Recaro Sportster Info and Install

[4rings2turbos]

So there's like no information on the web about actual step by step install of these seats. I'm not even talking about for the C5, or even any Audi. There's no writeup for ANY install into ANY car. There's a bit of info here and there but finding it is like pulling teeth.

So here I'll compile everything anyone might want to know about these seats. Today I officially placed my order so they'll be built to my spec and hopefully shipped in about a week.

Here's a thread from a couple years ago comparing the options I've been weighing:

C5 Seat Options Thread

I've wanted these seats ever since I knew about them. They're available with airbags, heat, sliding function and have tilt function and a latch in the harness pass through for tilting the seat all the way forward for rear seat access- obviously for coupes and not so much 4-door wagons. They weigh a bit over 32lbs each without airbag, sliders or mount. The heat does not tie into the factory switch, instead there is a 3 position rocker switch on the side of the base for off, low and high heat settings. Airbags are not available in the US but I have seen them for sale and will likely purchase and retrofit them when I find a pair. Until that time a resistor will be wired into an old seat harness to avoid MIL. There are a ton of fabric options for the Sportster in Europe but options have been paired way down in I US. I believe this has to do with the fact that they are now assembled in the US and whoever the builder is (Recaro NA/USA?) doesn't stock everything. Options are black fabric with a terrible design in the center, synthetic leather, synthetic leather with Recaro's synthetic suede center and genuine leather. I'm pretty sure if you really wanted to your supplier could special order one of the more common options (like white, red or blue synthetic suede inserts. The genuine leather is not available with suede centers (this really bothered me). The backs are available in Europe in carbon fiber, not in NA though, only with a fiber reinforced polymer seat back. No worries for me here because I will be having the backs refinished in a piano black finish (possibly Papaya, we'll see, now that I have orange seat belts that may be too much.

I ordered leather, heat and no slider. This saves weight, allows me to sit lower AND I know I can wire in the seat base motor and have power forward/backward movement and connect it to my memory module.

The way the seats mount to the car starts with a donor factory seat base, on this a bracket is welded to accept either the seat, or sliders then the seat, as well as the seat belt reciever. Once these components are fastened the seat goes in and out just like factory.

Since I don't have my seats yet I can't give a detailed writeup but when the time comes rest assured I'll show how it's all done.

Here's some tasty images for us all to drool over until mine come in.







And some with finished seats back (this looks SO GOOD and am very excited to get mine finished)

[Kruat]

Dear lord those are such sexy seats....did that sound wierd, I mean a grown man turned on by car seats?

[8520]

I absolutely love those seats. Looking forward to seeing them in your car.

Maybe match the backs to your seatbelt color?

[4rings2turbos]

I absolutely love those seats. Looking forward to seeing them in your car.

Maybe match the backs to your seatbelt color?

I know I wrote a wall of text, but I did mention that I'm thinking about it. Papaya actually. My objective is to find papaya webbing someday since my accent color is papaya, starting with the steering wheel stitching and center hash, but now it's in more places that I'll show in the Spring.

Do you think it would look bad in the meanwhile Papaya with the darker/intense orange that the seat belts are?

- - - Updated - - -

Dear lord those are such sexy seats....did that sound wierd, I mean a grown man turned on by car seats?

Haha, not in the least bit. My wife has been making fun of me because I have been googling pictures almost non-stop for the last few days.

[Arsenal2012]

Quick very curious inquiry.
So I know you dont drive your car in the cold why get heated seats?


Seats are hot, gonna look real good with the papaya.

[4rings2turbos]

Yeah no problem, great question and was waiting for that. Right now I don't drive in the cold because my R compounds can't go below 42°F otherwise they can freeze crack. But I can still drive in the low 40s in which heated seats are welcome. And also I'll be looking for a set of 'winters' again this year for running the car until it snows or the temps get crazy low, which we all know we can get weeks or even a month or two below 42° before it snows.

Thanks my man, I'll take you for a ride when the car comes out.

[8520]

I know I wrote a wall of text, but I did mention that I'm thinking about it. Papaya actually. My objective is to find papaya webbing someday since my accent color is papaya, starting with the steering wheel stitching and center hash, but now it's in more places that I'll show in the Spring.

Do you think it would look bad in the meanwhile Papaya with the darker/intense orange that the seat belts are?

I can't fault crazy colored seatbelts or seat backs. Period.

[Iamdoinitrite]

I was browsing Instagram last night and found a pair of Custom Recaro's that had OEM Blue Alacantara cloth stitched into the seats. Was way to clean!

These would be nice to have at some point

[bpark1210]

sub'd. Best looking seats out there and they match the C5 platform so well.

[vlangs]

niiice when do they come in?! would love to help with the install

[4rings2turbos]

I can't fault crazy colored seatbelts or seat backs. Period.

Truuuuue.....

I was browsing Instagram last night and found a pair of Custom Recaro's that had OEM Blue Alacantara cloth stitched into the seats. Was way to clean!

These would be nice to have at some point

They used to be available from Recaro in the US with that blue synthetic suede it may have been factory from them.

sub'd. Best looking seats out there and they match the C5 platform so well.

Definitely agree. I considered some A8s for a moment but really the sportster is where it's at.

niiice when do they come in?! would love to help with the install

No word yet at all. It takes a week or so to build them and I have no idea where they ship from. I'm guessing two weeks minimum. If they show up before the 18th I might just pull the allroad out of winter storage since I have a little weekend trip planned. Would definitely be down for the help Vee!

[NuGGet_PuFFer]

Are you planning on tracking the car? I mean, you almost HAVE to at this point lol.

[4rings2turbos]

Ha, when I got the R compounds I had decided that I might try an autocross or two but this winter I have been thinking about going to some track days this summer. I'll be gentle on the car but I want to see what it's like to actually warm up the tires and see what they can do. Will be wanting to get sways first. Really no excuse not to with these tires and seats, right?

[NuGGet_PuFFer]

I'm of the belief that cars are made to be driven, not parked. Especially when they have expensive fancy racecar parts, orange seatbelts, widened stance, and R-compounds, jus sayin ;p

[G0to60]

Fantastic looking seats. I look forward to the write up.

What are you going to do with the rear seats? Will you have another set of Recaro buckets back there or still with the factory seats?

Also, just a random, crazy thought. What do you think of having shorter Recaro seats in the hatch using the 3rd row brackets?

[NuGGet_PuFFer]

Fantastic looking seats. I look forward to the write up.

What are you going to do with the rear seats? Will you have another set of Recaro buckets back there or still with the factory seats?

Also, just a random, crazy thought. What do you think of having shorter Recaro seats in the hatch using the 3rd row brackets?

LOL, we ALL def need our heads checked, LOVE IT!

[4rings2turbos]

Haha, well driving and tracking are two different things! This is my daily when the weather is warm enough for the tires. Just trying to preserve it from the salt.

I'm thinking about sportsters for the rear seats but down the road a ways. For now just the 4.2L rear sport seats. And rear facing sportsters would be nuts!! Two thoughts: they're probably way too tall to work, and second three rows of seats that would cost $12,000 total is outside the realm of my imagination haha.

[Ko4S4WI]

I will be interested in seeing how you re-use the factory base! That will be bad ass if you get it to work. I would think the overall height will be tall with the oem base under there. Additionally keeping memory! wowzers! I gave up memory seats with the factory recaros.

[NuGGet_PuFFer]

I will be interested in seeing how you re-use the factory base! That will be bad ass if you get it to work. I would think the overall height will be tall with the oem base under there. Additionally keeping memory! wowzers! I gave up memory seats with the factory recaros.

What is the big deal with memory? You guys actually let other people drive your C5's? Psh, f that.

[G0to60]

Or maybe adapt the Tesla Model S seats to fit in the hatch. They are relatively sporty and short enough to fit back there.

All right. That's enough crazy talk. Carry on.

[4rings2turbos]

I will be interested in seeing how you re-use the factory base! That will be bad ass if you get it to work. I would think the overall height will be tall with the oem base under there. Additionally keeping memory! wowzers! I gave up memory seats with the factory recaros.

It's not me, that's how the aftermarket brackets are made. Not sure if Recaro ever made C5 specific brackets but if they did they're long gone now I'm sure. It's not the entire seat base, merely the three points where the seat mounts to the car, nothing above that. The rest is quite low profile. I'll also be mounting without Recaro sliders for the time being. All said and done I'll be a good few inches lower than factory.

Memory is nice for vacuuming the car, setting one is exactly where I like to sit, setting two is move all the way backwards and upwards for vacuuming under the front and 3 forward fro vacuuming the rear it's a massive time saver when you vacuum weekly or bi-weekly. I also like my seat to go back EXACTLY where I like it, will especially become important when I start tracking the car for muscle memory when messaging those three pedals.

[4rings2turbos]

Or maybe adapt the Tesla Model S seats to fit in the hatch. They are relatively sporty and short enough to fit back there.

All right. That's enough crazy talk. Carry on.

Ha! Welcome to give it a shot, I don't have rear facing row in my allroad, but I do in my C4. The C4's rear facing row is the effing jam. Folds completely flat, you'd never even know it was there. It also opens up so there's room for your feet.

[vlangs]

I never understood why the c5 didnt have a footwell/fold flat option. The contemporary e class did and the previous c4 did.

Ive seen rear rows and while they look awesome, a lack of footwell space make them pretty unusable for adults

[Iamdoinitrite]

Where did you order them from? I know AZEuro does custom seats and whatnot, but that's the only place I'm aware of.

[4rings2turbos]

Ah, meant to put that above. Ordered from Excelerate Performance. They're a forum vendor- you guys know I love to support a forum vendor.

[Shizzy46]

Here's my set up installed by
Rsworx.com

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/redlin...7635390915563/

[Shizzy46]

Seat sliders and brackets was custom made by Recaro specifically rs6. Not sure the difference between any ofter C5. Special wiring was done to avoid having an airbag light.
They look great and very comfortable.

[Shizzy46]

Coupe update pics

[4rings2turbos]

Bottom brackets are identical between all C5 models and seats.

[Ko4S4WI]

Seat sliders and brackets was custom made by Recaro specifically rs6. Not sure the difference between any ofter C5. Special wiring was done to avoid having an airbag light.
They look great and very comfortable.

Were you able to retain power sliding? I am under the impression that the sliders are all manual.

[Shizzy46]

Were you able to retain power sliding? I am under the impression that the sliders are all manual.

No power seats
Dumb dumb money for those

[Shizzy46]

Bottom brackets are identical between all C5 models and seats.

I wasn't sure. I don't work on it myself personally. I sold the factory seats to a guy and he said he had to do something to make them work perfectly. So I thought maybe a little different.

[4rings2turbos]

Were you able to retain power sliding? I am under the impression that the sliders are all manual.

If you look at the pictures of the RS Worx install you can see Recaros bracket is a hacked up OEM bracket but they removed the front mounting 'clip' where the two bolts secure the bracket. If this is left in place then the bracket could move forward and backward in the same manner as it does from factory. All that needs to be done then is add the motor back in, easy peasy!

When they refer to sliders in regards to these seats they mean an additional piece of kit that installs between the seat and the car mounting bracket and it's super basic in function.

I'll take pics and stuff when I do it eventually. I'll need to find some donor seats when the time comes to cannibalize the motors, memory module and seat bottom switch. Will be pretty baller to have power and memory fore and aft movement on a Sportster!

[rollerton]

Are you adding these to a car that already had memory seats?
if not- I haven't heard of anyone who has retrofitted memory seats to a car that didn't come with them. It's a pretty complicated system (AUDI) and if any single part of it doesn't talk to the rest it will not work.
In the C5 the memory module is on the Can-bus, talks to the security system, the mirror module, and every seat motor has reference readings in Measuring blocks.
Definitely worth a try though!

[4rings2turbos]

I added passenger memory to my 03 allroad by adding memory passenger seat and passenger door card and then the harness between switch and seat. I had driver memory from factory though (passenger memory killed in 03) :(

I don't think driver memory would be nearly as easy, like you say, the mirrors need to be matched and the security for automatic seat movement when you unlock the doors, etc.

[vlangs]

Coupe update pics

looks amazing!

[4rings2turbos]

Important update. I have been on an emotional roller coaster over these seats. I heard from my guy at EXLR8 that some seats might possibly be in stock with Recaro NA. They ended up being very not in stock. In fact it would be TWELVE WEEKS to get the parts from Germany to START BUILDING some seats to my spec. So I was given a couple options of seats that were in stock if I didn't want to wait ~15 weeks (I didn't): vinyl with no heat. Nope. Vinyl with Dinamica (synthetic suede). No thanks. Upgraded leather with heat for extra $$$. Shut up and take my money.

So they actually shipped today from California. I'll be sure to post up pictures right away. Will likely be another week or two for the custom brackets to come in. No problem though since my rear wheels are still out being widened for a week or two.

Stay tuned!

[8520]

I'm excited for you. Hopefully they're exactly what you want.

I have mixed feelings on leather seats. I love them in a car that has heated and air conditioned seats like my wife's a8. If they're not air conditioned though, it's uncomfortable in summer. Cloth is great, but isn't very luxury in an Audi.

Like I said, mixed feelings lol.

[LINDW4LL]

Cloth seats, puke.

*Unless alcantara or other high end synthetic material.

[4rings2turbos]

Thank you! They are actually exactly what I wanted. I didn't plan on spending this much but whatever. Since the seats are thin but dense padding, some people install small fans under the seat that either draw the air through, or send cool air up. I'm not sure, but apparently it makes a noticeable difference.

I also dislike not having cooled/vented seats on hot summer days when the sun is beating through the windows. I am however getting 3M crystalline put on the windshield and front windows this year. That will make a huge difference as well.

I like Alcantara and other nice synthetic suedes but I really don't like the two materials mixed on one seat when it's black. I like it in silver on the S6 though.

Edit:

I went looking for it so you guys can see what it looks like. It's real tiny and looking at it critically it looks like it draws air out, what do you guys think?