I’ve been contemplating replacing the seats in my M3 with something lighter weight and a bit more sporty for a while and recently came across a driver’s side Recaro seat from a Mitsubishi Evolution X on Craigslist for dirt cheap. I’m fairly sure these are actually Recaro SR-11’s with SRS airbags. One of the reasons I got my seat so cheap — $300 — is because the airbag in the seat was blown. Luckily removing the airbag and stitching up the material looks straight forward.
Besides being really highly bolstered, a plus of the Evolution X Recaro seat is that they already have Recaro sliders built in. Unfortunately the mounting holes on the slider that would typically be used to attach E46 floor mounts are covered by tabs which have been welded on to fit the floor of the Evo X. Installing my Macht Schnell E46 floor mount should be as easy as taking a Dremel to the tabs to expose the original mounting holes in the slider. We’ll see if it’s that easy.
The only downside of this seat is that it does not easily tilt like the CS or SRD via a handle. The seat back angle must be manually adjusted using a turn dial and because of that would be much better suited for a sedan. BUT, I did find this photo of an SR-11 and if you look closely you’ll see a tilt handle. Perhaps the tilt mechanism can be retrofitted to the Evo X Recaro or if I really like the seat I may find a set of SR-11’s.
