Cobra Suzuka Pro's (replacements for the GTs) installed in my E46 M3

[PKumarM3]

Taken from my journal over on M3Forum.net:

In a previous post I had indicated my desire to remove the black leather / grey alcantara Recaro Pole Positions from my M3. I was going to replace them with another set of Recaro Pole Position, but in cloth and they were going to be "BLUE!"

One random night, I decided to go against it. Contacted Tom @ EAS, whom I had placed the Recaro order with and cancelled them. Luckily there was no restocking fee and my money was fully refunded within 3-4 business days.

Motivation: Well my good friends Tonggi and NYBeater both have Cobra Suzuka GT's and I always loved the seats, but never really considered them as I already had Recaro PP and I loved them. Or did i? I can honestly admit, the main reason I bought Recaro PP was tri-headed
1) the stock seats hurt my lower back
2) to stun
3) was planning on tracking :greenchai

Mostly it was to have the CSL seats but not pay the premium for CSL seats - sort of like buying Recaro Sportsters instead of the BMW performance seats. Simple logic. eace:

Either way, I always had Recaro PP, so I was always on the Recaro tip, but I decided to go with what FELT good and what WAS a good fitting seat for me. I am not the skinniest person, and I do have broad shoulders and am tall. The recaro's were becoming dumb for me to keep so I decided to do what was best for me and my car.

So I called up SubeSports in San Diego, CA, who are the premiere Cobra Seat distributor in North America. They had the seats that I wanted - Cobra Suzuka GT's (now called Suzuka Pros) in stock and ready to ship. Unfortunately the shipping was around $200 across the country. I decided to call HMS Motorsports in Peabody, MA, to see what they had in stock - as they sell Cobras as well as other seats. Fortunately they were going to have Cobra Suzuka Pro's in stock in a week - and they wouldn't charge me tax or shipping! w00t!!!!! :agree: I placed a sales order with them and drove to Peabody MA this past week to collect the seats.

HMS is a great shop and has alot of cool stuff. Unfortunately its a 4hr drive from me, so my trips there will be not so often.

I attempted to install the Cobras on Wednesday and unfortunately GF duties came up and I ended up doing NOTHING. Thursday came and I removed the Recaro seat. Disassembled everything as I had sold everything (minus the blue speedware sidemounts).

With the Cobras, I was not going to use sliders. Just wanted to mount the seats to the sidemounts and straight to the floor mounts. Unfortunately the seat/sidemount combo would not fit onto the floor mount - which sucks. My friends w/these seats BOTH use VAC floormounts - which i had despised since I originally had them and had great difficulty with them with my seats. Looks like I had to spend MORE money to get these seats working, about $600 more .

So my new set up includes

2 Cobra Suzuka Pro's in Black
2 VAC sidemounts
2 VAC Floor Mounts
2 VAC Sub Belt Mounting Bar****

The VAC Sub Belt Mounting Bar is awesome. it is a bar that connects the floor mounts together so you can mount the 5th and 6th point of the harness system properly. Before I was just wrapping the 5 and 6 point to a cross bar on the speedware floor mount - which would tighten itself when you pulled up on the buckle receptacle - but there was too much play and ultimately not safe. This bar uses 4 bolts to bolt DOWN to the floor mount which is uber safe.

Luckily this time, the floor mounts were quite easy to work with since everything was VAC - getting the longer driver side floor mount was also a smart idea. These are $10 more, and are longer which provides MUCH better adjustability. The seats mounted to the sidemounts, and that combo mounted EASILY to the floor mounts with 13mm bolts that are easily accessible with a 13mm gear wrench! No longer need to struggle with sliders and stupid bolts. Everything is safe and easily accessible.

Apparently, a few people with Cobra Suzuka GT (Pro's) have had issues with the seats not being centered. The VAC sidemounts are slotted, so it gives you WAY more adjustability to REALLY make the seat centered and perfect. So happy that I don't have that issue!

I didn't feel like installing the stock seat belts, so I removed them. With no seatbelt receptacle installed and plugged in - there is no Seat belt warning light - which makes for 1 less warning light on the dash. Plus, with no airbags, I should be wearing harnesses whenever I were to drive.

I love these seats guys and girls. It truly is great. Wider, higher thigh support, better angle for my harnesses, and no sliders make the seats low and much more firmer. All in all really happy with my set up. I am upset I didn't do this last winter, but its live and learn. Fortunately the recaros, the recaro sidemounts, sliders, and speedware floormounts are all sold - so I don't feel like I LOST money. It was worth the change.

Here are some pictures!

Old Recaro Seat Set Up




Cobras with VAC Sidemounts



VAC Floor Plates w/Sub Strap Bar



Extended Driver Side Floor Mounts - really long - way more adjustment!














The sub-strap bar mounted to the farthest points - VAC Recommendation - with bolts.







Thanks for looking!

[veightkiller]

Nice!

[KANdaddy]

Really wish you could post more pics of the seat mounts.

[Ca$hOnly]

Originally Posted by KANdaddy

Really wish you could post more pics of the seat mounts.

lulz

[FStop7]

Love them except for the huge COBRA on the headrest, they'd look better w/ no logo or words

[Dartanium]

what kind of lighting work did you get done by lightwerkz

[datbimmerdoe]