Recaro Swap Over

[MARK A]

If I bought a set of recaro's (hopefully Treadlines) from another car, probably a Honda or a Ford, What would I have to do to fit them into my 182?? I guess that the seats are all the same and the subframe will be removeable. Will I have to buy clio subframes or will it be possible to remove the subframe from my existing seats and fit it to the Recaros? Maybe I could 'adapt' the Honda/Ford ones to fit? Anybody tried this? It just seems that there's a lot of seat for sale from Hondas and Fords and none from Clios!

 

[Red Cup]

Depends on the seats - if they are aftermarket ones then you'll need to buy the relevant Recaro subframes for them - these act as adaptors between your original Renault sliding runners and the Recaro seats.

If they are OEM ones then Recaro deliberately make these harder to fit by ensuring that the bolt patterns don't match any subframes you can buy. It's possible to fit them but a lot more work.

 

[LegoHead]

If you were a good engineer, anything is possible. btw where are all these seats for sale?

 

[MARK A]

I doubt I'll have the cash to buy them so I'll spill the beans!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=012&item=220012858010&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

They seem in good nick and are deffo Treadlines! These are the 2nd set from an accord that have been up in the last few weeks! The last set went for about £500 the pair! If you buy them, fit them, then you can tell me exactly how it's done

 

[LegoHead]

They dont look like the trophy ones, different material i think. Looks identical apart from that though.

 

[Fletcher]

I like them.

 

[MARK A]

They may not be exactly the same as the trophy ones but who's trying to turn thier car into a Trophy? I just want better seats that look good! I reckon these could be a good buy, just wish I knew how easy they were to fit:S

 

[Red Cup]

They are from a 4 door so be aware they won't tilt! (You can also clearly see there is no tilt handle where there should be).

They look like the retail ones in Dinamica black and Jersey black-silver, but I suspect that they are specific to Honda.

Your best bet is to drop these folks a line and see if they know if the aftermarket frames will fit http://www.capitalseating.co.uk/

 

[MARK A]

Cool! Think I'll leave them, put the money towards trackdays and tyres:approve: I thought I may have found a cheap fix for a set of Recaros, like a lot of things, looked a bit good to be true

 

[Gaz_]

has anybody used this capital seating before as they seem alot cheaper than everybody else?

 

[MARK A]

Good question!

 

[Gaz_]

if i keep my cup i REALLY want some trendlines in mine. Demon tweeks is 10 mins from me, but these guys are a good few hundred notes cheaper

 

[MARK A]

Give DT a shout, they may match the price. They have on a number of things I've bought in the past!

 

[Gaz_]

never thought of the clio sport discount too. Really love these seats, they are like an investment as if you swap cars later, they can come with you

 

[Red Cup]

has anybody used this capital seating before as they seem alot cheaper than everybody else?

Yes! I got mine from there. Very happy indeed with the service. Had a good long chat to one of the owners of the company on the phone and came to an arrangement where I got discount on the seats in return for advertising on my site.

If you speak to Stephen Swann and say Adrian from fiestaturbo.com sent you via ClioSport, he should be able to sort you out.

 

[Gaz_]

nice one! How long is turn around from placing orders appox?

 

[Red Cup]

They are made to order and come from Germany, so a few weeks. Think mine took six as I ordered them just before Christmas and things wind down at the factory.

 

[k1ano]

Depends on the seats - if they are aftermarket ones then you'll need to buy the relevant Recaro subframes for them - these act as adaptors between your original Renault sliding runners and the Recaro seats.

If they are OEM ones then Recaro deliberately make these harder to fit by ensuring that the bolt patterns don't match any subframes you can buy. It's possible to fit them but a lot more work.

OEM and aftermarket Recaros come with multi fitment holes pressed into the base mountings though only 1 pair of captive nuts is typically fitted. You can use whichever holes you like depending on you installation or subframe.

Here are some ideas from my recent install of Honda Accord and Evo 6 Recaros into different Clios V6's.

Evo 6 OEM Recaro Trendline showing multiple base mounting holes ...

Brackets I made for fitting to a modified Clio subframe ...

Brackets fitted to a Honda Accord Recaro using the holes I selected as most suitable ...

Clio subframe with upholstery removed ...

Clio subframe with surplus metal removed ...

With brackets fitted ...

Subframe mounted to Recaro ...

One out one in ...

OEM look ...

Which one do you prefer ?

Martin

 

[Renault_Boy01]

amazing skill you have there..im jealous

 

[Maz]

Items been removed/no longer listed.

Nice work there Martin, recaros look mint

 

[k1ano]

I like a challenge but am happy to experiment and share my findings especially as with a little bit of knowledge you can get a set of Trendlines in your Clio for £350 ;-)

I have written a Wiki article here ... http://www.v6clio.net/wiki/index.php?title=Fitting_Aftermarket_Seats

Martin

 

[Gaz_]

not bad at all, this needs tidying up though

i'd fabricate some kind of plate to hide it all,

Mine, not the best pic, i'll find better

here you go, (not my pic)

 

[drhowser]

there are a set of trendlines on ebay at the moment, think they are at £360 with about a day to go.

 

[k1ano]

Yes I just have a bit of tidying up to do. Am also gonna adjust the brackets and lower the seat just a little.

Martin

 

[jayxx83]

looks oem, but do you actually get a reduction in seating height. I believe thats the main problem with the original clio seats, hence most people changing them.

 

[k1ano]

Well the Recaro subframes and the Clio ones pitch the seats at the OEM height. The Cobra generic ones which I used for my Momos are quite a bit lower but actually I found the lowness of these subframes made my thigh ache on long journeys. I will provide measurements later when I dig them out.

I am going to try and modify the OEM frames about 1 inch lower on both seats as I think too low would not be ideal. I actually made the brackets adjustable too so can do this OK.

For information I found the Recaro is very comfortable at the OEM height and the knee bolster is excellent too ;-)

Martin

 

[ForceIndia]

Tried the Recaro's and Cobra Daytona's, the Trendlines hardly lower the driving position. Daytona's gave a fairly decent position.

 

[k1ano]

Having had very low seats in my Clio V6 (Momo RS2 GT's on Cobra subframes) and the Recaros I can actually say I prefer the higher ride height of the Recaros due to leg angle and comfort ;-) I think the key thing is leg and knee support which the Recaros provide and making sure the Rake angle of the seat is suitable for you leg length and driving position. If you put a Recaro on an OEM drivers subframe with hieght/angle adjustment you can get a very good seat position and the full support afforded by the Recaro seat. Recaro subframes do not allow any height or angle adjustment and so are not to everyones taste really.

So, IMHO, I would say the height has little to do with the actual comfort really.

Martin

 

[Gaz_]

they are lower, some during pics from a few months ago