Just installed: leather Recaro Pole Position with SOS Sliding Seat Rails

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MvM

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Having bought a set of leather Recaro Pole Position seats in leather back in February, I finally took the time of installing them into the NSX together with a set of the ScienceofSpeed sliding seat rails.
One of the reasons it took me so long was that I wanted to restich the seams with red colored thread and that took me quite some time.
Having done that, the installation of the seats was relatively simple.

Here are some picture of the final results I took at my work this morning.
So, what do you think...

NSX_RecaroPP_Leather2.jpg


NSX_RecaroPP_Leather1.jpg


For your information, according to my scale, the difference in total weight is a little less than I had hoped for.
Honda NSX OEM Leather seat: 18.5 kg / 40.8 lbs
Recaro Pole Position leather seat + SOS sliding seat rail: 14.4 kg / 31.7 lbs
So, total weight savings is 2x4.1 kg = 8.2 kg or 18.1 lbs
 
Any way to take a closer picture of the seatbelt latch area of the seat?

Is there a bit of material sticking up through the bottom edge of the hole or something?
 
Looks great! I've been holding out for the DF seats but not having much luck getting a reply from them. So may go a similar route.

Any photos of the seat shoulder support and hw close it is to a closed door?
 
geometro said:
Any way to take a closer picture of the seatbelt latch area of the seat?

Is there a bit of material sticking up through the bottom edge of the hole or something?
Click to expand...

It's now too dark to take any good pictures, I will do so tomorrow.
The piece of material you see is a strip of velcro that is spanned across the oepning in the seat. I'm not sure why it is there, but it seems to cover up part of the seatbelt latch.
I might be there to kind of protect your clothing from too much chafing by the belt's hard surface. That seatbelt latch is seated rather deep in the hole, but since you're seating so tight in these seats, your pants will still rub against the latch.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Looks great! I've been holding out for the DF seats but not having much luck getting a reply from them. So may go a similar route.
Any photos of the seat shoulder support and hw close it is to a closed door?
Click to expand...

Will take some pictures of that as well tomorrow from the inside with a closed door.
 
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The red stitching give a great look and a touch of fantasy, wonderful work: Sourire:
 
Nice combo, I really like it. I've investigated them about six years ago but didn't go it any further with it.

I'm not surprised that you didn't safe a ton of weight. The seatrails are pretty heavy, right? What's the weight of one seat, around 7 kg?

How is getting in and out of the seat?

Is this Recaro's leather or did you buy their cheapest one and rebuilt them with your own leather? Nice color, I would have opted for alcantara in the middle. Leather is pretty hard during summer (sweating even with A/C).
 
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geometro said:
Any way to take a closer picture of the seatbelt latch area of the seat?
Click to expand...
Here is a close up of the seat belt latch sticking through the hole in the Recaro seat.



The material you see is actually two strips of velcro, slightly closing up the hole and probably there to protect your clothing from chafing.

Sudesh said:
Any photos of the seat shoulder support and hw close it is to a closed door?
Click to expand...

Here is the picture showing the room between the shoulder part of the seat next to the closed door of the NSX. I would say there is at least a full inch/2.4cm of space between them.
Also, it shows how deep the Recaro's can be set in the car. The door seems to be much higher than it really is. We all now how low our cars are don't we :smile:



I'm not surprised that you didn't safe a ton of weight. The seatrails are pretty heavy, right? What's the weight of one seat, around 7 kg?
How is getting in and out of the seat?
Click to expand...

I bought the seats from Ebay Germany, took me a long time to find a set that didn't sell for a vey high price (still paid a lot for them).
I have thought about the Alcantara version, but just thought that it would look cheap after a while. The seat cushions are easy to take out and replace, so I can always
Actually, the seats themselves turned out to weigh 8.8 kg / 19.4 lbs. Perhaps the leather cover is just heavier than the other covers.

Getting in is not that difficult, getting out however is certainly more difficult.
Since the seat is set lower into the car, I have also lowered my steering wheel which leaves little room for your legs when you get out of the car.
I am a pretty short guy, so the seat is set fully forward.
Driving with these seats certainly takes getting used to, but the feel of what the car is doing is excellent.
 
MvM said:
Actually, the seats themselves turned out to weigh 8.8 kg / 19.4 lbs. Perhaps the leather cover is just heavier than the other covers.
Click to expand...
Yes, the standard version is around 7 kg. Leather makes it heavier.
 
That looks great but I don't know how you guys fit into these seats. They are incredibly tight and small and they reduce headroom over the stock seat with a cushion. They really are for smaller people. I'm even worried I wont fit in the downforce seats because I don't know how much bigger they are. I have sat in a pole position and felt like a sardine squeezed into a can.

Still, it looks great MVM
 
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TURBO2GO said:
That looks great but I don't know how you guys fit into these seats. They are incredibly tight and small and they reduce headroom over the stock seat with a cushion. They really are for smaller people. I'm even worried I wont fit in the downforce seats because I don't know how much bigger they are. I have sat in a pole position and felt like a sardine squeezed into a can.

Still, it looks great MVM
Click to expand...

No no, you have it ALL WRONG.
The Recaro's are NOT made for 'smaller' people.
These seats are actually made for NORMAL people :biggrin: :biggrin:
It's you excessively and unnecessarily OVERLY LARGE people that don't fit in them too well :biggrin: :biggrin: :smile:
All that extra size and weight only slows you down...
---------

Now, joking aside, yes, the Recaro Pole Position seats will probably be too tight for 'wide' people. Length is not that much of a problem(if you are really tall, the NSX in itself will pose a problem I think), but if someone is very broad and/or wide, these seats are not for them.
I'm a very lean & mean driving machine, and although these Recaro's fit like a glove, even for me they are pretty tight as well. Mostly because the side bolsters are so high in relation to the OEM seats.

As far as headroom is concerned however, the Recaro's give me MORE headroom. I am definately seated deeper into the car. I would say that I have at least 0.6-0.8" more headroom with these seats than with the OEM seats. Enough so that I have lowered the steering wheel to what I think is the lowest position possible.
Actually, the Recaro's put my hands in a better position to the steering wheel than the OEM seats. However, the Recaro's are also made in such a way that your shoulders are pushed forward making a quarter-to-three steering position almost mandatory. It really takes getting used to. At the same time, there is absolutely no lateral movement in your seat when taking a fast corner and THAT, I can tell you, Is a wonderfull feeling.
With the OEM seats, I am getting into the NSX.
With the Recaro seats, I am putting the NSX on... :smile:

I have driven about 600 km / 400 miles with the Recaro's now and I like them a lot. I am not sure if the postion they are in now will be the finals one.
I am thinking of trying another seat position next week to find the perfect angle but only time will tell.
 
I understand, but I wouldn't fit in my car with my helmet if I ony had a .6 to .8 gain. My Dali type cushion is giving me around 2". Without the OEM cushion you gain 3" or so. Even with the best seat mount it seems the pole position will leave a gap between the floor and the seat. The factory sit essentially rests on the carpet. Here is no space. Take off the bottom cushion and what you see is an aluminum shell with holes and carpet fibers sticking out through the holes. That is how lose to the carpet the OEM seats are, yet people still assume an aftermarket seat can be lower. It is physically impossible. The only reason an aftermarket seat can give more headroom is less cushion. The factory seat has a lot, almost an excessive amount of cushion (although it does make it pretty comfy). The shoulders is exactly where the pole position just kills me. I can squeeze my hips in, and it is tight. I am about 185, I am not huge. The Recaro XL's are much more comfortable to me, but all Recaro shells sit off the floor too far for my liking.

Another myth regarding seats is weight. The majority of the factory weight is in the rails, around 20 pounds each. It is not in the seats. The seats are roughly around 20 with the motors and recline mechanism. What makes the seat 20 is the metal needed to give support to the recline, and the two motors. The aluminum shell itself is insanely light....

Anyway I didn't mean t hijack your thread. I love the stiching, the interior looks great.
 
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That is SUPER SEXY!!

Do you do the re-stitch yourself or have it done professionally? Either way it looks great!

MvM said:
Having bought a set of leather Recaro Pole Position seats in leather back in February, I finally took the time of installing them into the NSX together with a set of the ScienceofSpeed sliding seat rails.
One of the reasons it took me so long was that I wanted to restich the seams with red colored thread and that took me quite some time.
Having done that, the installation of the seats was relatively simple.

Here are some picture of the final results I took at my work this morning.
So, what do you think...

NSX_RecaroPP_Leather2.jpg


NSX_RecaroPP_Leather1.jpg


For your information, according to my scale, the difference in total weight is a little less than I had hoped for.
Honda NSX OEM Leather seat: 18.5 kg / 40.8 lbs
Recaro Pole Position leather seat + SOS sliding seat rail: 14.4 kg / 31.7 lbs
So, total weight savings is 2x4.1 kg = 8.2 kg or 18.1 lbs
Click to expand...
 
TURBO2GO said:
I understand, but I wouldn't fit in my car with my helmet if I ony had a .6 to .8 gain. My Dali type cushion is giving me around 2". Without the OEM cushion you gain 3" or so. Even with the best seat mount it seems the pole position will leave a gap between the floor and the seat. The factory sit essentially rests on the carpet. Here is no space. Take off the bottom cushion and what you see is an aluminum shell with holes and carpet fibers sticking out through the holes. That is how lose to the carpet the OEM seats are, yet people still assume an aftermarket seat can be lower. It is physically impossible. The only reason an aftermarket seat can give more headroom is less cushion. The factory seat has a lot, almost an excessive amount of cushion (although it does make it pretty comfy). The shoulders is exactly where the pole position just kills me. I can squeeze my hips in, and it is tight. I am about 185, I am not huge. The Recaro XL's are much more comfortable to me, but all Recaro shells sit off the floor too far for my liking.

Another myth regarding seats is weight. The majority of the factory weight is in the rails, around 20 pounds each. It is not in the seats. The seats are roughly around 20 with the motors and recline mechanism. What makes the seat 20 is the metal needed to give support to the recline, and the two motors. The aluminum shell itself is insanely light....

Anyway I didn't mean t hijack your thread. I love the stiching, the interior looks great.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the compliment. Still have the NSX-R carpet to install though.

If I look at the seats as I installed them, the bottom for the Recaro practically hits the floor already. With the OEM seats I could barely get my hand under the seat from the rear and with the Recaro it is the same way.
It could be that this is because of the SOS sliding seat rails. As I understood from looking at other options, most will not let you install the Recaro PP low enough. However, as with the OEM seat, it is really easy (in fact, it is easier) to take out the cushion from the seat since it is attached with velcro to the seat bottom. But I'm afraid I would get lost then.. :smile:

I agree with you about the OEM seat weight. It's the heavy rails that make the OEM seat reach that 40 lbs weight. The SOS rails are heavy too, but I guess this is also because the rails are very important for safety reasons in case of a crash.
 
ConVerTT said:
That is SUPER SEXY!!

Do you do the re-stitch yourself or have it done professionally? Either way it looks great!
Click to expand...

I did the restitch myself. There was a thread about restiching the dash of the NSX a while ago and that insipired me to do it first on these seats.
Took me some time to get the hang it. Think the first row took me about 5 hours but after that if became easier.

Love these seats. Any other interior plans? Updating the door cards?
Click to expand...

Next thing to do is the NSX-R carpet. Or actually, the next step will be the CTSC install and then the carpet.
Am not planning to do anything with the door insert. But perhaps getting the SOS door handles. And now I have these Recaro's, I keep thinking about changing out the steering wheel for something like the Momo Millenium wheel. But I have to see that one in real live first.
 
RYU said:
I'm drooling at your car! Fantastic

Unfortunately, I suffer the same fate at Turbo2Go. I'm 5'11" and a 42R in the best Hugo Boss has to offer. I have to stick with the factory seats, modified cushion, for a while. boooo
Click to expand...

Downforce... That's the route I'll probably go unless I get something with head protection. But I've never sat in a downforce seat either I just know its looser than a PP.
 
TURBO2GO said:
Downforce... That's the route I'll probably go unless I get something with head protection. But I've never sat in a downforce seat either I just know its looser than a PP.
Click to expand...
But I believe they *all* sit higher than stock? Like you said the stock seat is pretty much resting on the floor. I like that driving position but wish there was a bit more cushion on my arse.
 
Please keep in mind that these seats were not designed to work with the factory 3-pt seat belt. They don't have the larger opening like the Pole Position ABE and Downforce seat, which allows the seat belt retainer to be positioned properly.

-- Chris
 

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