15-20 lb weight, $850-1500 price range. I have a 32" waist/ 5'9"/medium frame. The Evo looks to be the only seat which offers different sizes (small-XL). But the leather/ alcantara option is described as M/L. Same with the Recaro. Fitment is key for me. I don't want to be sloshing around in a big seat. But a good looking seat that blends with the black Cayman interior is also important. This would be for street use.

I did it on my 06, pretty much the same size as you. The Porsche GT3 seats were a perfect fit for me and when use it with the Porsche base, perfect fit and easy to adjust the seat. Expect to pay around 2-3 K for 2 seats and bases. Good news is that you can resell them for the same in the future.

You may want to sit in the pole positions as they tend to be for shorter torso drivers, meaning the shoulder angle is wrong for taller drivers. You may not be using 6 point harness today, but maybe in the future that could happen. You can modify the slot for the two belts between you legs but not the shoulder openings. You need a certain downward slope from the back attachment point through the seat opening to the shoulder. If that slope is either flat or upwards, it does not meet the rule. The GT2 carbon seats are great, was outbid on bring a trailer, when a pair went above $7500 as they have side impact airbags included. The others do not just in case you are impacted by a red light runner.

I'm certainly not in the tall category so that isn't a concern. It's the potential side to side sloshing around even during spirited street driving.

Yes, the pole positions are tight for me across the bottom, but I could fit. Just that on long trips, there would be no room to change positions. The other side of the coin is that fit prevents sliding around, not needing your knees to stabilize your position. If you put in the bottom webbing through the seat, connecting the 6 belts, you would not be moving. Even the normal 3 belts would work well. I rode in a GT3 with bucket seats like the pole positions. The owner did not have 6 way belts, only the 3, yet I did not feel any hip side to side movement. That ride was kind of violent due to the drivers style, but still no front to back or side to side movement.

I would not do anything other than a Porsche seats for the street. You will lose airbag use with aftermarket seats. I have race seats and harnesses in my car which is mostly track. They are great on the track but mostly suck on the street.

The airbags are in the doors, not the seats. so I don't see the issue.

The GT2 seats do, in fact, have airbags built into them and when you install them with the oem connections to the car you do not have to make any mods to the ECU . That is why that type of conversion is called a " plug -n-play". It is good way to do the change as you should be able to recover your cost later on as long as you take of the seat(s).

Agreed on the stock seats. That’s why the GT2/ GT3 seats are so valuable. Good fit on the track, six point harness compatible, comfortable on the street, airbags, and look great. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The only one that I would buy today for both daily and track is the Recaro Sportster GT. But again, no side inpact bags. This allow you some movement on long trips so your legs have better circulation. Last picture is a Sportster seat with bottom webbing custom cutouts.

I'm flip flopping endlessly it seems but this could very well be the best option. Classy, sporty, supportive, comfortable and relatively inexpensive. They look like they belong in a Porsche with their OEM design language. And at ~33 lbs each, I'm guessing they're considerably lighter than factory. Any guess on the factory weights? I have the sport seats with heat, electric recline, manual up/down/fore/aft.

I use the Sparco QRT Performance in my Cayman with a GMG sliding base with sub belt mount. The Pole Position was too tight for me, 6’ 185 pounds with a 33 waist and the Sparco fits me great. It looks stock with leather and Alcantara and matches my interior. It’s FIA certified and is very light too.

Those are really nice. I did end up going with the Pole Positions. The ingress/egress is challenging even for me but once situated, it fits like a tailored suit. If I were a bigger person, I would've regretted going with these racing bucket style seats. They certainly aren't for everyone.

I totally agree in that you need to be able to get out of the car fast, especially if you car is lowered as you use your free foot to help lift your body over the outer bolster. Not to mention your helmet. Not only that, many of us still use our cars on the street, so by chance you are forced to park on a hill with a significant slope and its wet, guess what, that free foot plant has significant less grip due to the angle to the ground. So the great bolster that keeps your butt and thighs tight like a great suit also impinges on a fast escape. So for those of us at 6 feet tall and weight around 200 lbs, with a helmet on, your chances of that fast get away are greatly reduced. I just watched Romain Grosjean get out of his burning HASS F1 car that went through an ARMCO barrier at 140 mph with full fuel tanks explode at experiencing a 58 G impact. The halo kept his head on his shoulders but the 2000 degree heat for at least 40 seconds that really almost melted his fire suit, hands and feet. It was remarkable to see him come out after a long wait with intense fire all around the cockpit of his carbon fiber tub. The video is available on Google Bahrain GP, Nov 29 2020 Netflix really goes a great job as this fire is part of their yearlong coverage of the GP. F1 requires a 7 seconds escape measured by authorized safety group. Please see Jolyon Palmer analysis, its very revealing to all the parts needing to work perfectly for his survival. Think about your Cayman upside down with fuel leaking out, with very tight seats, 6 seat belts, Hans device, helmet, big steering wheel all reducing your egress from the car. A removable wheel is almost necessary to accomplish this fast escape, but with the wheel and certain seats without air bags, you take away the safety of the air bags for the frontal and side street impacts.