might wanna check out this thread,..
if i remember right, real ones have aluminum hindges where the seat reclines,...in the pic in this link you can see that they are plastic and they also talk about the 3 raised dots on the same area
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showt...&#entry16305233

 

I have real ones bought from Tees/Bride USA directly ... if you want I can snap some pictures for you.

There is one thing that I cannot remember seeing on mine's. The cover on the side, where the round knob to recline is ... these seem to have three plastic screw covers or something that does not look familiar. I will check once home.

J

 

Ok, got home and looked at my seats. Those things I mentioned looked different. Also on the bolsters, the fabric does not look tight and on mine its so tight it does not look like it could always be like that. The fabric is very tightly attached to the carbon/kevlar.

I circled what I am talking about from your pic 8 and I am also attaching a pic of one of my seats.





I am not going to say they are fake ... but they are different to mines which are the real thing.

J

 

Good call! the seats that the OP posted definitely look fake!! hope your buddy didn't pay authentic prices for fakes!

 

In an effort to keep people from getting ripped off, here is what i see:

 

sorry dude, those are totally fake!

look at those bolts the fake on has all over the side brackets. the REAL one doesn't have any of those pos bolt holes.

 

im 80% sure they are real.. everything VISIBLE in the pics are right on.. except for those 3 screws right below/infront of the recliner knob.

this is the easiest way to spot a authentic to a replica... the grey metal brace that runs vertical up the back portion of the seat should have the BRIDE logo engraved in it. wish i had some close ups of my sides.. (these seats have that.)

another thing that replicas dont have and is a sure tell is the plastic circles for the seat belt holes... the authentics have the BRIDE logo printed on them... the replicas are unmarked. (these seats have that.)

hope this helps. i dont think ive seen replicas with tags either..

I really think that these are real but perhaps had a part or 2 swapped onto it for whatever reason. look at it this way tho.. most of the good replica seats are actually made at the same factory as the bride seats by the same people. they are just not sold to BRIDE.. they are sold to 3rd parties.. knock off or not itll be the same quality.

btw.. ive owned BRIDE stradias and currently have a bride sponsorship.. tho im running recaros in the car currently

 

The more I look at the pics of those seats, the more I am convinced they are not the real thing.

If you want contact info of someone at Tees that can help you determine for sure PM me.

J

 

the fakes have had tags and labels for a long time. pics of them used to be all over ebay. i remember seeing them at least 2 years ago, at which point i told myself i would never buy brides until i find out how to tell fake from real (back then i didn't realize the differences yet).

I think the differences are pretty obvious now that i've scrutinized both images. Besides the three bolts on the black area of the hinge, there are also 2 bolts on the gray engraved part of the hinge that are visible on the fake, but not on the real thing.



Edit:
I've looked fake brides up on Ebay and apparently there are two types of fakes:

1. Like the type the OP posted: has bolts in the hinge that aren't supposed to be there. the bride gradiation is spaced wrong.
2. There is another fake that as far as i can tell looks 99.9% real, except there is no Bride engraving on the harness guides. This model has no bolts on the hinges and the gradiation looks good.


Example of Fake type 1 with full logos and labelling (Comes with universal rails, like all fake seats do!):

$400 for a Gias. yes too cheap to be real. Made in Taiwan! http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BRIDE-GIAS-...sQ5fAccessories

Screen shots for when the Ebay posting goes down:



Example of Fake type 2, looks really good except no Bride engraving on the harness guides (Comes with universal rails, like all fake seats do!):

$775 for a pair. yes too cheap to be real again. NOT made in Japan: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ONE-PAIR-2-...sQ5fAccessories

Screen shots for when the Ebay posting goes down:

 

Wow, thanks for the detailed info. Chris Lum!! Definitely things most guys wouldn't know to look for (including myself).