Well I have wanted to replace my seats for a while now and the money has finally become available to do so. But which seats? I want a seat that has superior support and still reasonable comfort. If I had it my way I would get the fixed back corbeau forza 2, But the GF wouldn't show the same appreciation for that . Anyone that has racing seats in their mini give me your input and show me some pictures.

Thanks. Dan

 

I have Sparco Evo2 fixed back seats, which are comfortable and very enveloping. But they are a pain to enter and exit, I must admit.

 

Recaro street line seats are about as middle of the road you can go between performance and daily usability,

Here's my set, finally completed:

 

PGT,

They look great.

 

going to get recaro's.


for my son, that is.

 

These are great seats! A friend with DS also has these...

 

Nice Dan, those look great

 

So...

I'm guessing you aren't bothered by removing the side air bags, but, how does your insurance company feel about it? I'd love to get some better seats for my MINI. You know, some seats that actually hold me in place whilst cornering...he11, even my '83 Wabbit GTI's stock seats were better at that. I just can't justify removing the side air bags....

 

I think for those wanting a more sporty seat, insurance is the last tought on their mind, so are the side air bags. Sure it is a risk, but a calculated one. It comes down to what is most important to the individual and their priority/preference.

If you are not comfortable removing the side airbag, I believe European JCW seats have air bags in them, and are made by Recaro?...I could be wrong. Gonna run you several thousand to get those seats, with air bags, and get them shipped over here.

It is funny, some people hate the MINI seats, I personally love them and feel they are very comfortable. When I can save up the money, I will be dropping in some sport seats and get rid of the air bags, and not look back. Right now, when I want to be held into place and not slide around on my leather, I use my Schroth Harness

 

Those are sharp PGT. I have Sparco Milano Prestige seats in my mini, they are the same as the early JCW seats sold overseas.

 

where do i get those!!

 

Withthe side airbags gone, doesn't the airbag light stay on all the time. I would think the airbag controller would read the missing bags sa malfunction.

 

that's why you work around it (resistors). I also installed the OC3 weight mat in mine (thanks to DrPhilGandini for the tips on that one) since it's an '06. This is an integral part of the safety system for the passenger.

 

Yes, there are some posts on the resistor work-around, and my website shows the weight sensor mod. I have the weight sensor in my passenger Sparco. Both PGT and I have no warning lights, and functioning weight sensors. All we lost were the side airbags, otherwise the safety system works as designed with adjustable passenger airbag. I'm not worried about losing the side impact bags--we all lived pretty comfortably with 1 airbag, so 4 is still a great improvement. And I feel sustantially more secure in my Sparco. I call it risk management.

 

We did indeed live comfortably without multiple airbags. I was raised riding around in a VW Beetle without child seats and even rode on the little back shelf of my Dad's Triumph TR6 without a care in the world. However, I am now a homeowner and my insurance company probably wouldn't pay a dime if someone was injured in my car with the side air bags removed, even if it had nothing to do with it. I max out the handling of my car multiple times a day, and I don't believe that extreme sport seats are just for hooligans or track days. I just think it's a valid concern and I wish MINI had seen fit to make my so-called 'sport seats' worth a damn in the first place.

BTW, yes, those do look sharp.

Enjoy.

 

there he is again making me want to ditch the GP seats
I swear if you take your eyes off your car at the track on the 23rd you might find some GP seats installed in your car... don't bother looking at the car with the RED mirror caps as those seats will look even SEXIER in my car

dead sexy!!!!!!!!

show them the back seats.....

 

Is there some way to rip open the stitching on the old seats and insert the side airbags into the new seats? If you use light stiching the bag could still rip through when it needs to.

On second thought, there might be danger in cutting into an area with an airbag in it.

 

I've heard that airbag surgery is like heart surgery...That said, if you'll pay for shipping, I'll send you my driver's seat (and passenger seat too!) for you to do the surgery. I mean it. And I don't want them back

 

as long as there is no power to the air bag, you are pretty safe. I have dropped a VW Passat steering wheel airbag on the ground, slipped out of my hand, bounced off the passenger seat, out the passenger door and onto the ground. Nothing happened and it still worked fine. Air bags have also been shipped across the country, and you know how much they get banged around.

If you are going to put an airbag into a seat, the best thing to do would be to completely remove the seat cover, so you have room to work and route wiring, then re-cover it. Might be a bit more work initially, but in the long run, I bet it saves a lot of cursing .

 

Umm...leatherette? I'll take them.

 

Clearly it is a bit more involved than ripping the seats open, stuffing the airbags in and using light stitching. I'd say this is best left to professionals, preferably tight *** German engineers in white lab coats.

 

Female scientists are cool.

 

 

PGT and mini d: those are both sweet looking seats. i was going to go w/ some cobra misanos (a nice tuner, not racing, seat) as i've modded my car and done a dozen track weekends and gotten faster, i think that i'll go w/ a fixed back seat and struggle to get into it daily. slightly off-topic, but....does anyone make a good harness bar for the MINI that will function when i need it most? i've already deleted the rear seat. a roll bar is a viable option for me, but i would prefer a solidly mounted harness bar....

 

Damn those seats look good. What did you do with your old seats?