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Pair of SPEC-D seats for $195

danbfree

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#1
Edit: Not gonna do it because of legality/safety losing air bags, but leaving post up for others knowledge... You CAN make the airbags work, covered in another thread, just not worth all the time/cost for now until maybe a few years down the road I turn my now daily into a track car...

Original post:
Too poor to get the Recaro's for my magnetic FiST, but these look like they would be OK for a very cheap alternative... surprisingly decent reviews, they can't be total utter garbage right?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Reclinable...acing-Seats-w-Sliders-Left-Right/382356300555

Anyone have any experience with them? I have no intentions of selling off the stock seats, I'd be keeping them as spares, but would I lose any air bags or anything doing this?
 


Last edited:
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#2
You will definitely lose your airbags, and your vehicle will technically be illegal to drive on the street because of it. The little FiST needs this side airbags to keep you safe in a side impact.
Too poor to get the Recaro's for my magnetic FiST, but these look like they would be OK for a very cheap alternative... surprisingly decent reviews, they can't be total utter garbage right?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Reclinable...acing-Seats-w-Sliders-Left-Right/382356300555

Anyone have any experience with them? I have no intentions of selling off the stock seats, I'd be keeping them as spares, but would I lose any air bags or anything doing this?
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#3
I don't know how the base seats are, but the Recaros have the airbag built in. Have you looked into Cobra Seats at all? They are decently priced, as are Carabou. Grab them and a set of Planted rails and you are set.

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#4
You didn't miss much by skipping the Recaros. I wasn't too poor. Tried two different cars with them. 5 minutes was all my 6', 185lb body could take. Hard as a brick and dug into my sides. I am very glad I didn't buy them.

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#5
You didn't miss much by skipping the Recaros. I wasn't too poor. Tried two different cars with them. 5 minutes was all my 6', 185lb body could take. Hard as a brick and dug into my sides. I am very glad I didn't buy them.

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Really? Mine fit amazingly well, even when I was at 6'2 and 230. I am down to 180 now but I never had issues and think they are great?

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#6
Really? Mine fit amazingly well, even when I was at 6'2 and 230. I am down to 180 now but I never had issues and think they are great?

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Beating them down Michigan's horrific roads in January probably didn't help my comfort factor.
 


OP
danbfree

danbfree

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Thread Starter #7
Thanks for the input guys, i know the factory Recaro's have to break in too, but once I went back and saw for off-road use only, that made me realize I'd lose the airbags, not gonna bother!
 


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danbfree

danbfree

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Thread Starter #9
I don't know how the base seats are, but the Recaros have the airbag built in. Have you looked into Cobra Seats at all? They are decently priced, as are Carabou. Grab them and a set of Planted rails and you are set.
Yeah, no airbags when I'm a dad and my big kid rides in front now AND $140 EACH SIDE for Planted rails, nope, not even close to worth it... now I know why Recaro's go for so much even used! LOL
 


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danbfree

danbfree

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Thread Starter #12
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#13
LOL... but did you see that all you need is a resistor to make air bags work? There was that thread about using FoST Recaro's, interesting...
Unfortunately, it does not make the side airbags work. They are in the seats. Aftermarket seats do not have provisions for them. The resistor will allow the other airbags to work.
 


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danbfree

danbfree

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Thread Starter #14
Unfortunately, it does not make the side airbags work. They are in the seats. Aftermarket seats do not have provisions for them. The resistor will allow the other airbags to work.
That's if you want to put in FoST Recaro's and get THOSE airbags to work, I see!
 


A7xogg

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#15
Edit: Not gonna do it because of legality/safety losing air bags, but leaving post up for others knowledge... You CAN make the airbags work, covered in another thread, just not worth all the time/cost for now until maybe a few years down the road I turn my now daily into a track car...

Original post:
Too poor to get the Recaro's for my magnetic FiST, but these look like they would be OK for a very cheap alternative... surprisingly decent reviews, they can't be total utter garbage right?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Reclinable...acing-Seats-w-Sliders-Left-Right/382356300555

Anyone have any experience with them? I have no intentions of selling off the stock seats, I'd be keeping them as spares, but would I lose any air bags or anything doing this?
Fost recaros arent much more expensive than these cheap seats. Removing air bags is not something i wanna be a part of when i get into an accident or something, which is why im trying to get some fost recaros. Depending on how my process goes i may have a great way for people to get recaros anywhere in the country. I know someone will say you should have bought them from, the factory but at the time buying my fiesta they didnt have a knoa blue with recaros. And i really wanted blue > everything. Not bashing you but for me taking the airbag outta street car isnt worth the reprocutions if something happens, cause i would not be wasting my time with oem seats or oem seat upgrades.
 


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danbfree

danbfree

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Thread Starter #16
Fost recaros arent much more expensive than these cheap seats. Removing air bags is not something i wanna be a part of when i get into an accident or something, which is why im trying to get some fost recaros. Depending on how my process goes i may have a great way for people to get recaros anywhere in the country. I know someone will say you should have bought them from, the factory but at the time buying my fiesta they didnt have a knoa blue with recaros. And i really wanted blue > everything. Not bashing you but for me taking the airbag outta street car isnt worth the reprocutions if something happens, cause i would not be wasting my time with oem seats or oem seat upgrades.
No, yeah I missed that post on FoST Recaro's to begin with, that's a great option, but seems like they are REALLY expensive and still have to do a bit of modifying to work too... but that's the best way to go other than Fiesta Recaro's which cost even more 2nd hand as they are plug and play...
 


TyphoonFiST

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#17
You will definitely lose your airbags, and your vehicle will technically be illegal to drive on the street because of it. The little FiST needs this side airbags to keep you safe in a side impact.

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This is a very valid point as insurance companies look to see if any or all airbags deployed during a crash and if you MOD this safety feature they will not payout on insurance as you're car is being billed as having those airbags as a parts of the safety system for your car insurance. Just a little food for thought...if it was a track only car....Sure...if its a DD id say no go man.[thumb]
 


A7xogg

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#18
No, yeah I missed that post on FoST Recaro's to begin with, that's a great option, but seems like they are REALLY expensive and still have to do a bit of modifying to work too... but that's the best way to go other than Fiesta Recaro's which cost even more 2nd hand as they are plug and play...
And i just looked again and those are universal rails which from what ive seen with racing seats is you still need to buy seat brackets made for the fiesta which is another 100-150 per seat. So then ur total goes to at least 400-500 which is what you can get fost recaros for.
 


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danbfree

danbfree

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Thread Starter #19
This is a very valid point as insurance companies look to see if any or all airbags deployed during a crash and if you MOD this safety feature they will not payout on insurance as you're car is being billed as having those airbags as a parts of the safety system for your car insurance. Just a little food for thought...if it was a track only car....Sure...if its a DD id say no go man.[thumb]
Yep, looks like 2nd hand FiST or FoST Recaro's is the way to go to retain everything...
 


M-Sport fan

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#20
Long gone are the days I could drop 150$ on rails and $1,200 on an SPG seat without thinking twice... Ah, the kiddos are worth it though!


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Most seem to claim that you should NOT be driving around on the street with a one piece, composite racing shell seat (EVEN IF you don't care about losing the exploding whoopee cushions) without 5-6 point harnesses, and a cage with an attached to the cage, solid back brace bar attached to the seat, anyway. [dunno]
(And then you have the issue of everyone claiming that it is DEADLY to drive with a cage (even a ridiculously padded one!) on the street, without also wearing a brain bucket. But rally drivers do this for MANY miles while on the transit parts of a rally on OPEN public paved roads, with their helmets off so??)

I question the above post by kenweise claiming that non-factory, non-airbag seats are implicitly illegal per se in and of themselves (Pennsy inspection places tell me that an air bag light on the dash will NOT fail me).
I even used to breeze right through what used to be a DRACONIAN inspection in Joyzee, for about 15 years, with a 330 mm diameter, Sparco suede race steering wheel (OBVIOUSLY sans any air bag) in my LS1 Z28. ;)
This may vary between locales, states,etc. though.

But yes, your insurance company CAN and WILL deny you any medical claims (and maybe even any liability claims made against you by OTHER drivers involved in an at fault accident), maybe even IF you inform them about not having air bags ahead of time, and pay a higher premium because of it, resulting from injuries due to what they claim could have been prevented by seat mounted (or steering wheel, if replacing that with aftermarket) air bags. [:(]
 




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