My 17 year old grandson wants to install racing seats and racing seatbelts in his next used car. He claims the racing seats are lighter and better than standard seats. He has driven so far without citation or accident. Is this a good/bad idea?
They may provide better lateral support, but they aren’t known for being particularly comfortable or easy to get in and out of. What kind of car is your grandson looking to get?
first thing: most seats aren’t bolt ins. racing seatbelts must have a special strap down system attached to the rollbar (, and cannot be bolted through the strap. racing seats are cool, and lighter but generally non adjustable. you have to actually sit in one before buying them to make sure they’re comfortable.
tell him to go for it, but also tell him that money could be used to buy a pair of headers.
Value of car drops to near zero with headers or seat…
Racing seats are better for racing, and look neat. Not better for road driving. Only OK if extreme care is taken during installation, they need to be attached to a seat frame designed for the specific car. Same goes for racing belts. May only convince a 17 year old he’s ready to go racing…uh-oh!
There are race style seats that are designed for use in over the road cars. These are fine provided he selects one specifically designed for his car. Remember that there is the airbag sensor to consider as well as secure mounting and seatbelt routing, so he’ll need to get the right one.
Some newer cars have side impact airbags in the seats. Those cannot be compromised.
Real racing seats are not designed for and shoul dnot be used in regular cars, as others have pointed out.
We have no idea of what make and model of car that sonny wants to make into a “boy-racer” vehicle, but as has been pointed out already, removing the standard seats will also remove the protection of side airbags–assuming that this mystery vehicle came equipped with side airbags.
What would worry me the most is that sonny appears to have that “boy-racer” mentality. Even though his driving record is good so far, I would be concerned that he is going to start tearing up the roads while he poses as a “fast & furious” street racer.
Trust me–no matter how mannerly his driving appears to be when you are with him, his driving style is likely to be very different when in the company of others his age. Equipping his car with boy-racer accessories is only likely to accelerate his transformation into a street racer.
REAL racing seats will not be comfortable for extended periods of time. They are non-adjustable and lightly padded.
Racing seat belts will require a roll bar to work correctly.
It’s a waste of money unless you’re building a racing car.
Your point is well made. And I agree…but I’ve grown old now.
And us, when we were young did we have that “boy-racer” mentality? Would my not having put those front and rear spoilers, mag wheels, wide tires, and gage set on have slowed me down? Perhaps not.
Besides, if he spends all his spare change on seats he might not have enough left over for that N2O kit!
i disagree. headers improve power, engine efficiency, the bolt-in type are legal, and they will raise mileage because the engine breathes better and is waaaay more efficient. you’ve stumped me as to how this lowers value.
dont use the word “boy-racer”. its just a derogatory name used instead of “hot rod”. have you ever hung out with anybody recently with a vehicle such as this, who does stupid things like 4 way drag races? no, because they dont happen. if you have, you need a new set of friends. using hollywood stunts as an example worries me that people actually believe that stuff happens. your being way to hard on a kid you’ve never met.
it saddens me to think people think this way.
Talk about the worries in life. On the good side, at least he can’t get pregnant.
Headers don’t do squat except put a lot of heat and noise under the hood. With a V8, a set of duel exhausts (using the stock manifolds) produce a larger power gain than installing headers. Headers AT BEST will give you 6% improvement.
If seats, sound systems and 20" wheels make them happy, that won’t hurt anything…
except the resale value of the car. 
and the ear drums of those within a mile or so of the sound system that they seem to only play during the night
I say let him do it, but make him keep the stock seats for when he discovers this is a bad idea.
He will never learn why this is a bad idea unless you let him do it. Let him learn the lesson.
are you currently up to date with modern header technology and theory? ceramic coating? headers are the key to making any sort of power with any exhaust system. you can have the worlds finest exhaust system, but your engine will still be gasping. stock chevy 350 (THE engine) manifolds are just crazy inefficient.
you say 6% improvement. of what? HP? torque? what RPM range? 6% improvement of HP in a '94 camaro (275 HP stock) is 16.5 HP. think about it. the engine is running efficiently, cleaner, making more power, how am I wrong? do tell me.