new seat possibilities

[hckyplya8]

well i was thinking about getting some new seats for my car. I really want to get some Bride's and i could wait and get the money in a while but I was also looking at much cheaper ones but was wondering the quality of them? I am looking for some really nice bucket seats, harness bar, and harnesses. I was looking at the Bride Digo Type R, and the Bride Exas III graduations. Would it be a good idea to get some cheaper ones or just throw down the money for Brides?

 

[cvcrcr99]

Cheaper ones as in eBay?? There is a reason cheaper seats are cheap, but look the same. Thes big name companies pay for testing to be done in the event of a crash. The cheaper ones dont.

Take a chance with your life for a few hundred, or just throw all that nonsense out the door and get a nice set of integra seats or del sol seats.

 

[hckyplya8]

Well NRG makes some that are around 300 per seat which isn't nearly as much as the brides

 

[lowlife9]

do you drive a race car ??? what happens if you roll your race car and your five point harness,ebay seats and harness bar keeps you and your seat from moving backwards say goodbye to your head.

 

[lethal6]

do you drive a race car ??? what happens if you roll your race car and your five point harness,ebay seats and harness bar keeps you and your seat from moving backwards say goodbye to your head.

That doesn't really make sense...or I am just not visualizing what you are trying to say.

Race cars roll all the time with racing seats, harness bars, and five point harnesses. In fact that is one of the reasons they are there. Only difference between them and a street car would be the possible addition of a roll cage.

I don't understand what the roll over has to do any different depending on what seat is in the car. Cars with everything stock roll and are no worse or better depending on what seats are in the vehicle. I have seen hundreds of them (my best friend's dad was a fire chief and has shown me more pictures and videos of wreck scenes then I would like to remember). Tons of makes and models with both stock and aftermarket seats. The ones where the drivers/passengers didn't survive or were really hurt were the ones where they didn't wear a seat belt at all.

It would be better to have a roll cage if that is what you are trying to get at.

 

[hckyplya8]

I just wanted some safe and nice aftermarket seats and was just trying to get the opinions of people who have had first hand experience with different kinds

 

[lethal6]

If you are going to do it, get the Bride if that is what you want. The cheap ones are made out of crappy material and wear out very quickly. They also don't hold up to sunlight and fade extremely fast.

Better to do it right the first time.

 

[lowlife9]

o you don'tget it let me try to explain it easy. car seats are designed to give when enough pressure is added to them like if the roof collapses with you in it. now if there is a harness bar behind your seat the seat can't move and with you strapped in with your five point neither can your body either left or right your completely stationary so what happens next is your head goes by by.make sense ???.now if you had a roll cage that wouldn't be an issue.

 

[lethal6]

I don't know where you get your information, but seats are designed NOT to break. If that were not the case, in a high impact rear collision, the seats would collapse backwards which is VERY bad. Pdf file of the DOT testing/standard requirements for seats in passenger vehicles (excluding buses): http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2008-title49-vol6/pdf/CFR-2008-title49-vol6-sec571-207.pdf

What about a Porsche GT3 that comes STOCK with racing seats? Those are taken to the track AND daily driven. One could argue the fact that they are enhanced structurally for rollover protection, but I don't think you can test for EVERY possible rollover scenario.

Also, aren't rollovers reported less than 3% of all crashes? Even less is the amount where the roof totally collapses. Of the hundreds of rollover pictures I have seen (both on road and at the track) very few are ones where the roof completely pancakes. A lot of them you could barely tell they rolled over as there is only damage to the corner of the roof and windshield.

I am going to agree with you about the harness bar and 5 point belts for the street though. The bar is always in the way and the belts keep you glued to the seat where you need at least some movement to maneuver through traffic. Without being able to look over your shoulder easy for blind spots there is a high risk of making a bad judgement using mirrors only which would involve in a collision of some sort. Also, in the rare event that the roof fully collapses and the seat does break, you are right, the bar would stop this from happening. Thus why I said it would be better to have a roll cage. I don't recommend them for the street/daily driven though as they aren't really designed for your body bouncing around in side impact collisions found on the street. Should be wearing a helmet with a roll cage anyway, to save your melon from smacking the bar when bouncing around.

I guess I should make my point clear as I have jumped around a lot. I fully recommend that if you are going to get a racing seat, get a high name brand and not a cheap brand or a replica. I also don't recommend a harness bar and 5 point harness for the street as they are designed and tested for the track NOT everyday driving. I recommend a roll cage if you are going with racing seat AND 5 point, but for the track only and always wear a helmet. Roll cage is a recipe for disaster in a daily driver.

 

[civexspeedy]

Agreed.

The seats in this case aren't the issue. The problem lies in using a harness without at least a roll bar. For one, your supposed to strap yourself into a harness a certain way. Which, for anyone just driving around town, may not actually take the time every time they jump in to strap in tight. The other, like mentioned, is if you are strapped in securely and happen to roll over, your risk for injury increases. If the roof collapse and you are strapped in properly, your spine could become an accordion. The other thing to think about is your air bag deployment even if you don't roll over. It could cause more harm than help.

A friend of mine who's an HPDE instructor showed me an in car video of a Legacy GT that rolled over. The driver had a harness but no roll bar. The roof was barely an inch from the drivers head. He got very lucky.

 

[lowlife9]

also using a harness without a hans device during a head on collision can do serious injury to your neck or death but race car.