alcantara itself isnt expensive. im pretty sure its just more of a pita to work with, over regular fabrics

 

Plus, at least for the ones my friend used to have, they sure didn't feel like real Alcantara. That's probably why they ended up fading.

 

Expensive being a relative term, but last time I checked pricing, it is 4-6x more expensive then vinyl, and vinyl is more expensive then cloth.

 

Thank gosh i'm happy with my stock blue seats

 

It is quite difficult to find after market seats to match the all-blue interior, too.

 

^ not really, cobra, bride, recaro, status, racetech just to name a few make seats in other colors like blue.

 

id like to chime in on the bride replicas.

i have seen a few diff replica seats that my customers have in their cars.


the bucket type seemed kind of sketchy. i have heard the fiberglass flex, creak and crack when you twist the seat when seated.

the reclinable type had a lot of play in the adjustment knob and the seat will droop backwards.



not every single bride replica did this, but i would say 10 out of 15 were questionable in regards to how the safe the seat will be in the unlikely event of an accident.



another seat i would recommend is the buddyclub line. they are priced extremely reasonable and undergo testing. i personally know the usa division owner and marketing manager; they are great people to contact if you have any concerns or would like to know the safety and testing of the seat.

buddyclub's cheapest seat runs about $300-350


very good buy IMO in comparison to the bride replicas.

 

Actually, your doubts are wrong. The fake ones are made out of a mixture of suede/alacantara and cloth all in different areas. It's like left over material that they slapped together. It's kind of weird, but you will understand what I am talking about once you remove the material from the shell of the current fake ones.

I use to own 1 set of Zeta 3s, 1 set of Gias, and 1 set of Vios 3, and 1 sets of Mugen S1Rs and 1 set of rare Vision Corsas. If you look @ my history, I sold a set of Zeta 3s and a set of Vios 3 on here in the classifieds.

Now that I have stated my history, the old Bride replicas were crap; literally, they flexed, bend, faded 10x faster than the original brides, and the adjustment really sucked. However, the newer models that are for sale on Honda-tech are nearly identical. No . . . seriously, they are nearly identical in almost every way except for the stitching on the bottom of the seat and the painted FRP. I had a thread setup on ephatch.com showing the difference between my authentic Gias and the replica Gias that my friend bought from Honda-tech when they were first released. I was amazed @ how identical they were.

 

This is what I could remember from our comparison test last year:
1. The authentic was a little heavier by about 5 grams using a balance that was precised to one thousandths of a gram. This is Kevlar versus FRP.
2. The FRP felt very thin, but did not flex like what I expected. This was probably why it was lighter in weight. However, we tested this by adding weight under normal conditions. On the track in 100 degrees heat is a different condition altogether. I would also like to add IMO that these felt like the BuddyClub seats for some reason. I have sat on a few BC seats and this one felt similar even though they were Gias replicas. I would also like to add that the BC painted FRP scratches quite easily as well . . . coincidence? Read #3.
3. The paint on the replicas scratch very easily; whereas, the Kevlar on the Gias did not scratch at all.
4. The railing on the bottom and on the side of the fake ones were off by more than 2 inches . . . like really off. The authentic bride rails didn't work with them. We had to modify the Bride rails to get them to work.
5. Material-wise, they were identical even down to the stitching. The only part that was off was how the material was not stretchable like the authentic ones.

We didn't get to a pressure test because we were worried about destroying a seat that cost me $1800. Once again this was done a year ago . . . I am not sure how the current fake ones are made.

 

I know Bride seats are made in a factory in Japan. However, I heard they were trying to source out to China because of the cost of material. In China, the materials to make these seats are easily accessible and are cheaper (look up U.S. GDP and NDP report and China's GDP report; although China is not part of NATO, we trade chemicals for clothing material on a consistent basis with China when it use to be Mexico).