Are these good seats for a 308?

See link:
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=SUM%2DG1159B&view=32#Application

I know several people here have used Sparco seats in their 308's.
I like these because the look like they'd match my interior well, and they're priced right.
Opinions?

 

Width across the seat is 21.25" which is the critical dimension -- you'll not be able to fit them in your 308. Check the width of your stock seats and the clearance to your center console and you'll find you pretty much have to keep to stock width.

 

I've been looking into getting a Corbeau A4 (www.corbeau.com/products/a4/a4.shtml#) in custom tan leather... still less expensive than Sparcos. Corbeau has Ferrari 308 mounting kits too.

I've also looked at Matrix X #15-598 at http://www.shophyperformance.com/store/001313.html -- they're only 19" across the seat so they should be workable.

 

Mike,
Have you gotten a price on the A4 in a custom leather color. That is a nice looking seat and only 25 lbs...very tempting.

 

Hey guys,

I actually have a set of A4's in my 308. The width is critical as mentioned above. They are comfortable and very aggressively bolstered. I had my seats frames drilled and tapped so that my existing 308 seat sliders bolt right into the frames. This is good so that you don't have to buy an adapter, but more inportant it will keep the seat as low as possible (maximum headroom). AND, I'm actually selling them on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=150035827706&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=005

Let me know if you have any questions.

Henry

 

I'll dig through my notes and get back to you here.

 

Not counting mounting brackets/adapters, an A4 seat lists for $299. An A4 in black leather is $499. The price on the A4 done in tan leather (or any custom leather) is $735. They have about 6 different tan leathers available, but none of them are quite right... "Acura Tan" looks the closest. If I do it I'll have them go ahead with it but then use Leatherique to adjust the color to be an exact match to the rest of my interior. You can also provide them the leather yourself if you prefer, but I don't think it makes much difference in the price and will probably end up costing you more.

 

Hi Henry -- you drilled/tapped the frames on the Corbeau seats? Good idea... did you find that the resulting seat height was about the same as the stock seats, or slightly lower or higher?

 

Any way you could post some photos of the brackets and mounting? Doing this in a 308 is tricky, especially with still being able to use the stock sliders.

 

Hi Mike,

The Corbeau's ended up being about the same height as the original seats. I know that if I would have used the adapters, that it would have added another inch, minimum. The original seats are actually pretty low. We all know that headroom in these cars is tight as it is.

 

Thanks, thanks exactly what I'm looking to do if I change out the seats.

 

Thanks Mike. It's very tempting. I really want different seats, but there are also a lot of other things I'd like to add, all of which are currently unfunded in the my wife's budget

 

Steven R (enjoythemusic) must not have seen this post or he'd reply. Pretty sure he's got racing seats in his 308, he tracks the hell out of it.

 

Have indeed been watching this thread (i have no life ). He is talking about using stock sliders and whatnot. Add to that he said he likes the Summit ones as they match the interior better. So he kinda eliminated the whole Sparco thing. Of course he could have custom REAL LEATHER covers made for the Sparco Roadsters, as the seat cover is easily removed/replaced.

Me? i love the fit and look of the Sparco Roadsters and they do look good as the 308 has quite a bit of black interior bits. He wants adjustments like incline i guess, the Sparco Roadsters do not have ANY adjustments for incline, etc as they are HARD MOUNTED (bolted in tight) on brackets... it is a safety thing

Shipping weight of EACH SEAT for the Summit he is talking about is 55 lbs. as i just called them. HOLY MOTHER OF... may as well put lead bricks in your car as the Sparco Roadster seats weight about 17 lbs each.

55 lbs each seat!!!!????????????????????????

Stock 308 seats weight about 30 lbs each btw. Adding weight to a sports/track car makes no sense to me, but then again neither do bling chrome rims, huge stereo systems (and i am an audiophile), etc.

Slight correction to sentence above, adding weight makes sense when it is for SAFETY reasons or if you are adding certain performance aspects. But adding that much weight for seats.................

FYI: i debated buying the carbon fiber Corbeau seats, but settled on the Sparco due to weight/cost and, frankly, the Sparco Roadsters are very comfortable for me. Of course comfort is a personal thing and may be dependant on one's physical shape/weight and sensitivity/desire for comfort versus 'being tightly strapped in and feeling virtually everything your tires/car does so you can maximize traction to pull over 1G in turns using 1/2 worn Mich Pilot PS2 tires' As an example, the speeds are SLOW on this track per se (NHIS in Louden is a tight and technical track... it aint free riding long course WGI) and look at the way the G-forces throw you side to side.

(NOTE: not my best lap at the link below, was short shifting to save engine as it was just a open course practice day. Will be there next week to gather more data and will be making different suspension adjustments to futher tune her for this course. The point being, look at the SIDE TO SIDE G-forces)

17.2MB file below

http://www.ispexperts.com/nhis072706_data.wmv


Guess seats are a personal thing and for the track you want to be bolted in tight! For casual street driving the stock seats are more than enough, but can see where more supportive seats would be desirable as the stock 308 seats are lackluster IMHO.

 

The Corbeau A4 seats are 25 lbs each. Not quite as lightweight as the Sparco Roadsters you put in, but at least they're slightly lighter than stock and have the recline, flip-forward and slide features.

 

Agreed and why i did consider the Corbeau. They are well made and very well respected. In the end it came down to costs plus in the back of my mind i kinda knew the car would be a track rat... The Corbeau seats should do nicely.

 

Retaining the flip forwar part is very important to me....I lke having the top with me just incase. I've thought about full race seats and designing a specail mount to make them flip, but it seems like a lot of effort for one as lazy as me.....

 

You chose wisely as somehow modding race seats to throw forward seems, well, a bit unsafe. Yeah, i am SOL with the sparcos as either have top on or go topless. Have been caught in the rain before and just pulled into a gas station for a bit. Still, the Corbeau seats are very nice.

 

I like the light weight of the race seat and with custom leather covers they work look nice. I'm pretty confident in my ablility to design and build a safe, reliable mounting system to get them far enough out of the way to get the roof in. I've built entire race cars and motorcycle from a pile of tubing and rolls of carbon/kelvar/fiberglass matt, I'm sure I could handle seat mounts. Custom stuff is always an awful alot of work though....I'd guess I'd have 40 hours into the seats before they were all done with covers and mounts, and that seems like a lot of time and effort to lose 30 lbs, a 1% improvement. Compare that to the 50-60 or so hours I have into porting my heads to gain about 200hp (it would only be about 100 on an NA engine) which is about a 38% improvement in power to wieght ratio. Performance through weight reduction always cost more in time and/or money than other options unless race rule limit the other options...but I would like race seats and carbon fiber deck lids and roof.......

 

You, kind sir, and my new G-d of Ferrari tweaking. To simply say i am most impressed is an understatement. You deserve a metal!

...and color me jealous as i'd give my left *** for another 200HP in the 308.
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Here you go Pen. I drilled and tapped the bottom of the seats and had to drill an extra hole in each of the sliders. Let me know if you have any ?'s

Henry
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Careful Henry, it doesn't look like there is a lot of metal for the bolt to grab...it will probably rip out in an accident. The factory bolt holes look like welded or riveted inserets to get the required thread engagement, the depth needs to be at least 1 full bolt diameter. You might want to think about installing insterts similar to the ones that came with the seat, it will be lot stronger.

 

Agreed... BIG MISTAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, i really mean THAT many ! marks. Take your seats and proper bolts to a welder and have them properly weld it all up. The current tapped holes are completely, unmistakable, absolutely unacceptable.

My apologies, color me Mr. Retentive but those drilled holes are bad, baaa-aa-aa-aa-aad news.

 

Thanks for the concern guys, really.

What isn't visible is the internal frame of the seat which is just behind those holes. So, it is threaded in more than that 1/4" of metal. When I get the chance, I will consider the inserts though, can never be too safe.

Thanks again guys. I do appreciate you looking out for me.